Thread: What are your opinions on the bar at the bottom of the site?

Word: Аэропорт
Meaning: Airport
Pronunciation:
ighrah-port

Come on, MA, you can do better than this!

Word: Аэропорт
Meaning: Airport
Pronunciation: ighrah-port

You're having a laugh!

Best. Translit. Evah.

I like seeing the Russian signs. And the way it's translated, word of the day and it's use in a sentence etc. The photos have so far been very good and interesting.

Word: Свет

Hey MA, do you really need to mark the accent on a one-syllable word?

'svyet'
There's always going to be one of us beginners that'd find a way to cock that word up. "Um sir, in a single syllable word, does its stress fall on the first syllable of the following word?" etc.
Though it'd be hard to cock up this particular point, I have to say.
(And no, Pravit, I'm not recounting here one of my mistakes).

Originally Posted by brett

'svyet'
There's always going to be one of us beginners that'd find a way to cock that word up. "Um sir, in a single syllable word, does its stress fall on the first syllable of the following word?" etc.
Though it'd be hard to cock up this particular point, I have to say.
(And no, Pravit, I'm not recounting here one of my mistakes).

Well, y'see, Brett, that would be a valid point if the one-syllable word was actually in a sentence(e.g. "da nyet" with one of the words not being accented), but it's very hard not to pronounce the stress on a one-syllable word when reading it in isolation. If not impossible. I certainly can't do it.

Word: Запретить
Meaning: To forbid, prohibit, ban
Pronunciation:
zah-pree-teet'
Example: Ему запретили пользоваться доской объявлений.
Translation: He was banned from the bulletin board.
Notes: Запретить (perfective aspect); Запрещать (imperfective aspect)

Today's word of the day couldn't be more fitting!

On today's street sign is the word 'hlyeb' (bread). The Russian 'l' equivalent is written in its hand-written form, like an upside down 'v', as opposed to the printed. Is is common for Russia's street signs to use handwritten? It is more easily distingushable from Russian 'p' than in print. So, it'd make sense, so long as all the other letters don't look printed. In which case it looks a little like a 'p'.
I know it wouldn't be a problem once you knew the word, but for uncommon words, there could be passers-by looking twice before they decide what a sign is saying. It's still heaps better than English handwriting, though.

Originally Posted by brett

On today's street sign is the word 'hlyeb' (bread). The Russian 'l' equivalent is written in its hand-written form, like an upside down 'v', as opposed to the printed.

Printed "л" can look like upside down "v" too. It depends on the font. Here are four signs with printed "л":

http://404.rzn.ru/tmp/l/PICT0329.jpg
http://404.rzn.ru/tmp/l/PICT0340.jpg
http://404.rzn.ru/tmp/l/PICT0890.jpg
http://404.rzn.ru/tmp/l/PICT0891.jpg

Is is common for Russia's street signs to use handwritten?

No.

I know it wouldn't be a problem once you knew the word, but for uncommon words, there could be passers-by looking twice before they decide what a sign is saying.

Yeah, I agree that 2nd and 4th ways of writing are pretty confusing. But I think 1st and 3rd ways are more common.

EDIT: Oops, I just saw the sign "хлеб", I saw the sign "квас" for some reason till now. It's not a hand-writen form of "л", it's a printed form.

spasiba, Alexei. That was very helpful. Yes, I wasn't aware of the variety of ways it could be written. All I've had is regulation learning tool books to go by. Yeah, 1 and 3 are very easy to distinguish, now that I know 'l' is written that way. That first 'l' is better than the version I always find in learning tool books.

Hand-written form of "хлеб" looks like here:
http://404.rzn.ru/tmp/l/bread.jpg

Russian: Кристально чистая вода
English: Crystally clear water

From the sign of the day.

It's correct as "Crystal clear"

It's not a post office although the sign says почта, it's a post box (mailbox) - почтовый ящик.

Yeah, but that doesn't agree with what's in the picture. The best compromise would be to say it's "mail", since it is a box for mail and many mailboxes around the world are labelled with this word.

I think it's great! Oh...thanks for pointing that out..
I love the site in general because of all the different forum (subject) choices...and I just got here. I don't know more than "most" of the alphabet; "some" of the grammer; and a very few words and phrases... the bar at the bottom will help alot put words to context and more-thanks.