Thread: new parents

We just adopted a little girl, and we could use some help with essential phrases, especially to communicate rules about not hitting, spitting or kicking, and that whining, sulking and muttering under her breath are not going to get her her way. She is picking up English fairly well, but some things are hard to communicate!

How old is she and do you intend to keep her involved with Russian culture and language?

She is 8. We are trying to keep her language and culture. We have a Russian speaking piano teacher, and contacts in the community. For now, we are trying to help her adjust to a whole new world, and get along in a family. She reads some Russian, so it is possible to get many things across with simple words and gestures

Плевать to spit
Скулить to whine
Пинать to kick
Бормотать to mutter

... to negate these... well to tell her to not spit, for example simply ad a не! No spitting no whining, so on... but. it sounds like u are assuming she will behave like she is 4, most 8 year olds are on the fairy mature spectrum of childhood and do not throw tantrums... and can cope pretty well... but you know her better than i do, and i think u should just worry about her learning english for now.

Negating these verbs will not be a command form. Sometimes the infinitive is used for a command but only really in a very formal way, such as on no smoking signs and such. не курить However, to form a command, you need to put it in the imperative form.....

не скули! don't whine

не Плевай - dont spit

не Пинай -dont kick

If you dont know cyrillic, heres how to say them

NEE SKOOLEE!
NEE PlevI
Nee PinI I=as in high

Originally Posted by drew881

не Плевай - dont spit

Не плюй
nee PLyOOY

thanks, i messed that one up. Havent learned that verb yet and assumed it had a basic first conjugation

Originally Posted by Dogboy182

Плевать to spit
it sounds like u are assuming she will behave like she is 4, most 8 year olds are on the fairy mature spectrum of childhood and do not throw tantrums... and can cope pretty well... but you know her better than i do, and i think u should just worry about her learning english for now.

Depends, also the "new parents" would have to be careful not to under estimate the childs intelligence because the child is unable to communicate with them.

8 years old is pretty harsh, but she will more than likely learn English very well, it's at about 10 or 12 that the language barrier just drops them too far behind.

Thanks for all your help. Though she is 8, and pretty bright, emotionally she is more like 4, and adjusting to family life in a new language after being in an institution is a really tough process. There are lots of things she has never learned, or even seen, so we are trying to set up basic rules. On the whole, she is doing beautifully, and we say Спасибо.

Well we hope to see you back, and you have a fantastic opertunity to learn russian from your daughter, and to advance her own russian and english.

just make sure she doesn't lose her russian... give russian books to read, ask people what are the literature classics, watch russian movies with her, etc. It helps out a great deal. I know. =)

Where you adopted from Russia and brought over to the US?

She is from the Tver region. She has been here in the US about 3 weeks.

stop hitting: Не дерись! Ne deris' Перестань драться perestan' dratsa
don't spit: Не надо плеваться ne nada plevatsa
don't kick: не надо пинаться ne nada pinatsa, нельзя пинаться nel'z'a pinatsa
don't whine не хнычь ne knnych

Did she come from the orphanage in Staritsa?

No. she is from a village way up in the northeast of Tver.

You could simply use НЕЛЬЗЯ (NEL'ZYA) followed by the verb. This means "You mustn't..."
Also try НЕ СТОИТ (NE STO-EET), for "It's no use.." as in "It's no use whinging, etc"

You folks have been SOO helpful, I though I might try a more challenging one.
We need to get a smaple of bowel movement to take to the lab. The doctor said I could drain the toilet and collect a speciment, but I am stumped as to how to tell her that she needs to poop into an empty toilet and tell me so I can take some from there for the lab to look at. I have been putting this off, because it is so challenging. Perhaps I do need a translator for this one...

if you are not joking ...
tell her that <nada skhadit' v tualet pa balshomu> or <nada pakakat'> and <ne slivat' vodu> (not to wash it down) because <nada sdat' analizy> (take samples to the lab). She could have got some experience from her past and understand you easily

I wish I were joking, thanks for the help. We will give it a try at the next...opportunity. It is just one of the fun parts of parenting!