Thread: Animals.

факт

руск. - ленивец
Eng. - sloth

Буйвол (rus)
Buffalo (eng)
Bubalus (lat)

Макросъемка
Macro

Пупырышки на носу снимал

Вот ты какой, северный олень!
Reindeer (eng)
Rangifer tarandus (lat)



Тоже морковку хочет.

Павлин (rus)
Peacock (eng)
Pavo (lat)



Танцует перед самочкой и заодно сушит хвостик после дождя.

Отличные НОСЫ!

Если не вру, то нам попался:

Морской лещ
Sea bream
Sparidae

Мне нравятся дельфины! Вы знаете, что делфины любят играть с воздушными пузырями? Они сами себе делают изгрушки!
I love dolphins! Did you know that dolphins like to play with bubbles? They make their own toys!

по-русски - Дельфин (Phocoena)
English - dolphin, or porpoise (dolphin is also a fish: Coryphaena/дорадо)


ещё - http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1041454/d ... ble_rings/

Originally Posted by Winifred

[s:1sj6m5sp]Дельфины мне нравятся! Знаете ли вы, что дельфины любят тешиться воздушных пузырей? Они производят свои игрушки![/s:1sj6m5sp]
Я люблю дельфинов! Вы знаете, что дельфины любят играть с воздушными пузырями? Они сами себе делают игрушки!
I love dolphins! Did you know that dolphins like to play with bubbles? They make their own toys!

по-русски - дельфин, или морская свинья (Phocoena)
English - dolphin, or porpoise (dolphin is also a fish: Coryphaena/дорадо)

[s:1sj6m5sp]тоже[/s:1sj6m5sp] ещё - http://www.metacafe.com/watch/1041454/d ... ble_rings/

Welcome back, Winifred!
Great photo.

But we don't call dolphins "морские свиньи" in Russian. Porpoises ("морские свиньи") are animals that look similar to dolphins, but still have some differences. They even belong to different families.

Dolphins are marine mammals that are closely related to whales and porpoises.

And while in English it's ok to use the words interchangebly, in Russian people are more likely to call a porpoise a dolphin (because they don't know any better), but not vice a versa.

The only dolphins I've seen in real life are bottlenose dolphins ("афалины"), they are common in the Black sea too.

Привет и спасибо, Оля и gRomozeka!


Оля, я думаю, что там била скучно без меня!
Olya, I think that you were bored without me!

У меня - вопрос: Если я переведу так, мой русски язык ещё будет неправильный? :
I have a question: If I were to translate thus, would my Russian still be wrong? :

Дельфины мне нравятся( why perfective? they always delight me!) Знаете ли вы (is this not used?), что дельфины любят тешиться воздушных пузырей? Они производят свои игрушки!

Dolphins delight me! Did you know that dolphins amuse themselves with air bubbles? They manufacture their own toys!

Я продолжаю учиться, еле-еле.

Originally Posted by Winifred

Оля, я думаю, что [skb2rp47]там била[/skb2rp47] тебе было скучно без меня!
Olya, I think that you were bored without me!

У меня - вопрос: Если я переведу так, [skb2rp47]мой русский язык ещё будет неправильный[/skb2rp47] это всё равно будет неправильно? (your wording doesn't sound natural) :
I have a question: If I were to translate thus, would my Russian still be wrong? :

Дельфины мне нравятся( why perfective? they always delight me!)
It's not perfective. Your sentence is stylistically wrong, we say that in the way I wrote above: я люблю дельфинов
Знаете ли вы (is this not used? "знаете ли вы" is okay, but a bit bookish), что дельфины любят [skb2rp47]тешиться воздушных пузырей? Они производят свои игрушки![/skb2rp47] That's wrong and even hardly has any sense.

Я продолжаю учиться, [skb2rp47]еле-еле[/skb2rp47] потихоньку or понемногу.

"Дельфины мне нравятся" is perfectly ok. I would say "Мне нравятся дельфины" too, because I certainly don't like them strongly enough to say that I love them ("Я люблю дельфинов"). They are ok, that's all.

In the sentences that Оля marked in red both verbs are stylistically wrong. "Тешиться" is very old-fasioned, the first examples that come to mind are PROVERBS*. It's hardly used in any everyday phrases (again, apart from citing the proverbs) and it sounds strange in that context.
Also that sentence is gramatically wrong - it should be "любят тешиться пузырями" (instrumental case).
"Производить" gives an impression that the dolphins have a toy factory or someting.

* Two popular proverbs with "тешиться":
чем бы дитя ни тешилось, лишь бы не плакало ≈ anything for a quiet life
милые бранятся - только тешатся - the quarrel of lovers is the renewal of love

"Тешить" is more common, but it's also used mostly in the set expressions:
тешить себя надеждой (на ; что) - find comfort in the hope (for; that)
(по)тешить (чье-то) самолюбие ~ to feed someone's vanity, to sooth smn's pride
etc.

Originally Posted by gRomoZeka

"Дельфины мне нравятся" is perfectly ok.

Well, it's OK, but not perfectly OK, in my opinion. The construction "я люблю" is much more common in Russian, and actually, "мне нрави(я)тся" could have a bit different meaning. "Я люблю" usually means I like something generally; for example: "I like apples" (I generally like to eat them). "Мне нрави(я)тся" usually means I like something concrete. Say, I bought some beer, and I'm drinking it, I can tell to my friend: "Мне нравится пиво". That means I like this beer. In English it would be "I like the beer", "I like the apples".

And then again, about the word order of "Дельфины мне нравятся". It is okay, but only in the context when you want to emphasize that you like dolphins. In English it would be something like "As for dolphins, I like them". In Russian, the thing you want to emphasize, usually is situated at the end of the sentence. If you say "дельфины" in the beginnig of it, that means you've already mentioned them before. Of course, the rule is not strict, and the intonation means much in the spoken language.

Большое спасибо, Оля и gRomozekа!
Thank you very much, Olya and gRomozekoа!

Я провела выходные у тёти, у неё нет компьютера. Я напишу больше позже. **Иду учиться**
I visited with my aunt over the weekend, she has no computer. I will write more later. **Goes to study**

Originally Posted by Winifred

Большое спасибо, Оля и gRomozeka!
Thank you very much, Olya and gRomozeka!

Я провела выходные [s:119vwa44]к[/s:119vwa44] у тёти, у неё нет компьютера. Я [s:119vwa44]написаю[/s:119vwa44] напишу больше позже. **Иду учиться**
I visited with my aunt over the weekend, she has no computer. I will write more later. **Goes to study**

Originally Posted by Оля

Originally Posted by Winifred

Я [s:307xh1yp]написаю[/s:307xh1yp] напишу больше позже.

А вдруг эта правка не верна?

Originally Posted by Wowik

А вдруг эта правка неверна?

Верна.

Originally Posted by Winifred

Дельфины мне нравятся( why perfective? they always delight me!) Знаете ли вы (is this not used?), что дельфины любят тешиться воздушных пузырей? Они производят свои игрушки!

Dolphins delight me! Did you know that dolphins amuse themselves with air bubbles? They manufacture their own toys!

Мой вариант:

"Мне нравятся дельфины. Вы знали, что дельфины играются [в воде] с воздушными пузырьками? Сами делают себе игрушки."

A couple of comments:

1. "Мне нравятся дельфины" - that's just passive voice. You see, Russian language is famous for its widespread usage of passive voice. You'd say: "I like dolphins" in English, but in Russian you should say: "The dolphins are liked by me." As a rule, in Russian you should only use active voice where the passive voice wouldn't make sense or would be too clumsy.

For example, "I'm going to school." => "Я иду в школу." The passive voice would be too clumsy as in: "The schools is being gone to by me."

2. "Did you know" = "Вы знали" - is the simplest and the most straightforward; and it's also grammatically correct.

3. "amuse themselves" = "играются" - you have to express the direct meaning of "amuse themselves" here as there's no copy-paste translation to Russian. The phrase means that the dolphins do something with the air bubbles and as a result the dolphins become amused. That action is called "play" ("играть"). So, "играть сами с собой" = "играться".

4. The word "manufacture" is translated to Russian as "производить" which would just be OK, but not the best. Even in English the word "manufacture" is closely associated with factory. So, nowdays, only a factory can really "manufacture" toys. Others could just "make" ("делать") the toys. In Russian, that difference is HUGE.

Otherwise, I like your progress! Keep going and good luck!

Originally Posted by Crocodile

1. "Мне нравятся дельфины" - that's just passive voice.

Eeee.... rm... Are you kidding? There is no any passive voice here. By the way, verbs with -ся at the ending can't be in the passive form. "Мне нравятся дельфины" is just another wording of the sentence, not like in English. It's like in German, they have the very same construction in German, and it's not a passive voice at all.

You see, Russian language is famous for its widespread usage of passive voice.

Strange, I've been always told that the passive voice is much more widely used in English and German than in Russian, and that Russians prefer to avoid it.

You'd say: "I like dolphins" in English, but in Russian you should say: "The dolphins are liked by me."

If I needed to translate it in English literally l'd do it this way: Dolphins are likable to me.