Thread: Did Stalin have a Georgian accent?

I believe Belarussian suffered the most due to the Soviets and now due to Lukashenko. If you look at Lukashenko's (the president of Belarus') website, you can view it in Russian or English, but not Belarussian.

The official site of the goverment of Belarus' is in Russian only.

I believe after the break-up of the Soviet union there was an initial surge in Belarussian language, but Lukashenko and his government have supressed and reversed it.

P.s. did you know that Minsk is Mensk in Belarussian?

Originally Posted by MalenkayaKatinka

One of my coaches (I was a rhythmic gymnast) is from Ukraine and she said that they were required to learn Russian in school. If they wished to learn Ukrainian, it was treated as a second language.

You, guys, probably talk about comparatively recent times - Breznev, may be. But 60-70 years ago it was a different story. For example, my grandmother, she is Belarussien, before the W.War II could berely speak Russian, she spoke Belarussian and Polish. She basically learned Russian in the army.

Is Belarussian really close to Polish compared to Russian?

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

Could women be fighter pilots..?

Yes, of course
http://www.zhurnal.lib.ru/img/b/belo...oc/index.shtml

Originally Posted by TATY

I believe Belarussian suffered the most due to the Soviets and now due to Lukashenko. If you look at Lukashenko's (the president of Belarus') website, you can view it in Russian or English, but not Belarussian.

The official site of the goverment of Belarus' is in Russian only.

I believe after the break-up of the Soviet union there was an initial surge in Belarussian language, but Lukashenko and his government have supressed and reversed it.

As far as I know, there are a lot of newspapers, published in Belarus in "suppressed" Belarussian....

Originally Posted by TATY

P.s. did you know that Minsk is Mensk in Belarussian?

No, I didn't.

Originally Posted by djmihow

Is Belarussian really close to Polish compared to Russian?

Linguistically? I don't think so. But I am not a specialist.

Really, I checked wikipedia. Seems more towards Polish thatn Russian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarusian_alphabet

Originally Posted by TATY

I believe Belarussian suffered the most due to the Soviets

Bielarussian suffered the most due to the Nazis who destroyed (among other cultural buildings) almost all libraries. It was uncorrectable loss. So, after the war Russian SFSR shared with Bielorussian SSR library stock from Russian libraries that naturally was in Russian.

Originally Posted by Scorpio

In the youth Stalin (of course) not only spoke Georgian perfectly -- he wrote verses in Georgian. And, probably, not so bad ones -- because some poetry by Iosif Dzhugashvili was published in some georgian poetry anthology back in 1900's.

From
http://www.stalin.su/book.php?action=header&id=30

A poem written by young Iosif translated in Russian from Georgian
(If there is any Georgian to tell us how good originals are?)

Шел он от дома к дому,
В двери чужие стучал.
Под старый дубовый пандури
Нехитрый мотив звучал.
В напеве его и в песне,
Как солнечный луч чиста,
Жила великая правда -
Божественная мечта.


Сердца, превращенные в камень,
Будил одинокий напев.
Дремавший в потемках пламень
Взметался выше дерев.
Но люди, забывшие Бога,
Хранящие в сердце тьму,
Вместо вина отраву
Налили в чашу ему.

Сказали ему: "Будь проклят!
Чашу испей до дна!..
И песня твоя чужда нам,
И правда твоя не нужна!"


My clumsy attempt to make a lineal translation of the Russian translation from Georgian:

He went from one house to the next,
And knocked at the stranger's doors.
A simple motive sounded
To his old oak fiddle accompaniment.
In his tune and in his song,
Clean as a solar ray,
There lived the great truth -
Elevated dream.

And hearts that were converted into stones,
The lonely tune aroused.
Flame that was dormant in the darkness
Was tossed above trees.
But people who forgot God,
And who kept the dark in their hearts,
Instead of wine
Filled his cup with poison.

They told him: "Sorrow on you!
Drain the cup to the dregs!..
Your song is alien to us,
And your truth is not necessary!"

Before 1896.

Originally Posted by djmihow

Really, I checked wikipedia. Seems more towards Polish thatn Russian.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belarusian_alphabet

No, grammatically, pronounciation, spelling it is much closer to Russian. (It is the closest language to Russian).

It does have lots of words similar with Polish though.

Don't be fooled by the Latin alphabet, its unofficial and not used much.

Originally Posted by MalenkayaKatinka

One of my coaches (I was a rhythmic gymnast) is from Ukraine and she said that they were required to learn Russian in school. If they wished to learn Ukrainian, it was treated as a second language.

It's not exactly true. There were both Ukrainian and Russian schools. In Russian schools we were tought Ukrainian as a second language and all other disciplines (like math, geography, ect.) were tought in Russian, in Ukrainian schools we were tought Russian as a second language and all other disciplines were tought in Ukrainian. It was parents' choice in what school (Russian or Ukrainian) to send a child.

But it was not that easy to find a university even in Ukraine were students were tought in Ukrainian.

But now in Ukraine, where 35-40% of people still speak Russian and there are big regions (like Krimea, Donbass, Lugansk region, etc.) where 80-90% of people speak Russian, it's almost impossible to send a kid to a Russian school.

Originally Posted by Friendy

Originally Posted by ReDSanchous

Dogdoy, do you know that a woman on board a ship is believed to be a bad sign?

I think that belief is outdated nowadays or isn't it?

Friendy, the navy is all about buggery, cat-o'nine-tails and buggery. There are no women involved. It's all about buggery.