# Forum Learning Russian Language Getting Started with Russian  Speaking to children

## cheelen

I'm a new aunt to two beautiful Siberian children, ages 4 and 7, adopted by my brother-in-law.  I did Pimsleur's Russian 1 to learn basics, but everything in that course was designed to address people formally.  I can't read Cyrillic (yet) so I can't make much of verb conjugations written out in Cyrillic and not transliterated.   
I've picked up on a few things to say to them, but mostly they're commands, like "be careful," "sit down," "don't do that," "come here."  I don't know how to ask many questions, because I don't know the "informal you" tense of any verbs.  Does anyone have any recommendations about where I can find resources on speaking to children?  For instance, I'd like to be able to ask things like, "how are you?," "how is school going?," "do you like (food, sports, games, television shows, music, etc)?," "do you have?," "do you know?"  I would like to know how to pronounce the "informal you, I, he/she, we, and they" tenses of verbs, particularly to be, to know, to have, to want, to do, to go, to eat, to sleep, and reading it in Cyrillic doesn't help me at all.  All I learned with Pimsleur were the "formal you" tense for a handful of verbs and the "I" tense for fewer than that.   
I know the kids will be picking up English, but not quickly enough that they'll understand conversations right away.  Thank you to anyone who can help me!  Oh, and does anyone happen to know what the names "Lyubov" and "Alexey" translate to in English?  Just curious!

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## Линдзи

Lyubov means "love."   
The name "Alexey" is simply a relative of the name "Alexander," I believe.  Don't quote me on that, though. 
I'd help you with the phrases, but I don't have a mic and I doubt written translit would help you much.  Plus, some native speaker (or Dogboy) will come along and do a better job of it anyway   ::

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## waxwing

Pimsleur really is the spawn of Satan, isn't it.

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## BlackMage

Just call Alexei - Alex.
There was an exchange student from Russia named Alexei and we just called him Alex.

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## Евгения Белякова

Alexei nickname is Alyosha. I hope that they won't lose their Russian. But I'm surprised, their adopted and they WANT to speak Russian? I was living in an orphanage too, and we didn't want to speak Russian when we left. Are they young? Just sort of curious. I think it's really good you want to learn Russian to communicate with them.

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## BlackMage

> Alexei nickname is Alyosha. I hope that they won't lose their Russian. But I'm surprised, their adopted and they WANT to speak Russian? I was living in an orphanage too, and we didn't want to speak Russian when we left. Are they young? Just sort of curious. I think it's really good you want to learn Russian to communicate with them.

 They probably don't know English yet.  But I'm guessing that they probably will want to speak English once they learn it.

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## Евгения Белякова

Yes, they probably won't want to speak Russian anymore.

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## net surfer

> The name "Alexey" is simply a relative of the name "Alexander," I believe.  Don't quote me on that, though.

 No, Алексей and Александр are two different names. 
Алексей means 'defender' from Greek.

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## Линдзи

> Originally Posted by Линдзи  The name "Alexey" is simply a relative of the name "Alexander," I believe.  Don't quote me on that, though.   No, Алексей and Александр are two different names. 
> Алексей means 'defender' from Greek.

 \ 
Oh, I know that Александр is also a distinct Russian name.  But aren't the two from simliar roots?  Or am I just making that up?

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## Angel_of_Death-NZ

names arnt translated across languages...their meaning can, but not the word.  And by "Siberian" do you mean they are Asian or are they European?

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## Pravit

She probably means they are (ethnic) Russians who were adopted from an orphanage in Siberia.

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## Dogboy182

YEA Peeps wtf 
Алексей and Александер and hella diffrent names!!!!! get it right foolz! You know how we do!

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## Евгения Белякова

lol Dogboy  ::

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## BlackMage

But i still called an Aleksei Alex.

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## Dogboy182

алексей  - лёха
алексадр- саша

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## Евгения Белякова

Алексей- Алёша*(а не лёха)

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## Dogboy182

No. It's лёха. You're lucky we aren't in Moskow. I'd bust a сap in you East mosvka style. Что ? Что ? Да, я так и думал.

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## BlackMage

No, Eugenia is right...

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## Dogboy182

> No, Eugenia is right...

 
So i just talked to a russian named Aleksey. 
Matt (21:20) : 
bolshevik05: and alyosha is short for aleksei
bolshevik05: u are wrong there.
Matt (21:20) : 
Im so much 1337: oh f*ck no
Matt (21:20) : 
Im so much 1337: f**kin i know like 3 leha

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## net surfer

> Oh, I know that Александр is also a distinct Russian name.  But aren't the two from simliar roots?

 I don't think so.

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## Friendy

Лёха is much more informal than Алёша, I'd even say it's a bit crude (well, at least to my tender ears  :: ). For example, it's natural for a schoolteacher to call a student Алёша but she won't call him Лёха unless she intends to be informal or humorous.  But, yes, it's very common, there's even a stupid song that has the line: "Ах, Лёха, Лёха, Лёха, мне без тебя так плохо"  ::  .

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## Lampada

Я бы не называла ребенка "Лёха".  Мне бы это тоже резало слух.  
"Лёха" звучит как уличное обращение. (street name)
Ребенок живёт в Америке и Алекс ему подойдет лучше всего.
Вот с Любой сложнее.  Может быть Линда?

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## net surfer

Ну если Лёха кажется вам грубым, то тогда уж Лёша. Алёша это детский сад какой-то.

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## BETEP

> Ну если Лёха кажется вам грубым, то тогда уж Лёша. Алёша это детский сад какой-то.

 Тебе лучше знать, devil in disguise.  ::

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## Евгения Белякова

Well my friend's twin brother's name is that, and they call him "Алёша", but I don't know him personally.

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## Friendy

> Oh, I know that Александр is also a distinct Russian name. But aren't the two from simliar roots?

  Yes, they came from the Greek root "alex". Александр means "defender of people" and Алексей means "defender"(source: Лев Успенский "Ты и твоё имя") 
And I can't help recalling Лёха Попович,  Илюха Муромец and Добрыняха (  ::   ::  ) Никитич.

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## BETEP

> And I can't help recalling Лёха Попович,  Илюха Муромец and Добрыняха (   ) Никитич.

 What's about Лёха Поп, Ильюха Муромский и Никита Добряк?  ::

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## Friendy

> Originally Posted by Friendy  And I can't help recalling Лёха Попович,  Илюха Муромец and Добрыняха (   ) Никитич.   What's about Лёха Поп, Ильюха Муромский и Никита Добряк?

 Great!   ::   Only why did Добрыня replace his first name with his father's?

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## BETEP

> Great!    Only why did Добрыня replace his first name with his father's?

 Try to explain the way how Вячеслав Иваньков became Япончик.  ::

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## JJ

> Try to explain the way how Вячеслав Иваньков became Япончик.

 Иваньков->Иванчик-Япончик   ::

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## BETEP

> Иваньков->Иванчик-Япончик

 Following these trails Japan is a subject of Ivanovo.  ::

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## net surfer

> Originally Posted by Линдзи  Oh, I know that Александр is also a distinct Russian name. But aren't the two from simliar roots?    Yes, they came from the Greek root "alex". Александр means "defender of people" and Алексей means "defender"(source: Лев Успенский "Ты и твоё имя")

 I still doubt it for some reason, maybe because of my ignorance maybe because of my in intuition. Don't know really. I just have a hunch.
Friendy, do you believe that guy anyway?

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## Friendy

> Friendy, do you believe that guy anyway?

 He seemed logical to me but I'll try to find out some more. 
Edit: This link for example.  http://www.wco.ru/biblio/sprav/AngDay/main.htm?mos
Actually, I think that name origins and meanings of the Greek roots must be pretty well known.

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## cheelen

Wow, I guess I started a big discussion over names!  It was really just curiosity that made me ask.  Just an update...my niece Lubov and nephew Alexey are really adjusting to American life.  Alexey survived is first 2 weeks of first grade and can now count to 50 in English.  He's starting to use sentences that are half English and half Russian - pretty cute!  His dad was tickling him and he said, "nee nah da, PLEASE!"  Yesterday Luba said her first English word - pumpkin!  She learned it in her preschool class because they're talking about Halloween.   
An interesting note regarding names and nicknames - Luba calls her brother "Loych."  Her parents decided to take the "y" out of her name because it'll be easier for Americans to guess at the pronunciation.

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## BlackMage

My first english word was "Ewubeta" - Elevator

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## net surfer

> Edit: This link for example.  http://www.wco.ru/biblio/sprav/AngDay/main.htm?mos
> Actually, I think that name origins and meanings of the Greek roots must be pretty well known.

 Oh, OK Friendy, I'll be just a defender :)

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## Евгения Белякова

When I was in Ukraine in the orphanage I pronounced "машина" as "машини" and I said "собака" as "шапака". Also I always used to say this world like: лепка, something sort of like that. Not exactly.   ::   They thought I was speech delayed, hmph.

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## Angel_of_Death-NZ

my first word was "no"....
all i said was "no" lol.

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## Dogboy182

I heard that little russian kids often say 
л*ю*блю. Is it a common mistake? or?

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## VendingMachine

The first word I uttered was a four letter one. (c) Пить, курить и говорить я начал одновременно.

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## Robert Dupuy

My daughter's first language was russian, but moved from Ukraine at age 2.  My wife speaks fluent russian and english.   English is my native language, and I speak russian as a beginner would. 
Over the past 2-3 years, my daughter has learned english and refuses to speak russian.  The period of 'code page' switching was short...and as many have observed, children have a preference to speak only one language.   
This has been the experience of our russian friends too.  In their homes, only russian is spoken by the adults, but the children, while retaining and understanding of russian, speak english in return. 
on the plus side, I have worked on my accent considerably...worked on my daughters understanding that an english speaker could use some russian too (she really objected to me learning russian at first.   My daughter has a keen sense of 'proper'...she thoroughly objects to me parking on the left side of the driveway, as an example...and did not appreciate my attempts to speak russian either)....but at long last, I too can speak to my daughter in russian at times, and she speaks back to me in english, same as she does for mama. 
and my approach has been to realize she has lost her ability to speak russian natively, and have switched to teaching her russian as a 2nd language instead...this has provided for us an activity that we share, and she is really good at naming things in russian, when directly questioned. 
She is even slowing coming back to say a word or two in russian, although in a nonsensical way, just randomly picking a noun to speak at an odd time...not a sentence or a complete thought. 
anyway, thats our experience, her russian understanding is still astounding, and I often wonder why she can't just speak what she knows....but she doesn't and I guess, perhaps that is a harder skill for a child than for an adult.

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## Евгения Белякова

is she adopted?  ::  i don't understand.

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## Lampada

> My daughter's first language was russian, ...
>  In their homes, only russian is spoken by the adults, but the children, while retaining and understanding of russian, speak english in return.
> ...
> ...anyway, thats our experience, her russian understanding is still astounding, and I often wonder why she can't just speak what she knows....but she doesn't and I guess, perhaps that is a harder skill for a child than for an adult.

 My son spoke Russian till 2.5.  TV was always on, but it did not affect him.  Only when he went to daycare and realized that children speak English he moved to English.  I think I understand how children feel:  they have to fit in.  It is still the same with my son:  he does what other kids his age do, period.   I was lucky enough always place him between good kids, so he does not have a bad crowd to fit in.
(If somebody wants to correct my poor English, it would be appreciated.  ::   )

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## Garee

> My son spoke Russian till 2.5.  TV was always on, but it did not affect him.  Only when he went to daycare and realized that children speak English he moved to English.  I think I understand how children feel:  they have to fit in.  It is still the same with my son:  he does what other kids his age do, period.   I was lucky enough always place him between good kids, so he does not have a bad crowd to fit in.
> (If somebody wants to correct my poor English, it would be appreciated.   )

 Sorry if I seem overcritical, but I don't know why you want it corrected, so I can't correct accordingly.  
1st sentence) Most people use until instead of till, even though they are interchangeable, as in the case of your first sentence.   
2nd sentence) The 2nd sentence should begin "The TV" instead of just "TV" 
3rd sentence) "Only after he attended daycare did he realize that children spoke English, and began speaking it himself."  Or "He realized that other children spoke English after attending daycare, and followed suit." 
I think your last sentence should be this instead:  "Luckily, he didn't fall in with a bad crowd, because I kept him away from bad kids." 
By the way, I'm Garee.  Nice to meet you.    ::  
I've kind of just been lurking here for the past couple of days, just waiting for something I could reply to...

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## joysof

> 3rd sentence) "Only after he attended daycare did he realize that children spoke English, and began speaking it himself."  Or "He realized that other children spoke English after attending daycare, and followed suit."

 Oh now really, Garee - in what possible way is 'attended' better than 'went to' in this context? Much as I hate to sound like some sort of PEC-er, it does get on my nerves when people correct for the sake of correcting.

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## Lampada

Garee, welcome here and thanks for your input.  Usually I ask my son to edit my writing, but he gets mad when I mention anything about him. 
Joysof, your suggestion well taken.  ::   And relax: aren't we here to learn and to have a good time?     ::

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## joysof

> Joysof, your suggestion well taken.   And relax: aren't we here to learn and to have a good time?

 You might be.

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## waxwing

Yeah. He gets paid to be this grumpy!

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## Garee

> Originally Posted by Garee  3rd sentence) "Only after he attended daycare did he realize that children spoke English, and began speaking it himself."  Or "He realized that other children spoke English after attending daycare, and followed suit."   Oh now really, Garee - in what possible way is 'attended' better than 'went to' in this context? Much as I hate to sound like some sort of PEC-er, it does get on my nerves when people correct for the sake of correcting.

 I just wrote what I would have said.  You could probably say the exact same thing 50 different ways if you wanted to(My son went to daycare, then, like a thunder clap after a flash of lightening, he began speaking English like all the other kids.  He only began seriously speaking English after going to daycare.  After he went to daycare, my son began speaking English like the other children.  English probably would not have come out of my son's mouth if he had not attended daycare and seen the other kids speaking it.  My son spoke English after seeing other kids speak it at daycare -- Monkey see, Monkey do...) 
There is nothing wrong with using went to, but I wouldn't have, and it sounds less refined.  A child would say, "I go to school." While an adult would say, "I attend college."  It's really no big deal though.          
Glad I could help you, Lampada.  Feel free to bug me if your son is too busy to help.  I live to serve.   ::

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## joysof

> There is nothing wrong with using went to, but I wouldn't have, and it sounds less refined.  A child would say, "I go to school." While an adult would say, "I attend college."  It's really no big deal though.

 About as refined as beginning a sentence with the second half of an opposition clause, I suppose. Glass houses, Garee, glass houses.

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## Евгения Белякова

I was adopted at age 4 1/2.(Maybe a little older) When I came to America I would refuse to speak Russian, and whenever anyone did I would ignore them and walk away. I used to have a Russian person that came to play and speak Russian with me, but she quite because I wasn't cooperating. And my sisters were older and they would speak Russian to me(They were around 6 and 8 1/2) but I would refuse. And my friend has a adopted brother from beloruse who refuses to speak Russian, he doesn't want to. I think he's 3. It's especially true for adopted kids that don't want to speak their native language anymore...

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## Линдзи

> About as refined as beginning a sentence with the second half of an opposition clause, I suppose. Glass houses, Garee, glass houses.

 Hee.  joysoft, you big cuddly pedant, you.

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## Garee

> About as refined as beginning a sentence with the second half of an opposition clause, I suppose. Glass houses, Garee, glass houses.

 I apologize for offending you by accidentally capitalizing that "W".  I've developed a habit of capitalizing letters after periods, so strong, that it can not be stopped by the laws of grammar.  Please accept my apologies; I will try to keep a tighter reign on my pinky from now on.   
Alternately:  It was a typographical error.  Sue me. 
I don't want to start anything with you.  Please don't insult my "house".   
In case anyone didn't know, joysof was referencing the proverb:  "People who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones."

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## Lampada

> Glad I could help you, Lampada.  Feel free to bug me if your son is too busy to help.  I live to serve.

 It's good to have you here, Garee.   ::  
Do you have any connection with Russian?

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## майк

> Only when he went to daycare and realized that children speak English he moved to English

  

> (If somebody wants to correct my poor English, it would be appreciated.  )

  

> Sorry if I seem overcritical, but I don't know why you want it corrected, so I can't correct accordingly.

  

> Only after he attended daycare did he realize that children spoke English, and began speaking it himself."

 In this *Garee* suggested: - 
(1) Changing the word *when* to *after*;
(2) Swapping  *went to* for *attended*;
(3) Introducing the word *did*; and
(4) Changing *speak* for *spoke*. 
I'm no grammarian, and accordingly very happy to be put in my place, but it seems to me that (3) and (4) are essential. (1) is perhaps logically better because the swap form 'when' to 'after' shows that the switch to the use of English language didn’t take place immediately. As for (2), 'went' is the past tense of 'to go'. In straight-forward terms 'to attend' means 'to be present at' whilst 'to go' means 'to move from one point to another'. So the use of the verb 'attend' again reinforces the point that the switch to English occurred over a period of time: that is, it did not take place immedaitely on arriving at the daycare centre.   

> Oh now really, Garee - in what possible way is 'attended' better than 'went to' in this context? Much as I hate to sound like some sort of PEC-er, it does get on my nerves when people correct for the sake of correcting.

 ..................................................  ::

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## joysof

> As for (2), 'went' is the past tense of 'to go'. In straight-forward terms 'to attend' means 'to be present at' whilst 'to go' means 'to move from one point to another'.

 http://encarta.msn.com/encnet/featur...px?search=goes 
Pay particular attention to point 4. 
'Go to' and 'attend' are synonymous here, the only room for controversy surrounding whether one is more 'refined' (or, indeed, po-faced) than the other. Essentially, it's a point of style, for which reason no correction should have been made.

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## майк

> Essentially, it's a point of style, for which reason no correction should have been made.

 Is it not reasonable to take a broad interpretation of the word 'correction', as long as what is being suggested is not, by a reasonable assessment, incorrect. This way we all have an opportunity of exploring language. In fact, as I think about it, even incorrect suggestions are fine by me as long as sensible debate is generated. I often learn the most when I make mistakes - you may well assess that I must know a lot by now!   

> Pay particular attention to point 4.

 Same resource - http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/attend.html
Pay particular attention to point 2. 
How about http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=attend
Pay particular attention to the first example listed. 
Now check resources for 'go' and 'went'.....well the examples listed are many and varied. In many cases the verbs 'to go' and 'to attend' may be used in such a way that their meanings are synonymous but, thankfully, the two verbs are not 'the same'. 
My point, if it is not already evident, is that *Garee* made a number of important corrections to a single sentence and you chose to be critical. I think that all his points were valid, relevant and not incorrect. In contrast I thought that your intervention *joysof* was unnecessary, unfriendly and, it might be succesfully argued, inaccurate.

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## joysof

> Same resource -http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/attend.html 
> Pay particular attention to point 2.  
> How about http://thesaurus.reference.com/search?q=attend 
> Pay particular attention to the first example listed.

 So far, so pointless. You're regurgitating the information I provided.   

> the verbs 'to go' and 'to attend' may be used in such a way that their meanings are synonymous but, thankfully, the two verbs are not 'the same'.

 Agreed. Your point? And why 'thankfully'?   

> In contrast I thought that your intervention joysof was unnecessary, unfriendly and, it might be succesfully argued, inaccurate.

 Friendliness is overrated; as for the inaccuracy if my intervention, please dispense with the 'might be' and argue successfully. I'm all ears/eyes.

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## майк

> You're regurgitating the information I provided.

 Actually, although I used your reference, I provided new information which is apparent to any willing mind.   

> And why 'thankfully'?

 ’Thankfully’, otherwise it would be the case that the English language has two verbs that share an identical meaning.   

> Friendliness is overrated

 Not by me.   

> as for the inaccuracy if my intervention, please dispense with the 'might be' and argue successfully.

 I did, I was just being polite. 
My point is more about friendliness than grammar, so I find myself at the end of our debate: like the curate exclaimed about other matters, parts of it were excellent!

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## Lampada

> Originally Posted by joysof  Friendliness is overrated   Not by me.        Originally Posted by joysof  as for the inaccuracy if my intervention, please dispense with the 'might be' and argue successfully.   I did, I was just being polite. 
> My point is more about friendliness than grammar, so I find myself at the end of our debate: like the curate exclaimed about other matters, parts of it were excellent!

   ::

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## joysof

> Originally Posted by joysof  as for the inaccuracy if my intervention, please dispense with the 'might be' and argue successfully.   I did, I was just being polite.

 Mmm, you were very politely failing to make sense. Kudos.

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