Are very many words phonetically similar to English/Latin?
I have noticed in my Russian learning book that there are quite a few words in the beginning chapters that I can recognize by simply sounding them out. I don't know if they are doing this so that I can learn to pronounce individual letters or whether this is actual common. An example: PECTOPAH - restaurant (sorry its not in russian type I haven't figure out the whole keyboard thing).
I am not sure they they are just being used as a phonetic exercise or whether English and Russian actually share some similar words. Thanks.
Re: Are very many words phonetically similar to English/Latin?
There are quite a few words in Russian that are borrowed from English or from other European languages. Just be aware that there are usually some differences in how they are pronounced in Russian. A familiar looking word won't sound so familiar when you hear it with a stress on a different syllable.
The majority of geographical words (countries, cities, etc.) are pretty close to what they are in English.
Re: Are very many words phonetically similar to English/Latin?
As paulb mentioned there are many borrowed words in Russian (mostly of Greek, Latin, German, Turkish, French, Dutch and English origin). Most of these words can be called "international", because their versions are used in many European languages.
For example..
1) sport vocabulary:
sport - спорт, tennis - теннис, баскетбол - basketball, boots - бутсы, goal - гол, boxing - бокс, referee - рефери, etc. Sometimes people use both a borrowed and a 'Russian' word, e.g. goalkeeper = голкипер = вратарь (from "ворота" - gate(way), goal).
2) names of exotic animals, birds and plants (I think you willbe able to translate them on your own :)):
Жираф, кенгуру, тигр, горилла, фламинго, баобаб, эвкалипт, панда, опоссум, etc.
3) technical terms:
механик (mechanic), автомобиль, радио, телевизор, мотоцикл, радиатор, трансмиссия, электроника, etc.
4) Economics and politics:
парламент, демократия, революция, митинг, партия, банк, депозит, бартер, брокер, инвестор, дилер, etc.
5) Сomputer-related vocabulary:
компьютер, принтер, монитор, процессор, слот, файл, интерфейс, etc.
6) Music and arts:
музыка, джаз, импрессионизм, балет, танго, соло, хор (choir), баритон, гитара, скульптура, etc.
7) Some medical and anatomy terms:
доктор, анатомия, фаланга, пенис, вагина, мигрень, госпиталь (it means usually a military hospital, for other kinds of hospitals the Russian word "больница" is more common), etc.
8) Other science-related words:
биология, зоология, математика, геометрия, география, академик (academician), профессор, логика, эксперимент, проект, гравитация, космос, etc.
9) Some military terms:
танк (tank, as a vehicle), генерал (general), майор (major), флаг, ракета (rocket), бомба, бомбардировка (bombardment, bombing), парашют, etc.
And HUNDREDS and HUNDREDS of others.
There are also words that are not the same, but resemble each other anyway. Since both English and Russian are Indo-European languages some of these words share the same roots while others are just a coincidence. This resemblance, however slight, makes it easier to memorise these words:
nose - нос
brother - брат
sister - сестра
water - вода
Sun (sol) - солнце
cat - кот
milk - молоко
and so on.. ;)
The uniquely Russian words are not so hard to lear either, if you make sure to notice their connections with other words and try to guess their roots and origins.
Re: Are very many words phonetically similar to English/Latin?
Awesome, thanks for listing so many examples out also it helps me to learn and pronounce new words! :hlop:
Re: Are very many words phonetically similar to English/Latin?
But probably the only two words that are identical in both languages are мама and mama.
Re: Are very many words phonetically similar to English/Latin?
Quote:
Originally Posted by chaika
But probably the only two words that are identical in both languages are мама and mama.
Папа??
also бить is close enough for government work, as they say.
Re: Are very many words phonetically similar to English/Latin?
Well, just to add some...
Кофе - coffee
Чай - tea, compare chai
Карри - curry
Lots of modern vocabulary is loaned from French including such "everyday" words as пляж, (beach) - la plage and этаж - (floor, as in "first floor") - l'étage.
Sailing terminology (useful if ye like pir-r-rate stor-r-ries, Arrrr. :) ) is unfortunately mostly Dutch (or at least press-ganged sailor's idea of Dutch.), so "mainsail" would be "грот" and "foremast" - "фок-мачта", and bafflingly "stand from under!" - "Полундра!" (although nowadays this isn't used in it's original strict sense (except by sailors, maybe) - it may mean any kind of emergency.) Then again, ship decks are supported by beams and pillars... Или бимсами и пиллерсами... So some English words here too.
Re: Are very many words phonetically similar to English/Latin?
There are quite a few words in Russian that are borrowed from English or from other European languages. Just be aware that there are usually some differences in how they are pronounced in Russian. A familiar looking word won't sound so familiar when you hear it with a stress on a different syllable