Thread: Laughing with Language Learning...

I've heard and read about saying funny things when you're learning a language and wondered just when it would happen to me...

It happened when I wrote a letter to a Russian friend and I wrote "мы не лошади" when I was meaning to say "у нас нет лошадей". It turned out that the letter arrived during a birthday party at her house... and she couldn't help laughing. My letter was read to the group and she told me that they were laughing so hard. I could have been embarrassed but I couldn't help seeing the humor in it. She told me that they were really impressed with my letter, and just maybe they were...why it's true that we're not horses, isn't it?

What's the funny thing you've said in your language learning??? I know for a fact, I'm not alone in this sort of thing!

such things happen to me all the time....
it is a 1000 times better to try and make some mistakes then not to try at all for fear of making them....

oh ja, and у меня есть лошадей!!

Maybe it was even more funny taking into account widely known quotation from a poem by Mayakovsky:

Деточка,
все мы немножко лошади,
каждый из нас по-своему лошадь

Baby,
we all are horses,
each in their own manner

The poem is about a horse that fell down at the street and people were making fun of it. The horse was embarrassed for a while but then just stood up and walk away perfectly happy about herself.

Recursive fun, huh?

People often produce fun unwillingly whether they learn any foreign language or not. And your kind of fun was not really embarrassing IMHO.

Looking at a picture of a lake, I said to my teacher:

"Там я катался на коньках когда я был учебник".

Scott

A classic example of "Runglish" is an attempt to translate the Russian phrase "Я плохо себя чувствую" (I am unwell, I feel sick) into English literally.

Some Russian guy, an employee of a foreign company, called his English-speaking boss in the morning:

- I will not come to the office today. I feel myself badly.

And another funny example of this sort:
a Russian who just started learning English and cannot speak and write well, introduces himself:

My name Sergei. I am live in Moscow. I teach English.

(meaning to say "I learn English" since the same Russian verb "учить" can be translated both as "to learn" and "to teach").

oh ja, and у меня есть лошадей!!

eisenherz - I can see that! I wish we did, too.

"Там я катался на коньках когда я был учебник".

Scott, now, that was really funny!

- I will not come to the office today. I feel myself badly.

I'd suppose you'd feel yourself pretty badly if you were sick...

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

And another funny example of this sort:
a Russian who just started learning English and cannot speak and write well, introduces himself:

My name Sergei. I am live in Moscow. I teach English.

(meaning to say "I learn English" since the same Russian verb "учить" can be translated both as "to learn" and "to teach").

lol! So, there are Russian words that have kinda opposite meanings, too. Sort of like 'dusting' can be the act of putting on 'dust' or the removal of 'dust'!

Originally Posted by genuinefarmgirl

lol! So, there are Russian words that have kinda opposite meanings, too. Sort of like 'dusting' can be the act of putting on 'dust' or the removal of 'dust'!

Not exactly! I see what you mean, I am aware of the example with "dusting" in English. They are so-called "self-antonyms". In Russian the true self-antonyms are very rare. Two well-known examples are "прослушать" and "просмотреть".

"Прослушать" means "to listen something from beginning to end, to listen the whole piece of speech, or broadcast, or lecture etc."
The other meaning of "прослушать" is "to miss hearing of something": someone told something but you failed to hear etc.
So, when a radio announcer says after a proadcasting program is finished: "вы прослушали передачу ..." it can be understood ambiguously. Actually, he means "you have listened (the entire) program...", but another possible meaning is "you missed the program..." (imagine, you have just turned the radio on when the program is finished)

The same is with "просмотреть" - 1) to watch from beginning to end (a whole movie, or a whole TV program etc.); 2) to miss watching something (when they showed but you failed to notice etc.). So, "вы просмотрели фильм" can mean 1) you finished seeing the whole movie; 2) you missed seeing the movie.

Those self-antonyms exist due to the fact that the Russian verb prefix "про-" has multiple meanings. One of them is "to have something done from beginning to end", another one is "to skip, to miss, to pass something".

But I cannot think of any other self-antonyms in Russian. Maybe there are some more, but nothing else comes to my mind now.

However, the case with "учить" has nothing to do with this thing. We will never confuse its meanings due to different cases and different syntax.
When "учить" means "to learn something", then the learner is in Nominative, and the subject he learns is in Accusative (quite straightforward, similar to English): Я учу английский язык = I learn English, я учу физику = I learn physics etc.
But when "учить" means "to teach something to someone", then the teacher is in Nominative, the student is in Accusative, and the subject is in Dative:
Я учу детей английскому языку = I teach English to children, я учу студентов физике = I teach physics to students.

Even if the student is omitted, there is still the difference (due to different cases). So, "Я учу английский язык" is always understood as "I learn English", but "Я учу английскому языку" is always understood as "I teach English (to someone, not mentioned)".

But Russians do not usually think of those nuances, they just understand them intuitively, Thus, "учить" is the same verb for a Russian who is a total beginner in English, and he might not understand the difference between "to learn" and "to teach" due to the lack of cases in English.

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

Not exactly! I see what you mean, I am aware of the example with "dusting" in English. They are so-called "self-antonyms". In Russian the true self-antonyms are very rare. Two well-known examples are "прослушать" and "просмотреть".

"Прослушать" means "to listen something from beginning to end, to listen the whole piece of speech, or broadcast, or lecture etc."
The other meaning of "прослушать" is "to miss hearing of something": someone told something but you failed to hear etc.
So, when a radio announcer says after a proadcasting program is finished: "вы прослушали передачу ..." it can be understood ambiguously. Actually, he means "you have listened (the entire) program...", but another possible meaning is "you missed the program..." (imagine, you have just turned the radio on when the program is finished)

The same is with "просмотреть" - 1) to watch from beginning to end (a whole movie, or a whole TV program etc.); 2) to miss watching something (when they showed but you failed to notice etc.). So, "вы просмотрели фильм" can mean 1) you finished seeing the whole movie; 2) you missed seeing the movie.

Those self-antonyms exist due to the fact that the Russian verb prefix "про-" has multiple meanings. One of them is "to have something done from beginning to end", another one is "to skip, to miss, to pass something".

But I cannot think of any other self-antonyms in Russian. Maybe there are some more, but nothing else comes to my mind now.

However, the case with "учить" has nothing to do with this thing. We will never confuse its meanings due to different cases and different syntax.
When "учить" means "to learn something", then the learner is in Nominative, and the subject he learns is in Accusative (quite straightforward, similar to English): Я учу английский язык = I learn English, я учу физику = I learn physics etc.
But when "учить" means "to teach something to someone", then the teacher is in Nominative, the student is in Accusative, and the subject is in Dative:
Я учу детей английскому языку = I teach English to children, я учу студентов физике = I teach physics to students.

Even if the student is omitted, there is still the difference (due to different cases). So, "Я учу английский язык" is always understood as "I learn English", but "Я учу английскому языку" is always understood as "I teach English (to someone, not mentioned)".

But Russians do not usually think of those nuances, they just understand them intuitively, Thus, "учить" is the same verb for a Russian who is a total beginner in English, and he might not understand the difference between "to learn" and "to teach" due to the lack of cases in English.

One small detail is missed here, we can say:

Я учусь английскому языку - and this would mean I learn English

Originally Posted by iCake

One small detail is missed here, we can say:

Я учусь английскому языку - and this would mean I learn English

Yes, but I missed it deliberately in order not to overcomplicate the things for a beginner. I limited myself by only considering "учить", not "учиться" - they are different verbs though.

Originally Posted by Боб Уайтман

Not exactly! I see what you mean, I am aware of the example with "dusting" in English. They are so-called "self-antonyms". In Russian the true self-antonyms are very rare. Two well-known examples are "прослушать" and "просмотреть".

"Прослушать" means "to listen something from beginning to end, to listen the whole piece of speech, or broadcast, or lecture etc."
The other meaning of "прослушать" is "to miss hearing of something": someone told something but you failed to hear etc.
So, when a radio announcer says after a proadcasting program is finished: "вы прослушали передачу ..." it can be understood ambiguously. Actually, he means "you have listened (the entire) program...", but another possible meaning is "you missed the program..." (imagine, you have just turned the radio on when the program is finished)

The same is with "просмотреть" - 1) to watch from beginning to end (a whole movie, or a whole TV program etc.); 2) to miss watching something (when they showed but you failed to notice etc.). So, "вы просмотрели фильм" can mean 1) you finished seeing the whole movie; 2) you missed seeing the movie.

Those self-antonyms exist due to the fact that the Russian verb prefix "про-" has multiple meanings. One of them is "to have something done from beginning to end", another one is "to skip, to miss, to pass something".

But I cannot think of any other self-antonyms in Russian. Maybe there are some more, but nothing else comes to my mind now.

However, the case with "учить" has nothing to do with this thing. We will never confuse its meanings due to different cases and different syntax.
When "учить" means "to learn something", then the learner is in Nominative, and the subject he learns is in Accusative (quite straightforward, similar to English): Я учу английский язык = I learn English, я учу физику = I learn physics etc.
But when "учить" means "to teach something to someone", then the teacher is in Nominative, the student is in Accusative, and the subject is in Dative:
Я учу детей английскому языку = I teach English to children, я учу студентов физике = I teach physics to students.

Even if the student is omitted, there is still the difference (due to different cases). So, "Я учу английский язык" is always understood as "I learn English", but "Я учу английскому языку" is always understood as "I teach English (to someone, not mentioned)".

But Russians do not usually think of those nuances, they just understand them intuitively, Thus, "учить" is the same verb for a Russian who is a total beginner in English, and he might not understand the difference between "to learn" and "to teach" due to the lack of cases in English.

Very informative, thanks! I see what you're saying. I love grammar and I was reading about cases recently. I have a ways to go to understanding it yet.

Моделирую корабли в 3D. Недавно закончил линкор «Марат». Следующая по заданию — плавучая платформа «Не тронь меня».
Долго хохотал над названием, учитывая, то, что оно было сначала мной неправильно понято. )))