# Forum Other Languages English for Russians - Изучаем английский язык Practice your English  Again about Buryat artists :)

## lae

Hello!
I wrote the text below for another lounge. But nobody was interested   ::   so I've moved it here.  ::  
Please, could you check it and correct the mistakes?
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What do you think about the works of modern artists from Eastern Siberia and Mongolia? Do you find them interesting for you? What names do you know? 
Last year I bought a CD with information about artists from Buryatia on it. There were digital reproductions (however, not very good quality) and photos of the artists' works. Also it had their biographies and articles about them. The disc was about artists of different disciplines: painters, graphists, weavers, jewellers and even a smith. I'd remembered works of V.Alagueva, D.Namdakov, Z.Dorzhiev, B.Sundupov and many, many others. Their works touched my soul.  
Besides, I've seen Namdakov's, Ochirov's and Sundupov's works in a museum (http://www.museum.baikal.ru/). In my opinion they are wonderful.  
By the way, Namdakov's personal site is http://www.dashi-art.com/
Sundupov's is http://www.sundupov.com 
Last week I saw an exhibition of another Buryat artist -- Gasar Zodboyev. His bronze statuettes are very unusual to my eyes and I like them. Some of them are in these photos: http://uumoda.ru/images/photo/Museum...%20BUR/ges.jpg http://www.photosight.ru/photos/2042067/ http://ramina.ru/esmi3/img/og/vypusk...009_/4-1-0.jpg  Some information about other artists (if you want) you can find here: http://acmebirdseed.com/index.htm http://www.khankhalaev.com/ 
Here is a book title designed by V.Alaguyeva: http://nbrb.ru/nb/luchshie_knigi_Bur...image05_01.jpg 
It is a pity, but I haven't found any other works on the Web. The most beautiful  I've seen of her works are "The Ice Dragon" ("Ледяной дракон") and "Garuda" ("Гаруда").
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Thank you

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## basurero

> Hello!
> I wrote the text below for another lounge. But nobody was interested    so I've moved it here.  Please, could you check it and correct the/any mistakes?
>  -------------
> What do you think about the works of modern artists from Eastern Siberia and Mongolia?  Do you find them interesting? What names do you know? 
> Last year I bought a CD with information about artists from Buryatia on it. There were digital reproductions (however, not very good quality) and photos of the artists' works. Also it had their biographies and articles about them. The disc was about artists of different disciplines?: painters, graphists, weavers, jewellers and even a smith. I'd remembered works of V.Alagueva, D.Namdakov, Z.Dorzhiev, B.Sundupov and many, many others. As Russians says, their works felt into my soul (не звучит, если это калька, то возможно, но лучше найти английский вариант, может быть touched my heart).  
> Besides, I've seen Namdakov's, Ochirov's and Sundupov's works in a museum (http://www.museum.baikal.ru/). In my opinion they are wonderful.  
> By the way, Namdakov's personal site is http://www.dashi-art.com/
> Sundupov's is http://www.sundupov.com 
> Last week saw an exhibition of another Buryat artist -  Gasar Zodboyev. His bronze statuettes are very unusual to my eyes and I like them. Some of them are in these photos: http://uumoda.ru/images/photo/Museum...%20BUR/ges.jpg http://www.photosight.ru/photos/2042067/ http://ramina.ru/esmi3/img/og/vypusk...009_/4-1-0.jpg  Some information about other artists (if you want) you can find here: http://acmebirdseed.com/index.htm 
> ...

 
Кстати, я зашел по некоторым из ссылок, они мне показались интересными, хотя я вообще не знаю много об искусстве, так что воздержался от комментариев!

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## lae

Thank you very much for the corrections!  

> As Russians says, their works felt into my soul (не звучит, если это калька, то возможно, но лучше найти английский вариант, может быть touched my heart).

 Yes, it calques "зап_а_ли мне в душу" (the infinitive is 'запад_а_ть'). Thank you for 'touched my heart'.  

> Кстати, я зашел по некоторым из ссылок, они мне показались интересными, хотя я вообще не*много* знаю * _*  об искусстве, так что воздержался от комментариев!

 The variants are
'хотя я, вообще, немногое знаю об искусстве',
'хотя я, вообще, не знаток искусства'
'хотя я, вообще, не так много знаю  об искусстве',
'хотя я *вообще* (= совсем/очень) *немного* знаю об искусстве',
'хотя я, вообще (= "на самом деле", "вообще говоря", 'actually'?), *немного* знаю об искусстве".
'хотя *я*, вообще, немного *знаю* об искусстве' ("я, вообще-то, кое-что знаю", "actually I know something about ...")
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Еще раз большое спасибо за исправления!

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## Winifred

> As Russians says, their works felt into my soul (не звучит, если это калька, то возможно, но лучше найти английский вариант, может быть touched my heart).

 "Touched my heart"  is used often in English.  You can also say, however, "penetrated my soul." 
Examples:  The music penetrated my soul.   His eyes penetrated to my very soul.  Something about the painting touched my heart and penetrated into my soul.

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## lae

> You can also say, however, "penetrated my soul."

 Thank you   ::

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## Оля

> You can also say, however, "penetrated my soul." 
> Examples:  The music penetrated my soul.   His eyes penetrated to my very soul.  Something about the painting touched my heart and penetrated into my soul.

 Some American, when he saw the word '*penetrate*' in some text I wrote, told me that it's not proper American English and he wasn't sure what this word should mean in my sentence. Since then I thought that Americans don't use this word. (I also asked myself how they understand Prof. Snape when he says to Harry Potter, "I will attempt to penetrate your mind, and you will attempt to resist.")

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## basurero

> Originally Posted by Winifred  You can also say, however, "penetrated my soul." 
> Examples:  The music penetrated my soul.   His eyes penetrated to my very soul.  Something about the painting touched my heart and penetrated into my soul.   Some American, when he saw the word '*penetrate*' in some text I wrote, told me that it's not proper American English and he wasn't sure what this word meant/was supposed to mean in my sentence. Since then I thought that Americans don't use this word. (I also asked myself how they understand Prof. Snape when he says to Harry Potter, "I will attempt to penetrate your mind, and you will attempt to resist.")

  
Странно. penetrate - это совсем обыкновенное слово. Я уверен на сто процентов, что оно используется везде, где говорят на английском.

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## sperk

> ]
> Some American, when he saw the word '*penetrate*' in some text I wrote, told me that it's not proper American English and he wasn't sure what this word should mean in my sentence. Since then I thought that Americans don't use this word.

 You'd have to show the sentence. Americans use this word.

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## Hanna

> Some American, when he saw the word '*penetrate*' in some text I wrote, told me that it's not proper American English and he wasn't sure what this word should mean in my sentence. Since then I thought that Americans don't use this word. (I also asked myself how they understand Prof. Snape when he says to Harry Potter, "I will attempt to penetrate your mind, and you will attempt to resist.")

 Hmmm.... I am not sure why this person said such a thing! Penetrate is a very useful word in some contexts and I can't imagine why American English wouldn't use it. If Rockzmom sees this, lets hear what she thinks. 
This is a fairly "advanced" English word but I think that at least 95% of native speakers know what it means even if they don't use it often. It means that you push your way into something in order to get to what is in the centre.  In Harry Potter, the meaning was that the speaker wanted to "get into" Harry's head and control him. This word is often used in a symbolical way, when speaking about psychological matters.  
Other practical examples would be: 
"The enemy penetrated all the defences until they were able to conquer the castle and kill the king"
"In order to start building the new metro, the ground-rock first had to be penetrated.  
Personally I very rarely use this word. 
Perhaps the American man meant "proper" in a different way than what you thought. Meaning "proper" as in prim and moral. Penetrate can also be used in the context of sexual relations and that might well be the most common usage for the word. If so, he might have meant that it's not a proper word for you as a woman to be using..  Sounds a bit excessive though! 
Otherwise I think he actually gave you incorrect information!

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## Оля

Well, I'm a bit in an awkward situation here since the American who told me that is one of the forum members. He doesn't write in the forum often, but I know he at least reads it sometimes. Well, I hope he won't take offence at me for writing this... Since people ask me to show the sentence...
So, the context was the text of subtitles for the Russian movie "Kin Dza Dza". Two men get onto another planet and first they see that aliens don't speak a word in Russian. The text was:   

> - ''Lusenka, my dear, you pest, why did you need that macaroni...'' _(one of the aliens repeats aloud the thoughts of the foreman)_
> - Okay... So we know Russian. Why was it necessary to conceal it?
> - We didn't conceal it. *It's very difficult to penetrate a language*, when you're thinking in two languages at once.

 His comment was: "I’m not sure what the word “penetrate” here is for – it’s not proper American English – I only speak American English".

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## Hanna

I think you can say "penetrating a language". 
It would be a kind of a metaphorical way of speaking. 
Like you, for example, the fact that you are interested in these very extracurricular aspects of English shows that you are really penetrating English - you are reaching the core of the language and you have "conquered" it in a way.  
But this is the point where I start feeling on slightly shaky grounds as a non-native speaker. 
If somebody who is a native speaker sees this, please can you comment? 
Is it possible to say "penetrating a language"

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## sperk

> I think you can say "penetrating a language". 
> It would be a kind of a metaphorical way of speaking. 
> Like you, for example, the fact that you are interested in these very extracurricular aspects of English shows that you are really penetrating English - you are reaching the core of the language and you have "conquered" it in a way.  
> But this is the point where I start feeling on slightly shaky grounds as a non-native speaker. 
> If somebody who is a native speaker sees this, please can you comment? 
> Is it possible to say "penetrating a language"

 I've never heard of it and would never express anything, metaphorical or otherwise, with "penetrating a language." Since it was originally from a Russian movie, the subtitles of which were written by a Russian, maybe the original Russian contains a verb that was translated as "penetrate," проникать or something (Olya would be the expert there  ::  ).

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## Оля

> I've never heard of it and would never express anything, metaphorical or otherwise, with "penetrating a language."

 In Russian, we don't say "проникнуть в язык" either. It was only used in that movie, in that scene. But I thought it was absolutely clear from the context what "to penetrate" meant there... 
P.S. When I changed the sentence to "It's very difficult *to get into a language*, when you're thinking in two languages at once", he said it's okay.

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## Hanna

> P.S. When I changed the sentence to "It's very difficult to get into a language, when you're thinking in two languages at once", he said it's okay.

 You know Olya, most people would not notice from your written English that you are not a native speaker. I wouldn't. 
I just googled "penetrating language" and it turns out that you CAN say it, but it is not commonly used. Not a very good thing to use in everyday communcation....  http://www.enotes.com/shakespearean-...ating-language http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal...accno=ED296611

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