Thread: Thinking in English

Thanks again for all the help.

Originally Posted by Seraph

If I'm working on something, fixing something, installing something, etc, I'll use a "let's..." kind of phrase, to myself. "Let's see what happens when we do this." "What about when we try this...
This is like the the royal 'we', first person changed to plural first person...

I see now that using "let's" kind of phrase is totally okay in that situation, then. But, what if I ignore the royal "we" and say it like that:

Let's see what happens when I do this

Would it still be a normal phrase to say to yourself?

Originally Posted by Seraph

'I had to stoop quite a bit because of the low roof/ceiling ...' People will say 'scrunch down because of the low ceiling' and other things on that line. 'scrunch down quite a bit' 'stoop because of the lack of head room...' etc. There is also a thing called 'duckwalk', walking while crouching or squatting. This may be what you're after.

Thanks a lot, I suppose all the suggestions you made are just fine for what I originally wanted to say, especially duckwalk.


Now it's time to ask new questions

1) What verb do you use to describe a very loud, unpleasant and quite long laughter? We use ржать for that in Russian. The literal meaning of this Russian verb is to neigh. So you can imagine now, which kind of laughter the verb describes, the one which resembles neighing

2) We say черты лица in Russian to mean how a particular face looks in general. And by using "how", I say that the phrase doesn't make sense on its own, it has to be accompanied by an adjective. For example:
Приятные черты лица means that all the parts that form a face image (nose, lips, cheekbones, chin etc) generally look nice to you
Квадратные черты лица means that parts of the face looks kind of square to you and so as a whole they paint a picture of a square face.

Oh, I hope that explanation will work

3) If you don't live alone this is gonna be something you're well familiar with. If a particular thing is used by more than one occupant then it usually has a proper place to be kept in. If you took the thing from the proper place you have to put it back in there after you had finished using it, so that other inhabitants could find it easily when they need it. We call this kind of place правильное место in Russian. What should I call it in English?

4) I was lying flat on my couch today and I felt that my neck and back went sore. So I moved into position in which I proped my head on the sligtly raised and inclined part of my couch so that to ease off the pressure on both my neck and back. I would use a Russian verb приподняться to express that movement I made. How can I convey that in English?

5) I don't know if you have such a verb as дождаться in English, but I think it's worth asking. Well, apparently, I have to provide the defenition of the verb and I guess the best way to do that is to provide it in the context.

Imagine you're waiting for someone to arrive. So if you "дождался" that someone, that means that you stopped waiting because they had arrived.
Or, you're waiting for something to happen. So if you "дождался" that something that means that you stopped waiting because that had happened.

Thanks in advance

Originally Posted by iCake

Let's see what happens when I do this

Would it still be a normal phrase to say to yourself?

Yes, for me, it would be natural.

1) What verb do you use to describe a very loud, unpleasant and quite long laughter? We use ржать for that in Russian. The literal meaning of this Russian verb is to neigh. So you can imagine now, which kind of laughter the verb describes, the one which resembles neighing

Horse laugh, raucous laughter, mocking laughter, guffaw.

2) We say черты лица in Russian to mean how a particular face looks in general. And by using "how", I say that the phrase doesn't make sense on its own, it has to be accompanied by an adjective. For example:
Приятные черты лица means that all the parts that form a face image (nose, lips, cheekbones, chin etc) generally look nice to you
Квадратные черты лица means that parts of the face looks kind of square to you and so as a whole they paint a picture of a square face.

finely chiseled features, well proportioned visage etc. I'm not sure of your meaning for Квадратные черты лица, possibly dull facial features/dull featured/ or even plain featured?

3) If you don't live alone this is gonna be something you're well familiar with. If a particular thing is used by more than one occupant then it usually has a proper place to be kept in. If you took the thing from the proper place you have to put it back in there after you had finished using it, so that other inhabitants could find it easily when they need it. We call this kind of place правильное место in Russian. What should I call it in English?

the proper place

4) I was lying flat on my couch today and I felt that my neck and back went sore. So I moved into position in which I proped my head on the sligtly raised and inclined part of my couch so that to ease off the pressure on both my neck and back. I would use a Russian verb приподняться to express that movement I made. How can I convey that in English?

propped my head up with/on ..., elevated my head (on a pillow or whatever),

5) I don't know if you have such a verb as дождаться in English, but I think it's worth asking. Well, apparently, I have to provide the defenition of the verb and I guess the best way to do that is to provide it in the context.

Imagine you're waiting for someone to arrive. So if you "дождался" that someone, that means that you stopped waiting because they had arrived.
Or, you're waiting for something to happen. So if you "дождался" that something that means that you stopped waiting because that had happened.

Thanks in advance

Don't know if there is a perfect English word/phrase for this. Since in your explanation, you indicate a successful outcome, or fulfillment. The English forms don't necessarily indicate fulfillment. This would require some extra qualifier. But the sense you indicate could be something like 'expectancy fulfilled' 'anticipation fulfilled' or something like that. But simpler, less bookish forms could be more normal.

Originally Posted by Seraph

I'm not sure of your meaning for Квадратные черты лица, possibly dull facial features/dull featured/ or even plain featured?
.

This should explain it perfectly
terminator.jpg

Originally Posted by Doomer

This should explain it perfectly
terminator.jpg

Yes, this is exactly what I meant with квадратные черты лица.


Okay, some new questions.

1) I was wondering what verb do you use to describe the proccess of putting something consisting of very small parts into a container or something? The good substances to illustrate that "consisting of very small parts" are sand, powder, etc. I would use сыпать in Russian for that.

2) I was watching a movie today and saw a ceiling dropping down powder. I was thinking about using to flake off, but I think it's more of an action when something breaks off in flakes. I would use сыпаться in Russian for that.

3) How can I express пить залпом in English? What is пить залпом? It's when you're trying to drink something down without any pauses, like to breathe in or take a short break. It's like when you try to drink something down in one huge sip.


4) What is your phrase for мышечная память? This is a type of a memory when your mustles move in the same way without you realizing that because you have repeated that movement a huge amount of time. The good example of that is all the mouth movements we use to pronounce sounds, you don't have to make a deliberate effort to reproduce all the mouth movements needed to utter a sound, word, sentence etc correctly, in fact you don't even think about those movements, you just do them automatically.

Okay, that's it for today. Thanks in advance for all your great help

Originally Posted by iCake

Yes, this is exactly what I meant with квадратные черты лица.


Okay, some new questions.

1) I was wondering what verb do you use to describe the proccess of putting something consisting of very small parts into a container or something? The good substances to illustrate that "consisting of very small parts" are sand, powder, etc. I would use сыпать in Russian for that.

2) I was watching a movie today and saw a ceiling dropping down powder. I was thinking about using to flake off, but I think it's more of an action when something breaks off in flakes. I would use сыпаться in Russian for that.

3) How can I express пить залпом in English? What is пить залпом? It's when you're trying to drink something down without any pauses, like to breathe in or take a short break. It's like when you try to drink something down in one huge sip.


4) What is your phrase for мышечная память? This is a type of a memory when your mustles move in the same way without you realizing that because you have repeated that movement a huge amount of time. The good example of that is all the mouth movements we use to pronounce sounds, you don't have to make a deliberate effort to reproduce all the mouth movements needed to utter a sound, word, sentence etc correctly, in fact you don't even think about those movements, you just do them automatically.

Okay, that's it for today. Thanks in advance for all your great help

квадратные черты лица = square jawed.

(1) In English, same verb is used for сыпать и __лить verbs. to pour liquids, to pour powders, grain, sand, dust etc. For some instances, 'to sprinkle', 'to dust' or 'to powder' something, eg dusting with powdered sugar, a dusting of snow. But these are usually for small amounts, to make a thin covering. So when going in a container, pour the powder in. When the powder is going on in small amounts, as in sugar, talcum powder etc, then use 'to dust', or 'to powder', 'to sprinkle' or even 'to shake some ___ on'. If lots of the solid substance is being put on, then it would be 'poured on' also. Ground pepper would use it's own verb 'to pepper' something, and salt would use it's own verb, 'to salt'. "Shake some salt (pepper, or whatever) on it." Could also use verb derived from implement used. 'He shoveled the cement powder into the cement mixer.' Also, could use "to spoon in" for some types of things.

(2) Disintegrating into powder, coming to bits, ( & shivered to atoms)

(3) gulp it down, chug it down, gulp down without stopping, For food, same idea is 'to wolf it down' There are a few others, scarf it down,...

(4) I have seen 'muscle memory' used, and some people will be fully familiar with this, but not every one, I expect. For a habitual action not requiring any thought by person performing, but could be quite involved, and not easy to explain. Gymnastics, figure skating etc, take time to learn, but once learned, person doesn't need to think about individual actions, it's muscle memory. (it doesn't matter that the muscle has no memory, it's called that anyway.)