Thread: How to ask for "chai" чай

This has been driving me crazy for a while, please help

The word "tea" in russian is чай. So i could say "чай пожалуйста" to ask for tea. But what if I want "chai" (as in the spiced tea from india)? "chai чай"? Would you simple say "spiced tea from india"?

I think in Russian there is not any special word for what you call "chai" in English. My Lingvo dictionary says:
chai - чай с молоком и специями

We just don't know that sort of tea and don't drink it.

You can say, “Чай по-индийски, пожалуйста,” or “чай со специями, пожалуйста!”

Мне показалось, что вопрос из серии: как по-украински кот? - Кит. А как кит??

We just don't know that sort of tea and don't drink it.

And I am not sure you can find it in any café. So just ask if they make it or look into the menu, there you'll see the Russian name they use. )

Originally Posted by Concise Oxford English Dictionary, 11th edition (2004)

tea made by boiling tea leaves with milk, sugar, and sometimes spices

So are spices necessary? If yes, which spices do you usually add?

I have found another name, "masala chai". So it can be "чай масала" or "масала-чай" in Russian, but I'm not sure. "Масала чай", without a hyphen, looks bad.
http://indonet.ru/indoblog/achadidi/785
http://www.gotovim.ru/recepts/sbs/masalatea.shtml

I don't know which syllable in Russian word is stressed, I would stress the third one. ))) I know, in English the second syllable is stressed, but the word is Indian. )

I have also found some German sites, where it is called "Masala Tee", "Masala Chai Tee", or just "Masala Chai" (but in this case the commentary is added).
http://www.chefkoch.de/rezepte/66121116 ... i-Tee.html
http://www.gesund.co.at/gesund/gesundee ... a-chai.htm

if you want to ask tea with milk(spices) in India - you should say "Chai" or "Tea with milk" or "Masala tea",
in Russia you should say "Чай с молоком" or "Чай со специями"

if you want to ask simply tea (black tea) in India you should say "black tea", but in Russia simply "Чай"

"Chai" is indian word, and in hindi, nepali, many north indian languages means Masala tea (Masala - mix of spices), in south india - plain tea with milk

Originally Posted by Leof

Мне показалось, что вопрос из серии: как по-украински кот? - Кит. А как кит??

Мне тоже. Молодец!

Originally Posted by Оля

I think in Russian there is not any special word for what you call "chai" in English. My Lingvo dictionary says:
chai - чай с молоком и специями

We just don't know that sort of tea and don't drink it.

Вы не знаете чего вы лишены тогда. Вкуснинька!