Artistic-shmartistic. It does not pay the bills. :lol:
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Artistic-shmartistic. It does not pay the bills. :lol:
Well, yeah, but liking a language shouldn't be a monetary issue :wink:
Perhaps it is because of our cool "th" sounds.Quote:
Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie
You're absolutely right that the chief reason why so many people like English is because this language makes it easier to communicate with the world. There are, however, other reasons for learning English.Quote:
Why on Earth do people like English better than Russian, I can't for the life of me figure it out. Is it because it makes it easier to communicate with the world? Or do you actually like the sound, the expressions, etc.?
in Russian you have alot more freedom in expressing yourself, a much bigger vocabulary, a powerhouse of artistic potentiality! Yes, it is harder, but that is what makes it so much more rewarding to know it!
The first one: To get a well-paid job you are usually required to be fluent in a foreign language. Most employers require or badly want their employees to know English.
The second: There are at least five pretty highly developed countires in the world where English is the official language. These are: USA, Canada, UK, Australia, and New Zeland. I forgot about Malta. Since Russia is not as developed as the countries mentioned a lot of people want to go to them and understand why life in these countries is better than in Russia .
That's my point :D
Только бил на уме... Культур-мультур никакой. :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by adoc
Никакой мультур does not like to be top-educated yet undemanded, humiliated and flat-ass broke :D . Freedom is the understanding of necessity - remember that? The same goes for likes. I am not going to live 500 years, and I have no time to waste, so I better like what I do. Hopefully I didn't confuse you, because I'd rather not go into details. Artsy-fartsy is nice but it does not concern me nearly as much as science and technology, and this is English-English-English-Japanese, not even German.Quote:
Originally Posted by N
Well it depends on a person. One has no need in knowing a language, the other has this need. Everyone has his own needs (i.e. материальные и духовные потребности ). I think today in the modern society in the eyes of a portion of people languages compete as any other commodity. In Russia many people from minorites don't want to know their mother tongue considering it of no use. There is no that many (if any) science works in Buryat or in Udmurt because few people will be able to read it. So if you wish to be successful you had to know Russian here. Now with globalisation the same thing goes for the whole world with English as the dominant language in advanced areas. So if you wish to be there you must know this language. In Soviet time Russian was in a good position before collapse that affected Russian sciense as well. So for people who don't consider Russia and any other country as a native land it is normal to seek for a better place to live. It's like a job changing :)Quote:
Originally Posted by adoc
Why on Earth? Because it's an earthly language. :)Quote:
Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie
Well, if seriously... Deep inside I feel more English. I don't know to what extent... It's a strong feeling. Seems like I have experienced much of the English life, if it can be said like this, and that made a deep imprint in my soul. I can't explain my bent for the language.
Aha! So you don't enjoy the plethora of pronounciation rules, the wonderful articles of Death, the sweet Vogon poetry and the 88 verb tenses?
It is based on a real need. Like-schmike :wink:
Now Rtyom is speaking my language! (not only literally) I fully undertstand, since that is the same feeling I have towards Russian... :!:
Hm, I enjoy pronunciation, grammar and wonderful, crazy possibilities of making the same word incorporate so much meanings. Playing with words is sooooooo cute...
Like i said, i have a reason to learn other languages. However, as a native English speaker I can't say that I have any economic reasons to learn anything else. But I think learning new languages/cultures is the coolest thing in the whole world. I'm a scientist, and I love that...but if i had it all to do over again, I would have studied languages. I would learn Russian, and Chinese, and Arabic, and Twi, and .... well, you get the point.
I just think it's fun!
By the way...as we discussed...I went back to Bulgarian this weekend. Let me tell you, I studied like crazy over the weekend. But I was so confused. The only book I have for Bulgarian is "Teach Yourself", which, by the way sucks. I kept getting Russian and Bulgarian mixed up. I kept forgetting to pronounce the ь, which is distinctly pronounced in Bulgarian, and quite common.
I know I just started, but I think I made negative progress this weekend. I'm more messed up than when I started! Maybe I need a better book. Maybe I need a miracle! (sorry, bear with me here, I'm just whining a little bit.)
I think everything is based on needs as far as motives of human behavior are concerned. In the case of Rtyom it is spiritual need. ;) (Well, I may be wrong with using this word "need" - what I mean is потребности that could be both materialistic and spiritual).Quote:
Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie
I speak Polish and sometimes when I hear people Speak Russian, or any other slavic language I can pick out words that sound like Polish and it sparked a interest for me. I picked Russian because cyrillic is really cool and I wanted to learn that. + I've seen a lot of hot Russian chicks ;)
As far as I remember I have already written in this thread about my 'Polish' experience in Britain. Have you read it?
becuz itz kewl!!
What did you mean by kewl? Cool? :? :?: :?
Yeah dude, kewl is the kewl way to spell cool. Kapish?
Duuuude - my little sister thought kewl was cool about five years ago... :)
:)Quote:
Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie
I've idea what that means! :(Quote:
Kapish?
I prefer to spell words correctly anyway.Quote:
Duuuude - my little sister thought kewl was cool about five years ago...
I assume he meant "capisce" which means "do you understand" in Italian. Question you would answer by "capito" which means " I understand".Quote:
Originally Posted by ReDSanchous
I know just two words in Italian. They sound like "Vaffanculo Puttana". I think the spelling is wrong because, like I said, I never learned Italian.
I may be wrong but I think "vafanculo" is a F word and "putana" is to name a woman, but I'm sure you already figured out. :)
As well as Putano. It was the Italians who taught me these two words. What on Earth do foreign students teach one another in the first place? Of course, swearwords.
Probably for several reasons such as to put yourself in trouble when telling this to someone and thinking these were nice words, or for fun since cursing words are easy to remember, or some kind of joke they wanted you to be part of.
It's common for students (especially comparatively young) to exchange such words. Though those Italians were about 17-19, which, I think, is a mature age. Incidentally, how do you know that word is bad?
I agree with you, it's common to exchange such words and it seems to be amusing. I wouldn't say 17-19 is a mature age but a pre-mature age. I just went through an Italian forum. :wink:
It depends.Quote:
I wouldn't say 17-19 is a mature age but a pre-mature age.
Anyways, it looks like an off-topic :off: because it's nothing to do with Russian.
Maybe that is the italian way to spell it, but it ain't the american way. At least not in my circle :) Kapish?Quote:
Originally Posted by Spiderkat
Why not! By the way this "%@$#^@$%+_~|}E.,/." is the Martian way. :lol:Quote:
Originally Posted by kalinka_vinnie
I just gave ReSanchous the correct spelling since the origin of this word is Italian. :wink:
Hmmm... %@$#^@$%+_~|}E.,/... it just rolls right off your tongue!!! %@$#^@$%+_~|}E.,/!Quote:
Originally Posted by Spiderkat
So, to clear up those words you're so much interested:
vaffanculo > f**k you
puttana > slut
capisci > you understand
But there hundreds, thousands of other words in italian!
You're from Barcelona, aren't you? How do you know Italian? Learning it?
Thanks for the explanation. Those Italians I referred to later also said there were a lot of swearwords in Italian :wink:
I want to learn Russian because I'm interested in Russian history, literature and culture. I would love to be able to read Dostoevsky in the original.
But also it's an overall fascination with eastern Europe. I would love to have a good grounding in all the Slavic languages and just spend years traveling around that part of the world.
I was originally interested in Polish and I still am. But I am going to try and get a handle on Russian first and then re-visit Polish in a few years.
Ясон
Gatton, welcome and good luck with your Russian and Polish studies! :D
Your signature says "Ясон". Did you mean 'Jason'? If you did it's spelled as 'Джейсон'. 'Ясон' is a traditional spelling for the Greek myth character - Jason of the Argonauts. :wink:
Здравствуйте gRomoZeka!
Yea that's me! :oops:Quote:
'Ясон' is a traditional spelling for the Greek myth character - Jason of the Argonauts. :wink:
Ok I'll update it in my profile. Thanks for the tip!
The reason I have chosen to learn Russian is mostly due to the fact that my wife is Russian.
Her English is impeccable (better than most native speakers it seems... at least here in good 'ole America ;) ), but I feel the desire to learn for several reasons.
For one, I think it is respectful. My wife speaks to me in my language all the time, it is only fair that I at least try to balance things a bit.
It also will help me learn her culture, which again, is a matter of respect, as well as interest on my part.
None of her family speaks English. This fact terrifies me enough that I have decided I must try and learn some Russian to survive when I have to make visits. Haven't gone yet... but we're planning to go see the parents come this Fall (oy! :? ).
Perhaps it'd be better if I were to play completely stupid and act as if I know nothing! пожалуйста, я не понимаю! ;)
Finally, I think it'd be a terrible wasted opportunity if I did not learn the language. I have a tutor at my fingertips anytime I'd like, perhaps to her chagrin. :P
I think it's really nice reason to learn Russian.Quote:
Originally Posted by muzzy
My wife is Russian too but I'm Ukrainian. We live in Russia and sometimes go to Ukraine for a while. She can't speak Ukrainian and doesn't want to learn Ukrainian although she understands Ukrainian clearly.
why? for the language itself, for the songs, for the snow, for the fun, for the good looking women