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Thread: разговаривать vs говорить

  1. #1
    Hanna
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    разговаривать vs говорить

    Good evening everyone Somebody helped me translate the sentence "They were talking with each other." The translation was:
    "Они разговаривают друг с другом" I had been more interested in the "each other" bit, but I got a new word in the bargain...

    But why was "разговаривают" used instead of "говорят"?

    In what way would the sentence be different if "говорят" had been used?
    Quote Originally Posted by Lingvo
    разговаривать
    1) (говорить, вести речь) speak; talk; (с ; беседовать) talk (to, with), speak (to, with), converse (with) 2) (с ; поддерживать общение) speak (to), be on speaking terms (with)

    говорить
    1) (владеть речью, высказываться) speak, talk 2) (сказать) (; высказывать, сообщать) say (to); tell () 3) (поговорить) (с кем-л о ; беседовать) speak (with / to smb about / of); talk (to / with smb about / of) 4) (о ; указывать на что-л) indicate () , point (to) 5) (на кого-л; называть виновником) slander ()

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    mcz
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    Re: разговаривать vs говорить

    "They were talking to each other" - "они разговаривали/говорили друг с другом"
    Difference between "разговаривали" and "говорили" is that "разговаривали" emphasizes that they were having closer particular conversation, and "говорили" means mere event..."разговаривали" is used for a bit closer familiar dialog
    "Сила в Слове..."

  3. #3
    Hanna
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    Re: разговаривать vs говорить

    That's a good explanation, thanks!
    In my language (Swedish) there is a perfect word for closer conversation. With this in mind, I know exactly what you mean. Such a word does not exist in English.

    Problem solved!

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    Завсегдатай it-ogo's Avatar
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    Re: разговаривать vs говорить

    In your example they are interchangeable.

    Разговаривать refers to dialog (or ability to carry dialog) only, while говорить may refer also to the single act of speech.
    "Россия для русских" - это неправильно. Остальные-то чем лучше?

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    Re: разговаривать vs говорить

    In fact, "они разговаривают друг с другом" = "они говорят друг с другом". But if you need to delve deeply into nuances, I'd translate them this way:

    они разговаривают друг с другом - they're talking with each other
    они говорят друг с другом - they're talking to each other
    In Russian, all nationalities and their corresponding languages start with a lower-case letter.

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    mcz
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    Re: разговаривать vs говорить

    Quote Originally Posted by Оля
    In fact, "они разговаривают друг с другом" = "они говорят друг с другом". But if you need to delve deeply into nuances, I'd translate them this way:

    они разговаривают друг с другом - they're talking with each other
    они говорят друг с другом - they're talking to each other
    а я думал, with тут это ошибка, пасиб) сорри за русский, просто ща спать, голова не варит)))
    "Сила в Слове..."

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    Завсегдатай Throbert McGee's Avatar
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    Re: разговаривать vs говорить

    Quote Originally Posted by Johanna
    That's a good explanation, thanks!
    In my language (Swedish) there is a perfect word for closer conversation. With this in mind, I know exactly what you mean. Such a word does not exist in English.
    Of course we have such a word in English: "to have a tête-à-tête"
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    Re: разговаривать vs говорить

    Quote Originally Posted by Throbert McGee
    Of course we have such a word in English: "to have a tête-à-tête"
    English? It sounds French to me.
    Please, correct my mistakes, except for the cases I misspell something on purpose!

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    Re: разговаривать vs говорить

    Quote Originally Posted by Basil77
    Quote Originally Posted by Throbert McGee
    Of course we have such a word in English: "to have a tête-à-tête"
    English? It sounds French to me.
    Потому что проклятые лягушонки у нас украли это коренное англосаксонское выражение! (Just as they stole "trottoir" and "serviette" and "Salade Olivier" from Russian!)
    Говорит Бегемот: "Dear citizens of MR -- please correct my Russian mistakes!"

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    Re: разговаривать vs говорить

    Quote Originally Posted by Throbert McGee
    Потому что проклятые лягушатники украли у нас это коренное англосаксонское выражение!
    Please, correct my mistakes, except for the cases I misspell something on purpose!

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    Re: разговаривать vs говорить

    Quote Originally Posted by Throbert McGee

    Потому что проклятые лягушонки у нас украли это коренное англосаксонское выражение!
    They stole the whole language! Only Anglo-Saxes are true heirs of the great Normandian culture!
    "Россия для русских" - это неправильно. Остальные-то чем лучше?

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    Re: разговаривать vs говорить

    Потому что проклятые лягушонки стащили у нас! это коренное англосаксонское выражение!
    Лягушонки goes here for a joke instead of заезженного "лягушатники"
    Another month ends. All targets met. All systems working. All customers satisfied. All staff eagerly enthusiastic. All pigs fed and ready to fly.

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    Re: разговаривать vs говорить

    Quote Originally Posted by Eugene-p
    Потому что проклятые лягушонки стащили у нас! это коренное англосаксонское выражение!
    Лягушонки goes here for a joke instead of заезженного "лягушатники"
    "Лягушонки" means "little frogs", not "frog-eaters". I could invent a word like "лягушоночники" in case "лягушатники" is too ordinary for you .
    Please, correct my mistakes, except for the cases I misspell something on purpose!

  14. #14
    Hanna
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    Re: разговаривать vs говорить

    Quote Originally Posted by Throbert McGee
    Of course we have such a word in English: "to have a tête-à-tête"



    Class Throbert! Quite true. Isn't tête-à-tête quite an intimate chat though?

    Info: When English words or expressions miss that certain "je ne sais quois" , French often comes to the rescue...

    "Je ne sais quois"= I don't know what" or "hard to define" used a fair bit by many people, along with quite a few other French expressions.

    It's not necessary to know all these, but if you see some French words thrown into a text, then that's what's going on... It tends to be better educated people who use these types of expressions. Comprendez?

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    Re: разговаривать vs говорить

    Quote Originally Posted by Johanna
    Info: When English words or expressions miss that certain "je ne sais quois" , French often comes to the rescue...

    "Je ne sais quois"= I don't know what" or "hard to define" used a fair bit by many people, along with quite a few other French expressions.
    In Russian in such situations we simply say: "х/з".

    Quote Originally Posted by Johanna
    Comprendez?
    Натюрлихъ!
    "Россия для русских" - это неправильно. Остальные-то чем лучше?

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    Re: разговаривать vs говорить

    Quote Originally Posted by it-ogo
    Quote Originally Posted by Johanna
    "Je ne sais quois"= I don't know what" or "hard to define" used a fair bit by many people, along with quite a few other French expressions.
    In Russian in such situations we simply say: "х/з".
    Hmm... I doubt that. Х/з is a rude "expression" and doesn't actually mean the same as "je ne sais quois". If I were to need to translate "je ne sais quois" into Russian, I'd probably translate it as "изюминка" (depending on context, of course, but...).
    In Russian, all nationalities and their corresponding languages start with a lower-case letter.

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