Thread: New Russian-English books in ParallelBook format

In this topic I will post information about new parallel texts in ParallelBook format available for download.
ParallelBook format is a new ebook format specifically designed for parallel books used for reading in a foreign language alongside a translation in your native language.
Its main and unique feature is the possibility to set correspondence not only between matching paragraphs or sentences in the source and translation, but also between smaller parts of sentences.
At present, there is only one reader and editor for this format, namely Aglona Reader (for Windows + .NET Framework), but a free reader for Android is scheduled for development starting in December, 2012.
Aglona Reader is a free, open-source program that can boast of high rendering speed, smart text formatter and a brand new system of color highlighting.
ParallelBook format is open.
All parallel books I introduce in this thread are based on free texts from Public Domain and have been released into the Public Domain themselves, so there will be no trouble with copyrights.
Download free books and the program from the home site of the project: https://sites.google.com/site/aglonareader/home/lang-en (ad free).

The first book is a brilliant romantic short story "Snow storm" by Alexander Pushkin, the genius of Russian literature.
600 fragment pairs.
See the screenshot.

That's interesting....haven't heard about this format before. Wonder if they're gonna make an iPad app for the reader?

This format is very, very new. It was created in September 2012 and the first (and so far only) program for it was finished in October 2012.
An app for iPad will indeed be created, but definitely later than a reader for Android, and very possibly not by me but by somebody else, because I don't possess Apple hardware neither for developing nor for debugging. [I may use double negation, I'm Russian ]

Originally Posted by Inego

The first book is a brilliant romantic short story "Snow storm" by Alexander Pushkin, the genius of Russian literature.

It’s a great software, I think. I have just one remark on the text in this screenshot. It’s off the point, though.

I wouldn’t advise anyone to learn Russian reading "Snow storm", unless your level is proficient. I can see so many obsolete words and expressions here, let alone the grammar forms.

Достопамятную, во всей округе, по пяти копеек, прочили, предмет, избранный ею, в отпуску, само по себе разумеется, равною страстию, склонность, нежели, всякий день, видались, сперва, весьма, романическому, предаться ему, несколько времени.

Originally Posted by Helenej

It’s a great software, I think. I have just one remark on the text in this screenshot. It’s off the point, though.

I wouldn’t advise anyone to learn Russian reading "Snow storm", unless your level is proficient. I can see so many obsolete words and expressions here, let alone the grammar forms.

Достопамятную, во всей округе, по пяти копеек, прочили, предмет, избранный ею, в отпуску, само по себе разумеется, равною страстию, склонность, нежели, всякий день, видались, сперва, весьма, романическому, предаться ему, несколько времени.

That's one of the complaints I have. I learned to read by many things, not the least of which are stories that I got off the internet. And through experience, I find that a lot of the words I use are considered wrong, or archaic. So I don't know what to think most of the time. As a general rule, I want to learn to begin with that vocabulary which is contemporary.

The slightly "archaic" style of this story is not that of Pushkin himself, but of Belkin, a fictional author of "Tales of Belkin". As a matter of fact, this style is more ironic than archaic and a part of the image of Belkin made by Pushkin. As a Russian, I think that the language used in this story is 99% modern Russian. Combined with that the story is fascinating itself I can recommend it for parallel reading even if your level of Russian is below intermediate. Remember, parallel reading doesn't require you to memorize everything you read.
P. S. To be honest, the *very* first book in English and Russian I have finished was "Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov, 17500+ fragments (English translation by R. Pevear, 1997). To my shame, I didn't know that creating a derivative book was violating copyrights of the original authors and translators. When I got to know this I had to remove that book from the list (imagine how much work has been done in vain).

Originally Posted by Helenej

I wouldn’t advise anyone to learn Russian reading "Snow storm", unless your level is proficient. I can see so many obsolete words and expressions here, let alone the grammar forms.
Достопамятную, во всей округе, по пяти копеек, прочили, предмет, избранный ею, в отпуску, само по себе разумеется, равною страстию, склонность, нежели, всякий день, видались, сперва, весьма, романическому, предаться ему, несколько времени.

I have highlighted words and phrases that are perfectly normal in modern Russian.

Originally Posted by Inego

The slightly "archaic" style of this story is not that of Pushkin himself, but of Belkin, a fictional author of Tales of Belkin". As a matter of fact, this style is more ironic than archaic and a part of the image of Belkin made by Pushkin. As a Russian, I think that the language used in this story is 99% modern Russian.

It is not a matter of big importance for a person learning Russian whether it is Pushkin's or Belkin's style.

Do you claim that the words and expressions that I mentioned are used in the modern Russian language? Which of them? We could count the percentage of them in your passage. But I guess it will be much more than 1%.

Bulgakov is certainly modern in this regard.

As for the truly modern language, it is very difficult to find a book that is in the public domain together with its translation. Often original books in modern language, being in the public domain, have a translation done much later for which its copyright hasn't yet expired.
I dream of modern fiction that is released into the public domain by its authors from the very beginning. Let them be amateurs, I don't think it's important from the point of view of learning a language. But its translation is also required to be in the public domain. If a translation is done by an amateur it can be of poor quality (as often, but not always, typical for amateur work) and thus not very suitable as a basis for a parallel text.

Originally Posted by Inego

As for the truly modern language, it is very difficult to find a book that is in the public domain together with its translation. Often original books in modern language, being in the public domain, have a translation done much later for which its copyright hasn't yet expired.
I dream of modern fiction that is released into the public domain by its authors from the very beginning. Let them be amateurs, I don't think it's important from the point of view of learning a language. But its translation is also required to be in the public domain. If a translation is done by an amateur it can be of poor quality (as often, but not always, typical for amateur work) and thus not very suitable as a basis for a parallel text.

I appreciate the problem, Inego.

Originally Posted by Inego

I have highlighted words and phrases that are perfectly normal in modern Russian.

I agree with you on the fact that all the highlighted words are understandable to any Russian person.

Yet I am trying to imagine who could say them without, maybe, that ironic meaning.

во всей округе - maybe some older people who live in the country only. Others would say вокруг, поблизости, по соседству, недалеко, во всем районе.

склонность - no one in this meaning. Симпатия, любовь, привязанность.

нежели - no one. Чем.

видались - Hmm. Maybe in the negation like мы давно не видались. Still my daughters would never say that. Не виделись.

сперва - maybe, though it sounds oldish. Сначала, в первую очередь, для начала.

весьма - never and no one. Очень, в значительной степени.


Though, as I said, all these words may be used to make people smile, with irony.

Mr. Crocodile has recently been quoting professor Preobrazhenskiy's words "В топку ее, немедленно." I'm not that resolute. Let Pushkin's story live, but not on this site.

If you want to help the noble cause of broadening the public library of the parallel books, you can take part in it, provided:

1. Your knowledge of both Russian and English is intermediate or above;
2. You agree that the book you align will be released into the public domain.

The process is following:

1. You choose a novel or story of your liking in Russian, for which an English translation is available in the internet. Both the Russian and English texts must be in the public domain, of course.
2. You send me an email to yanis.batura@gmail.com with the name of that book.
3. I look for the source texts in the internet, prepare them, create an unaligned PBO file and send it to you.
4. You align the book. This will take some time, depending on the size of the book.
5. You send me the finished book.
6. I check the result and if it's OK I publish your book on the site.

What you get:

• You read a story you like in two languages
• You will be specified as the author of the parallel book on the site
• Your book will be read by other people not only on Windows, but (later) on other platforms (like Android tablets) and help them learn Russian (or English if they are Russian).

What I get:

• One more book in the public library, making the ParallelBook project more interesting for language learners and potential new supporters.

The alignment process in Aglona Reader, although manual, is very easy and efficient and, I would say, entertaining by itself. It's almost like a video game for linguists
You can start with short stories like "Snow storm" above. It took me only an hour to create it (of course I am a very experienced user of this program).
The project has just started! Don't lose the unique chance to be among the first people aligning books in the ParallelBook format

Originally Posted by Helenej

I agree with you on the fact that all the highlighted words are understandable to any Russian person.

Yet I am trying to imagine who could say them without, maybe, that ironic meaning.

во всей округе - maybe some older people who live in the country only. Others would say вокруг, поблизости, по соседству, недалеко, во всем районе.

склонность - no one in this meaning. Симпатия, любовь, привязанность.

нежели - no one. Чем.

видались - Hmm. Maybe in the negation like мы давно не видались. Still my daughters would never say that. Не виделись.

сперва - maybe, though it sounds oldish. Сначала, в первую очередь, для начала.

весьма - never and noone. Очень, в значительной степени.


Though, as I said, all these words may be used to make people smile, with irony.

Mr. Crocodile has recently been quoting professor Preobrazhenskiy's words "В топку ее, немедленно." I'm not that resolute. Let Pushkin's story live, but not on this site.

While at the task of learning Russian, I would definitely rather read something in contemporary language. Unfortunately, I'd probably read completely through something like that and not even know it's not current. Then in turn I'd use the words, and people would look at me like I had two heads...lol

Originally Posted by kgcole

While at the task of learning Russian, I would definitely rather read something in contemporary language. Unfortunately, I'd probably read completely through something like that and not even know it's not current. Then in turn I'd use the words, and people would look at me like I had two heads...lol

Not at all! They will be very surprised that you use so advanced Russian, because it only shows how serious the books you read are.
When sometimes (rarely) I listen or read "literary" Russian from foreigners I can't help admiring them, for they speak (culturally) better Russian than most of our Russian population do.

Originally Posted by Inego

The first book is a brilliant romantic short story "Snow storm" by Alexander Pushkin, the genius of Russian literature.
...

http://prochtu.ru/uslishu.php?avtor=84&kniga=2 (Слушать. 31минута)

Сайт-источник: http://bibe.ru.

The voice of the narrating lady strangely reminds me that of speech synthesis at Google's, so lifeless and emotionless it is (I hope that was not you)
But this mp3 is very useful to know where to put stress correctly in the Russian text, thank you!

Haha, There is the first volunteer for aligning an English-Russian book. She is my wife We've just signed a contract, she'll align "Martin Eden". She says it'll take a year to complete, but I am sure it will take much less time.

Originally Posted by Inego

The voice of the narrating lady strangely reminds me that of speech synthesis at Google's, so lifeless and emotionless it is (I hope that was not you)
But this mp3 is very useful to know where to put stress correctly in the Russian text, thank you!

Что нагуглилось, то нагуглилось. Спасибо им за это!

Originally Posted by Inego

Not at all! They will be very surprised that you use so advanced Russian, because it only shows how serious the books you read are.
When sometimes (rarely) I listen or read "literary" Russian from foreigners I can't help admiring them, for they speak (culturally) better Russian than most of our Russian population do.

Sounds like I'll have to have a dual personality. One for speaking in general, and one for learned speech making...lol