What in your opinion are the most recognazable Russian words for Northen Americans? Like "russki", "da", "perestroika" - I don't know :roll: "Spasiba"? Are any Russian words used in common situations - like italian "capiche", for examp.
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What in your opinion are the most recognazable Russian words for Northen Americans? Like "russki", "da", "perestroika" - I don't know :roll: "Spasiba"? Are any Russian words used in common situations - like italian "capiche", for examp.
Водка, да, нет, перестройка, гласность, спутник (but only in the sense of it being a proper noun -- THE sputnik that is), СССР (even though it's not actually a single word and most don't know what it actually stands for) and comrade, even though it's not Russian or used in Russian.:wink: Really, I don't think there's much in the way of "loan-words" -- we have a ton from the romance and germanic languages, but not so much from the Russian side of things. Basically in amounts to using something from a scene in a Cold War movie. Sean Connery telling us Да when asked if he just stole a submarine or Boris Badenov calling Natasha comrade.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gerty
Babushka? :wink:
Btw why it's always said with the wrong stress? It drives me crasy! :)
You mean, baboooooshka, baboooooshka, baboooooshka? :lol: I'm sure there's some sort of Russian joke that blames Polyaks or Chukchi for that some where... :wink:Quote:
Originally Posted by gRomoZeka
davai, davai... :D
na zdorovie! :P
I think до свидания is the only word an american would recognize and not very many at that. I did see it used on futurama (tv show) so at least that many people have heard it.
Speaking of babushkas, I was looking through the sale pile at a bookstore last night and found a book called 'The Russian Word for Snow'. I immediatly lost interest upon reading inside the jacket that it is a novel about some children adopted from russia. But it mentioned a woman in a babuska, as if it were some article of clothing. Is there such a thing or did the writer just neglect to look up what a babuska actually is?
Mamushka :D
I know in English they they call the shawl like that (at least my dictionary says so). In Russian (as you probably know) it has nothing to do with shawls or other garments and has the only meaning "grandmother/old woman".Quote:
Originally Posted by Layne
Americans think that Babushkas are the things that wear you wear on your head. AKA a scarf. I remember one time my grandma was like, yea we saw some russians at the river, and they were wearing babushkas. I was like really, must have been uncomfortable for those poor grannies.
no. The number of russian immigrants wasn't so great like italians.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gerty
Also, russian wasn't a historical part of english like french is, so there are many french words in common usage in english.
btw, i think nyet is the best known word.
intelligentsia, pogrom.
propaganda
Kalashnikov
It's not russian. probably you meant "agitprop".Quote:
Originally Posted by Guin
Sorry, I was always thinking that "propaganda" has russian origination. But now I looked at Vasner's dictionary and found the following:Quote:
Originally Posted by gRomoZeka
пропаганда пропага́нда отсюда пропаганди́ровать. Через нем. Рrораgаndа или франц. рrораgаndе из нов.-лат. congregātiō dе рrораgаndā fidē – название основанной папой Урбаном VII в 1623 г. организации для распространения католической веры (Хайзе)
Век живи - век учись 8)
There are many words in russian comes from foreign languages. Especially in technical sciences and medcine. For example: комьютер - computer, мобильный - mobile, телевизор - television set, монитор - monitor, машина - machine and many others. All foreign words implantat in russian language interpret as native. But if talking about prevalent ONLY russian words i can suggest здравствуй, русский мат, иди, рубль, деньги, отец, мать, я, ты ....Quote:
Originally Posted by Guin
Thank you for information, but I've never had any doubts about it. :D The only problem I had was with the word "propaganda".Quote:
Originally Posted by rin81
I would say more: such simple russian words as "стул", "ярмарка", "рюмка", "лобзик", "вафля" etc. have not russian origination as well.Quote:
Originally Posted by rin81
I'm not sure, if "русский мат" has russian origination. Some of the words in it are evidently Turkic. The word "деньги" e.g. comes from Persian "dāng".Quote:
Originally Posted by rin81
Самое известное иностранцам слово в русском языке - это ВОДКА!
Yes, рубль is one every one knows I forgot that. Again, mostly because the movies always showed Comrade Da asking Comrade Nyet to grease his palm, but nonetheless everybody knows what a ruble is. Although, really, that may not last much longer. I'd be interested to see if these post-Cold War generations will know that -- my bet is they'll (generally of course) know the dollar, the pound, the peso, and the euro -- maybe the yen?
That was a good try to spell that Italian word. :lol: but it capisci :wink:Quote:
Originally Posted by Gerty
the word comes from the infinitive 'capire' - to understand.. so it would be io capisco (i understand -- io is pronouce 'yo'), ti capisci (you understand) lei/lui capisce (she/he understands -- lei pronounced like 'lay' & lui pronounced like 'Louie'), noi capiamo, voi capite, e loro capiscono.
a 'c' followed by 'i' or 'e' makes a "sh" sound. The same can be applied with 'g'. If a 'g' is followed by "e" or "i", this softens it to a "j" sounds - as in Giovanni. Without one of those letters following it, the 'g' is pronounced as 'г' like in Russian.. the 'c' without "i" or "e" makes a "k" sound.
Just a little italian lesson for everyone.. lol
In Polish, babushka means hankerchief.. So in this case, she was wearing one on her head. The pronunciation is different than babushka in Russian.Quote:
Originally Posted by Layne
Yeah, that's exactly what I'm talking about. There is alredy an american word capiche.Quote:
Originally Posted by MalenkayaKatinka
It's not an American word and never has been. Very few Americans know of that word unless they've seen the Godfather.Quote:
Originally Posted by Gerty
To answer the question of this post though, the most commonly known Russian word is vodka. Next would probably perestroika and glasnost'.
i think a lot of people know capiche, especially if they watch the sopranos! its quite natural for foreign words to become a part of a language, deja vu is french but its now also a part of the english language. normally the spelling rules change to suit that of the language
Anybody knows the word Luno[k]hod?
:mrgreen: That's it, man !!! Пойду, выпью стакан водки за твое здоровье !!! :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by basurero
Or maybe she meant, they were wearing out those unfortunate babushkas.Quote:
Originally Posted by Dogboy182
"Russkaya mafiya" must be another well known term for American people, isn't it :lol:
No russian words, though. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by ***
What about "robot"?
I thought Robot was originally Czech?
Слово робот придумал Чапек, причем не Карел, а Джозеф.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karel_Capek
Etymology of robot
[i]The word robot comes from the word robota meaning "drudgery", "forced labor" in literary Czech and "work", "labor" in literary Slovak.
While Karel Čapek is frequently stated to have been the originator of the word, he wrote a short letter in reference to the Oxford English Dictionary etymology in which he named his brother, painter and writer Josef Čapek as its true inventor. [1]. In an article in the Czech journal Lidov
I didnt look throught this all but , mama papa? were the first ones I figured out as well as pistolet, babushka is grandmother I heard a story from kindergarten called "babushka baba yaga" americanits, for some reason food -eda sounded like eata with a soft "t".politic, scientist, professor,sister brother (brat as in snotty kid I thought this fit perfectally)kat, I think that is all of them.(sorry I cant see the keyboard its late so forgive anymistakes:))
oh and keilbasa, my grandmother is polish for some reason keilbasa sardines, fine cheeses and strong liquer are delicacies in my family.;)