Thread: On mixing languages and discerning Russians

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That's interesting. Why would people from, say, Tajikistan speak Russian mixed with English?

Because they hear Russian a lot at work on the streets, and not Russian all the time. But I don't fully understand your question.

Originally Posted by Pravit

That's interesting. Why would people from, say, Tajikistan speak Russian mixed with English?

i think MR is talking about Russians in the former Soviet Republics.

immigrants from the former Soviet republics

Right, so I'm thinking Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, etc.

their Russian mixes with English in such interesting ways

This could either mean that they came to an English-speaking country to live and their English has some Russian characteristics, or that they came to Russia to live, and for some reason their Russian has English characteristics.

Вам колбасу послайсать или так?

Obviously, they aren't speaking English, so I assume he's referring to people from the former Soviet republics who came to Russia to live.

Which brings us to our question: Why would Tajiks speak Russian with heavy English influence? Why not Tajik influence, or something else?

They come to America speaking Russian normally, but living there for a while it will start to mix with English. Because they hear English a lot on the streets, in the stores, at a restaurant. If someone first comes from Uzbekistan or another place they won't immigrate from their land with an English influence on their language.

Pravit: Let's make it clear and continue with the topic. I was referring to all Russian-speaking communities in the U.S. and other English-speaking countries.

Former Soviet Republics included:

Armenian SSR
Azerbaijan SSR
Byelorussian SSR
Estonian SSR
Georgian SSR
Kazakh SSR
Kirghiz SSR
Latvian SSR
Lithuanian SSR
Moldavian SSR
Russian SFSR
Tadzhik SSR
Turkmen SSR
Ukrainian SSR
Uzbek SSR

http://www.answers.com/topic/republics- ... viet-union

Ohhhh. So why would they be asking people in the supermarket in, say, Victor, Iowa if they wanted them to послайсать?

Pravit, that's the whole point of this thread! That is how many Russian-speaking immigrants speak Russian in the U.S. Some of them don't even know English but the English language influence is so great that they start incorporating English words into their Russian.

My point is that most Americans wouldn't understand it, be it послайсать or нарезать. Or are you talking about chance meetings between Russian supermarket workers and Russian people trying to buy meat? Do they have some kind of magical ability to discern who is Russian and who isn't?

Originally Posted by Pravit

My point is that most Americans wouldn't understand it, be it послайсать or нарезать. Or are you talking about chance meetings between Russian supermarket workers and Russian people trying to buy meat? Do they have some kind of magical ability to discern who is Russian and who isn't?

Chance meetings? Well, you should visit a Russian neighborhood here in the U.S. And yes, they do have that "magical" ability. It's a piece of cake for a Russian to discern another Russian in the U.S.

Do they ever mistake other people of Eastern European descent for Russians? How "Russian" are Serbs or Czechs? I'm Asian, and I honestly cannot tell the (physical) difference from Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. Well, there are some extreme examples of each one, but for most people I can't.

Originally Posted by Pravit

Do they ever mistake other people of Eastern European descent for Russians? How "Russian" are Serbs or Czechs? I'm Asian, and I honestly cannot tell the (physical) difference from Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. Well, there are some extreme examples of each one, but for most people I can't.

They can be "not sure" and in order not to be mistaken they can ask directly or listen to the person's accent and observe numerous other minor details. When they are done with that and see that the person in front of them is speaking Russian they can start asking "Вам колбасу наслайсать или так?"

Hrrmmrmmm. So most Eastern Europeans can recognize other Eastern Europeans? What's the trick?

Even I can tell East Europeans from West Europeans, just like I can tell if someone is German, French, Spanish, etc. And telling Asian people apart isn't that hard either. It's easy, get to know many different people from one country and you will start seeing the general trait...

Pravit, I can even tell the (physical) difference between Chinese, Japanese, and Koreans. Probably not every time but quiet often.

I usually can tell when someone looks Russian, or Polish.

Originally Posted by Pravit

Hrrmmrmmm. So most Eastern Europeans can recognize other Eastern Europeans? What's the trick?

What a very timely coincidence this is. Just last night I walked into a local Russian market with my friend Olga who has only been living in the US for months. The Russian storekeeper probably knew me already from previous visits to the market but he had never seen Olga. I watched to see how he would react to her, to see if he would address her in English or not. It was like he knew that she was Russian immediately and spoke to her as such.

All Russians have a special built-in identification friend-or-foe system from birth.

Originally Posted by N

All Russians have a special built-in identification friend-or-foe system from birth.

Whenever I fly to Britain the Russian customs officers at Pulkovo Airport address me in English before they see my Russian passport, but this never happens to this English bloke I know - they always take him for a Russian!