Thread: Why did you choose to learn Russian?

TranslationsMRU - Thanks for explaining that, it sounds like a very efficient system! I hope you can get it back on track. It's getting irritating to see China and the US winning all the medals in the Olympics...

Alex - Oh, I just made that comment because I mixed up several of the girls nicks, and thought they were guys! I didn't understand that "Оля" is nick for Olga for example.. But now I know!

Look what I found! Here is Gena's Swedish "talk-show" for children which ran for many years... and Shappoklack's song in Swedish!
[video:31q2sk2t]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1EgbByB4DdU[/video:31q2sk2t]

"I'm naughty, I'm nasty and my name is Shapoklack!" She was very cool!
[video:31q2sk2t]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c88EQbLNvPw[/video:31q2sk2t]

Originally Posted by Johanna

I'm naughty, I'm nasty and my name is Shapoklack!

Following the very origin this name probably should be written in latin as Chapeauclaque.

Yes, you are probably right about that. (I don't know how they did it in Swedish books about these figures.) In my defense, I probably couldn't even read at the time , let alone understand French...
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Transliteration of Russian words and the names of people and places is a real pest and can be confusing!

For instance; The names of people are spelled differently depending on which European language you are reading in!

Some Russian city names are not even recognisable between different European langauges. I can read Swedish, English and easy German plus easy French. The translation of Russian names between these four are really varying.

Composer Пётр Ильич Чайковский
German Tschaikowski
English Tchaikovsky
Swedish Tjajkovskij
French Tchaïkovski

There are probably some much better examples, but this was the first that sprung to mind.

And anyway, the English transliteration appears "wrong"
It ought to be "Chaikovsky" The T in the current English transliteration is actually only adding confusion for a regular English speaker who is just trying to read the name, with no previous knowledge.

Another one: Chodorkovskij = Khodorkovsky = Ходорко́вский

Hi,

I started to learn Russian, because I live in Moscow for three months and you can't just get around in Moscow without any knowledge of the language is, I am afraid, not possible. Most of the taxi drivers I met dont know any English words like "hotel".
After three weeks I am finally able to read a menu card in a restaurant and order what I want.
When I got here, I was just able to read the signs and had no experience in talking at all. Now, I atleast can ask people for locations and stuff. Now I have decided to keep learning the language, when I get home because it's beside Chinese, Spanish Hindu one of the most important languages regarding the economical development of the next 50 years.

best regards
Tim

Because I am Russian :\
lol
I always wonder if i refused to be adopted?
Where would I Be?

My wife is Ukranian and I'd like to be able to speak with my mother-in-law in her native language. Her stepdad doesn't understand English and I'd like to be able to converse with him.

I work with mostly Slavic people that speak in Russian. I am constantly exposed to the language.

The Soviet Union has produced some of the most beautiful films and I'd love to be able to understand them fully. Same with the songs and literature.

In the UK you need strong motivation and inspiration to learn languages because they are seen as trivial by most parents and in most schools. The real challenge is to motivate yourself because there is little serious language teaching available. Other countries put the UK to shame over language learning.

I started learning Russian in 1981 when I was 16 because it seemed exciting, exotic and mystical. But I wasn't interested in learning Chinese or Japanese! Because the Russians were hidden from us during the Cold War I imagined that they were totally different to us, in a magical way and so therefore much more interesting than other nationalities.

My teacher was over retirement age and full of enthusiasm and taught us the basics well for 2 years but after that I tried learning it at university and there was no proper teaching there at all. You cannot learn a language by yourself. Russian grammar is hard for English speakers because of all the different cases but the words and the things people say is not so very far from English.

It is a challenge worth doing .... Achievements take time and only you know what you have achieved when you have put real effort into something because what might be easy for some people is not easy for everyone.

Originally Posted by Johanna

Transliteration of Russian words and the names of people and places is a real pest and can be confusing!

Русская буква "Ч" звучит схоже с английской "ch" в слове "chest", например. Русская "Х" - как "h", как в словах "hot". Так что Ваш вариант очень даже неплох. А приведенные вами особенности, скорее связаны с историей перевода: первый переводчик имени вероятно очень любил согласные буквы
Русские переводы тоже "can be confusing":
Почему, имя "William the Conqueror" перевели как "Вильгельм"? Это немецкий вариант? Или "Hudson Bay" - как "Гудзон"? Еще ужасно режет ухо произношение "лондОн", хотя, в оригинале звучит "ландэн". Это просто примеры навскидку.
Вообще в языках я профан, зашел сюда из любопытства, перед тем, как начать изучать English