Thread: Cheerleading Cheer

How would this be translated:

Give me an F!
Give me an L!
Give me an A!
Give me a G!
What does that spell?
FLAG

I know that flag is флаг and me is мне and give is дайте and so I have a good guess for the first four lines, but "What does that spell?" I'm not very sure about. Thanks!

What? How do you spell флаг in English?

Here's another cheer, football I think:
Rip, rip, ree,
Hit 'em in the knee.
Rip, rip, rass,
(wait)







Hit 'em in the other knee!

You can’t translate “spell” with one word. Here "What does that spell?" = "Что получилось? "

Thing is that in Russian language you don't have to spell anything. So there is no direct equivalent to "spell". Closest I can think of will be "произнести по буквам". But this is rather rare. And used only when you need to be 100% sure the spelling is correct. And applies only to some uncommon words. But in most cases you don't need it. So I guess as a result, there is no word for "spell" as it simply not needed.

Originally Posted by Syeager

So there is no direct equivalent to "spell".

"Заклинание"!

Actually, Заклинание is not a precise translation of the English "spell," so I guess there really is no translation.

Spells, as what witches do, is just another meaning of the word. If you pick up one of the possible translations from the dictionary at random and use it directly, it may sound real funny. Not to say it will be absolutely wrong. Like cheerleaders calling letters and then putting spells on the crowd.

'Заклинание' is a magic spell. If in the first post bobert provides a magic recipe to materialize a flag from nothing or to summon it magically from another plane of existеnce, then it is adequate.

What does that spell?

In general there are not so many words which have precise equivalent in another arbitrary language.

For example I don't know how to translate "Cheerleading Cheer". "Величальная"? "Речовка"?

Originally Posted by bobert

How would this be translated:

Give me an F!
Give me an L!
Give me an A!
Give me a G!
What does that spell?
FLAG

I know that flag is флаг and me is мне and give is дайте and so I have a good guess for the first four lines, but "What does that spell?" I'm not very sure about. Thanks!

What does that spell? = "Как это читается?" или "Что получилось? "
Как правильно заметил ранее товарищ studyr. Есть такое, например: " Check the spelling" - "Проверьте орфографию"

So do school kids in Russia have weekly spelling tests? If so, how does the teacher refer to these tests? I assume that kids in Russia have difficulty spelling just like kids in the USA. In fact, so far Russian seems slightly more difficult as far as spelling goes than does English. You can't tell me that ПОЖАЛУЙСТА is spelled phonetically!!!

Thanks for the info provided so far!!!

Originally Posted by bobert

So do school kids in Russia have weekly spelling tests? If so, how does the teacher refer to these tests?

It is called "правописание", "орфография" = "correct writing", "orthography". Tests in orthography or correct writing.

But you can not really build a phrase like

What does that orthography?
FLAG

There are some mnemonic orthography rules but it is something like:
- Word "tough" write with letter "t".
Because there are mostly no more than one phonetically problematic letter in a Russian word. Two is rare.

Or there are phrases built out of exceptions.
Цыган подошел на цыпочках к цыпленку и цыкнул: "ЦЫЦ!!!"
Though tough cough and hiccough plough me through.

Originally Posted by bobert

So do school kids in Russia have weekly spelling tests? If so, how does the teacher refer to these tests?

"Контрольная по орфорафии" or "контрольная по правописанию". But that isn't what you need. "Что получилось?" is the nearest translation. That is what parents ask a child when he read out a word letter by letter.

Originally Posted by bobert

I assume that kids in Russia have difficulty spelling just like kids in the USA. In fact, so far Russian seems slightly more difficult as far as spelling goes than does English. You can't tell me that ПОЖАЛУЙСТА is spelled phonetically!!!

Yes we do have difficulties with spelling, not only kids, but we usually don't spell words in English sense of the word (don't pronounce it letter by letter). It's usually enough to distinctly articulate the word without reductions and omissions - по-жа-луй-ста.

Originally Posted by bobert

So do school kids in Russia have weekly spelling tests? If so, how does the teacher refer to these tests? I assume that kids in Russia have difficulty spelling just like kids in the USA. In fact, so far Russian seems slightly more difficult as far as spelling goes than does English. You can't tell me that ПОЖАЛУЙСТА is spelled phonetically!!!

Thanks for the info provided so far!!!

I don’t know what came over me but I thought you were Russian. If you had filled in the location field there would be less confusion now.

Originally Posted by bobert

....
I assume that kids in Russia have difficulty spelling just like kids in the USA. In fact, so far Russian seems slightly more difficult as far as spelling goes than does English.
....

It's simply not true. In fact, Russian has quite regular and standard rules in most cases. Sure there are numerous exceptions, but not as many as in English, where almost every word is an exception. So there there it not needed to drill kids on spelling like they do in English. And a result there is no equivalent of the spelling test like a verbal exercise and there is no single word for it. Closest I can come up with will be "Произнести по буквам" or "Произнести по слогам". Last one used more often and serves quite well.

Originally Posted by Syeager

Closest I can come up with will be "Произнести по буквам" or "Произнести по слогам". Last one used more often and serves quite well.

More regular expression is - "Как пишется?"
But for the song the meaning will be irrelevant. More appropriate specifically to the song was mentioned by studyr "Что получилось". Or "Что это такое" as the question is intended to find the meaning of the resulting word by the provided spelling, but not to spell again the word which was just spelled.