Posts tagged with "Russian news"

Meet Michael McFaul, the New US Ambassador to Russia

Posted by Natalie 2 Comments
Jan 30 2012

In case you did not know, «я американка» [I'm American]. I grew up here and I go to university here, and I tend to look at foreign affairs through an American lens. I realize that a large portion of our readers are not American, so this post may not be as relevant or apt to you. However, the American ambassador to Russia was recently in the news and I thought it would be interesting to write about him. I present, without further ado, a post about ambassadors and other diplomatic-related vocabulary. In the photo: «посольство Российской Федерации в Лондоне» [embassy of the Russian Federation in London].

The new United States ambassador to Russia is named Michael McFaul (his name is transliterated into Cyrillic as «Майкл Макфол»). «Он работал профессором в Стэнфордском университете» [He worked as a professor at Stanford University]. As ambassador he lives in «Спасо-хаус» [Spaso House], the official residence of the United States ambassador in Russia.

There has been controversy ever since McFaul arrived in Russia because he met with some opposition leaders. Plus, he was involved in the «перезагрузка» [reset] policy with Russia that does not seem to have been entirely successful. McFaul does not speak Russian as well as his «предшественник» [predecessor], John Beyrle. «Байерли свободно говорит по-русски» [Beyrle speaks Russian fluently]. (Seriously, Beyrle’s Russian is amazing. Listen to an interview with him sometime.)

Some more general vocabulary: in Russian, ambassador is «посол», so it is pretty logical that «посольство» is embassy. «Консульство» is consulate. (And remember, the two are different! In general, embassies are usually larger and are led by an ambassador, whereas consulates are led by a «консул» [consul].) «Дипломат» [diplomat] is nice and easy to remember. «Паспорт» [passport] and «виза» [visa] are also nice cognates.

What do you think of the new United States ambassador? Do you have any questions about diplomatic-related vocabulary? Let me know in the comments!

Russian Holidays: День народного единства

Posted by Natalie 5 Comments
Nov 9 2011

A funny experience happened in my Russian class today, «дорогие друзья» [dear friends]. We are reading «Дама с собачкой» [The Lady with the Lapdog]. My professor said of the main character, «Гуров» [Gurov], «Он верен своей жене?» [Is he faithful to his wife?] I smiled and gave a resounding «Да, конечно» [yes, of course]. Unfortunately, that was wrong. I misread the bit where it says that «Гуров» is unfaithful to his wife: «Изменять ей он начал уже давно…» [He had started to be unfaithful to her a while ago]. And here I was thinking that meant she had perceived him to be a changed person or something like that, which admittedly did not make much sense in context. It just goes to show you: you learn something new every day! In the photo: «памятник Минину и Пожарскому» [the monument to Minin and Pozharsky (two commanders who defeated Polish-Lithuanian forces)].

I want to talk about a Russian holiday, «День народного единства» [Day of People's Unity] that was recently on November 4. I am always interested to learn about foreign countries’ holidays, so I was reading about this one a little bit last week.

«День народного единства» is a recent holiday. It is observed on November 4, «начиная с 2005 (две тысячи пятого) года» [beginning with 2005] and is «нерабочий день» [a non-working day]. And even though it is recent, its history actually dates back pretty far. «27 (двадцать седьмого) октября 1612 (тысяча шестьсот двенадцатого) года гарнизон в Москве сдался» [On October 27, 1612, a garrison in Moscow was surrendered]. One year later, «земский собор избрал новым царём Михаила Романова» [the Zemsky Sobor chose Mikhail Romanov as the new tsar]. This ended the Time of Troubles and began the new Romanov dynasty.

«С 1649 (тысяча шестьсот сорок девятого) года до 1917 (тысяча девятьсот семнадцатого) года» [From 1649 to 1917] November 4 was a holiday because it marked the liberation of Moscow from the Polish-Lithuanian force.

There has been controversy about the holiday because of groups espousing «национализм и ксенофобия» [nationalism and xenophobia] demonstrating on this day, like in the photo below:

The banner says «Вернём Россию русским!» [We will return Russia to the Russians!] This is a reference to some people’s dislike of immigrants from certain regions to Russia. It is an important issue today and there are quite a few politicians in Russia who say some pretty crazy things on this matter.

What Makes Russians Happy

Posted by yelena 16 Comments
Aug 9 2011

I’d like to thank Jarrod for the inspiring comment on our Facebook page and to Bob for sending me the infographics that started it all. Guys, you rock!

A while ago one of the blog readers, Bob, e-mailed me the infographics you see at the top of the post. Honestly, while I really liked the picture, I already had a bunch of posts lined up and decided «отложить статью в долгий ящик» [to shelf the article].

Then a few days ago I picked up a copy of Jane McGonigal’s “Reality Is Broken” «в местной библиотеке» [at a local library]. «Отличная книга, кстати!» [By the way, it’s a great read].

To make the long story short, reading about happiness reminded me of the infographics and led to my asking a question «Что вам нужно для счастья» which I translated as “What do you need to be happy”.

Jarrod brought up an excellent point by asking why I translated it this way instead of “for happiness”.

Would «дословный перевод» [word-for-word translation] be the best option here? Or should I use «литературный перевод» [idiomatic translation]? As a non-native speaker (of either Russian or English), how important is it to you to have a translation that is a close formal equivalent even when a more idiomatic form exists? These aren’t just idle questions since your feedback shapes this blog.

But here’s the kicker. Did you see the title of the infographics? It’s called “What makes Russians happy”. Now, how would you translate this sentence into Russian? Try it now, but don’t peek…

………………………..

Did you write down your answer? Ok, the way this particular research was announced in Russian media was «Чего россиянам не хватает для счастья». Wow, that’s like totally different, isn’t it?

The phrase «чего не хватает» [what’s missing] was translated as “what makes”. Why?

I think it’s because Russian language has a lot of phrases that use «не» without sounding negative (at least to the Russian ear):

  • When making plans – «Не пойти-ли нам в кино» [lit. Why don’t we go to a movie]
  • When hurrying to work – «Не пропустить бы автобус» [ lit. Wouldn’t want to miss the bus]
  • When asking for directions – «Не подскажете, как пройти к музею искусств» [lit. Wouldn’t you tell me how to get to the art museum]
  • When asking what time it is – «Не знаете, который час?» [lit. Wouldn’t you know what time it is]

This brings to mind an article I read last year in one of the glossy magazines. In it one of the researchers is quoted saying

Among Westerners, focusing on one’s negative feelings tends to impair well-being, but among Russians, that is not the case.

Speaking of well-being and «счастье», what do Russians need to be happy? Turns out, «большинству респондентов не хватает денег, любви и уверенности в будущем» [the majority of respondents need money, love and confidence in the future].

Other answers included

«Стабильность» [stability] – I was surprised to see this as a separate answer. Apparently confidence in the future does not imply stability.

«Возможность жить там, где мне бы хотелось» [Opportunity to live where I want] – my Russian friends are always surprised at how often I move. Moving to a different town or a different part of the country used to be very difficult and looks like for some people in Russia it remained so.

«Квадратные метры» [square meters] – are you puzzled? «квадратные метры» refers to the problem of «маленькая жилплощадь» [insufficient living space], a common problem since apartments tend to be small.

«Возможность заняться любимым делом» [opportunity to do what I love] – this seems to be a problem common in the US as well, at least judging by all the self-help books on the subject of “making money doing what you love”.

My favorite answer is «чего-то не хватает, но ощущению счастья это не мешает» [lit. something is missing, but it doesn’t interfere with the feeling of happiness]. First of all, it’s a wonderful realization that having everything isn’t a prerequisite to being happy. And then, there are two «не»s that add the unique Russian twist to the otherwise rather bland “something is missing, but I am happy” translation.

The Polish Air Crash of 2010

Posted by Natalie No Comments
Apr 25 2011


Well, «дорогие читатели» [dear readers], this is going to be a depressing post. It is about «авиакатастрофа в Смоленске 10 (десятого) апреля 2010 (две тысячи десятого) года» [the plane crash in Smolensk on April 10, 2010]. It made headlines at the time and a year later, people are still talking about it. Why? Read on to find out. In the photo: «Смоленск» [Smolensk], a city in Western Russia.

«10 (десятого) апреля 2010 (две тысячи десятого) года» [On the 10 of April 2010], «президент Польши Лех Качиньский» [the president of Poland Lech Kaczynski] was flying to «Смоленск» [Smolensk]. He and a Polish delegation were going to take part in a commemoration of «Катынский расстрел» [the Katyn massacre]. The entire delegation was aboard one plane, «Ту-154» [a Tupulev Tu-154].

In the airport where they were supposed to land, there was «сильный туман» [heavy fog]. Because of this, the plane could not land and crashed. «Восемьдесят девять пассажиров и семь членов экипажа погибли.» [Eighty-nine passengers and seven crew members died.] «В их числе — президент Польши, его жена и почти всё вышее военное командование.» [Among them were the president of Poland, his wife, and almost all of the military high command.]

Of course, this was a terribly tragic event and Poles mourned in Warsaw that evening. (There were some very moving pictures of a candlelight vigil in Warsaw on the BBC website.) But very soon after, people started to question what happened and ask who was at fault. Some said (and still say): «Россия виновата» [Russia is guilty]. Others said it was simply an accident. There was an investigation. «По результатам расследования, все системы самолёта работали нормально.» [According to the investigation, all the airplane's systems were working fine.]

The whole event is controversial–I’ve heard that some Poles reject the investigation’s findings. For what it’s worth, I attended «семинар в Оксфорде» [a seminar in Oxford] at which Norman Davies, a renowned historian, said that he thinks the whole thing was just an unfortunate accident.

«После авиакатастрофии» [After the air crash], Poland held elections for a new president. The man who won is named Bronislaw Komorowski and I’ve heard that his detractors have nicknamed him Komoruski because of his (alleged) sympathies towards Russia. (I say “alleged” because I really do not know that much about the man.)

Senseless Tragedy in Domodedovo

Posted by yelena 4 Comments
Jan 25 2011

We usually open our posts with a picture or a video. Today, however, I cannot think of a single picture that would express the grief and indignation at the news of the Domodedovo tragedy. So no picture today.

This blog rarely covers news. After all, this is a Russian language learning blog, not a current events and politics one. Today, however, is different. As you know, at 4:32pm Moscow time on January 24th, «в аэропорту Домодедово прогремел взрыв» [an explosion thundered through the Domodedovo airport].

At the time of my writing this post, «министерство Российской Федерации по чрезвычайным ситуациям» [Ministry of the Russian Federation for Emergency Management] places the death toll at 35 people. Another 130 are injured, many «находятся в тяжёлом состоянии» [are in critical condition].

The blast was called «теракт» [a terrorist attack] and the remains of a suspected «террорист» [terrorist] were found. This is a horrific event and, breaking with the usual cheerful way of our blog, the words for today are the words of grief and shock.

«ужасающий» – horrific

«варварский» – barbarous

«жестокий» – cruel

«бесчеловечный» – inhuman

«шокирующий» – shocking

«трагедия» – tragedy

«терроризм» – terrorism

«противостояние» – strife

«нетерпимость» – intolerance

«беда» – disaster

«горе» – woe

«беспомощность» – helplessness

«преступление» – crime

«бесчувственный», «бессмысленный» – senseless

In the following days there will be, no doubt, much «поиск виноватых» [finger-pointing], «перекладывание вины» [laying blame], and «перебранка» [squabbling]. There will be «теории заговора» [conspiracy theories], «домыслы» [wild guesses], and «скоропалительные выводы» [snap judgments].

But there will also be «сострадание» [compassion] and «сочувствие» [empathy]. There will also be «молитвы» [prayers] for the victims and their families.

While there isn’t much many of us can do to help the victims and their families, we can all try not to succumb to «злоба» [hatred] or, for that matter, stay «безразличный» [indifferent].

There really isn’t much left to say, but to «выразить соболезнования семьям погибших» [express condolences to the families of the victims] and «пожелать раненым скорейшего выздоровления» [to wish the speediest recovery to the wounded].

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