Thread: Chapter 21 questions

Bob,

My God, what a response! Thank you!

A couple more translation problems:
Well, here I am in Moscow. I'd like to write a letter home, but I don't know where to begin.
Ну, вот я и в Москве. Я хотел бы написать письмо домой но не знаю, где начаться. Not sure about imperfective/perfective here.

--Did you notice that that tourist had a Bible in his suitcase?
--Yes, I did, but I want only provocative books.
--Вы не заметили, что у этого туриста выла Библия в чемодане?
--Да, заметил, но я хочу только провокационные книги. Again imperfective/perfective isn't clear to me.

Thanks again,
Z

Originally Posted by zorro

Well, here I am in Moscow. I'd like to write a letter home, but I don't know where to begin.
Ну, вот я и в Москве. Я хотел бы написать письмо домой но не знаю, где начаться. Not sure about imperfective/perfective here.

Ну, вот я и в Москве. - OK!
Я хотел бы написать письмо домой, но не знаю, с чего начать.

Aspects are OK. "Хотел бы написать" is correct. "Не знаю, с чего начать" and "не знаю, с чего начинать" are both possible. The former sounds more spontaneous (perfective "начать"), and the latter implies some "long thinking" (imperfective "начинать").

But there are 3 mistakes:
- always put a comma before "но",
- we do not say "где начинать", we say "с чего начинать" (from what to begin). "Где начинать" sounds as if you do not know WHERE to start physically (in your room, or on a bench in the park).
- "начаться" does not work here. It is a reflexive verb. It is only used when something starts by itself: "фильм начался", "началась зима", "началась война". A person cannot "начаться", he can only "начать" something.

--Did you notice that that tourist had a Bible in his suitcase?
--Yes, I did, but I want only provocative books.
--Вы не заметили, что у этого туриста выла Библия в чемодане?
--Да, заметил, но я хочу только провокационные книги. Again imperfective/perfective isn't clear to me.

--Вы не заметили, что у этого туриста была Библия в чемодане? - Aspects are OK.
--Да, заметил, но я хочу только провокационные книги. - (!) What do you mean by "провокационные книги"? The sentence sounds strange. "Хочу провокационные книги" hardly makes any sense.

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

--Вы не заметили, что у этого туриста была Библия в чемодане? - Aspects are OK.
--Да, заметил, но я хочу только провокационные книги. - (!) What do you mean by "провокационные книги"? The sentence sounds strange. "Хочу провокационные книги" hardly makes any sense.

I can only guess what this means because it's from a series of translation exercises without any coherent context. I didn't write them. Reading the English sentence, I can imagine a young Soviet customs agent asking his superior why he let that Western tourist through when there was a Bible in his suitcase. The boss replies that he's not concerned about Bibles, it's the "provocative books" he needs to confiscate, capitalist propaganda, maybe?

Z