New video

By Simon

Here’s the script for a new video I’m making in Russian. I got the Russian from my textbooks and phrase books and from Google Translate, so there may be some errors. If you speak Russian could you check it and let me know anything that needs correcting? Большое спасибо!

Здравствуйте.
Hello

Здравствуйте. Как дела?
Hello. How are you?

Спасибо, хорошо. А вы?
Fine thanks, and you?

Хорошо. Как вас зовут?
Fine. What’s your name?

Меня зовут Галина Михаиловна. А вы?
I’m Galina Mikhailovna, and you?

Меня зовут Игорь Максимович. Очень приятно.
I’m Ivan Maksimovich. Nice to meet you.

Очень приятно.
Nice to meet you.

Oткуда вы?
Where are you from?

Я из Алматы в Казахстан, но я живу в Международной космической станции полгода. А вы?
I’m from Almaty in Kazakhstan, but live half the year in the International Space Station. And you?

Я из Москвы, но я живу в Новосибирске. Вы космонавтом?
I’m from Moskow but live in Novosibirsk. Are you a cosmonaut?

Да. А вы? Какова ваша работа?
Yes. And you? What do you do?

Я ки́пер в Новосибирском зоопарке.
I’m a zookeeper in Novosibirsk Zoo.

Вау, это круто!
Wow, that’s cool!

Что? Даже круче, чем быть космонавтом?
What? Even cooler than being a cosmonaut?

Да, абсолютно. Я всегда хотел работать с животными, но отец настоял, чтобы я стал космонавтом.
Yes, absolutely. I always wanted to work with animals, but my father insisted that I become a cosmonaut.

Не будучи в пространстве захватывающим?
Isn’t being in space exciting?

Ну, это было в первый, и виды невероятным, но это может быть довольно скучной застряли в маленькой космической станции с теми же людьми все время.
Well it was at first, and the views are incredible, but it can be rather boring stuck in a small space station with the same people all the time.

О, я никогда не думал об этом так. Что вы делаете в Международной космической станции?
Oh, I never thought about it like that. What do you do on the International Space Station?

Мы делаем эксперименты, петь песни, писать стихи и смотреть на вид.
We do experiments, sing songs, write poetry and look at the view.

Каково это быть невесомым?
What’s it like being weightless?

Сначала это было странно и я заболела, но я привык к его сейчас.
At first it was weird and I was sick, but I’m used to it now.

Ну, я должен идти. До свидания.
Well, I have to go now. Goodbye.

До свидания.
Goodbye.

Pixelated v Pixilated

By Simon

When something is pixelated it is divided into pixels; enlarged so that individual pixels are visible; made up of a small number of large pixels to disguise someone’s identity (used on TV) [source].

When someone is pixilated they are behaving in an eccentric manner, as though led by pixies; whimsical or drunk [source].

The two words are easily and often confused.

Les mots de la semaine

By Simon

– l’appareil auditif/acoustique (m) = hearing aid = teclyn clywed = adskouarn / klevosod
– la piste = track, tracks, trail; lead, course = llwbyr, ôl, trywydd = hent, roudenn
– la piste cyclable = cycle track = llwybr beic = roudenn belo (?)
– bégayer = to stammer = siarad ag atal = gagiñ
– l’accompagnement (m) la garniture = trimmings = trimins = ambroug, gwarnitur
– les nouvelles = news = newyddion = news
– le bulletin d’informations = news broadcast/bulletin = bwletin/darllediad newyddion = lizher kelaouiñ
– la conférence de presse = press/news conference = cynhadledd newyddion = emvod kelaouiñ
– la marine = navy = llynges = marin, mordeadurezh
– une fin heureuse = a happy ending = diwedd hapus = echuiñ eürus (?)
– la noces = wedding = priodas = dimez
– le voyage de noces (voyage), la lune de miel (période) = honeymoon = mis mêl = miz mel

Штурмовщина

By Simon

Штурмовщина (Šturmovščina / Shturmovshchina) is a useful Russian word I came across in Mark Forsyth’s The Horologicon – A Day’s Jaunt Through the Lost Word of the English Language, which I got for Christmas. It means last-minute rush and refers to the practice of working frantically to fulfill production targets in factories at the end of each month when materials finally arrived, or if they didn’t arrive people used whatever was to hand to produce the required goods. This often resulted in shoddy products and was apparently a common practice in the Soviet Union. Similar practises were common in construction.

The word штурм (šturm) means storm or conquest, and штурмовать (šturmovat’) means to storm or conquer, so штурмовщина is all about storming and conquering those deadlines. It is also defined as “short bursts of extremely intense work after procrastination”, and possibly results from the relatively short growing season in Russia, which meant that most of the agricultural work had to be done quickly and intensively over the summer. The rest of the time the peasants could idle, contemplate and philosophise [source].

More interesting words are discussed in the book, and on the blog Inky Fool.

Do you leave everything to the last minute and then attack it in a fit of shturmovshchina, or are you more organised?

I have been known to leave things until the last minute, though try not to do it too often.

New song – Everyday Adventures

By Simon

Here’s a song that came to me a few weeks ago and which sounds a bit like it comes from a musical – maybe I should write one 🙂

Everyday Adventures
Wherever you go, whatever you do,
There are adventures waiting round the corner for you.
So open your eyes, your ears and your mind,
And you might be surprised by what you find.

Watch the birds, bees and flowers,
Not the minutes and hours
And take time to think and wander and dream.
Let go your regrets and worries and frets
And let your heart fill with joy.

Here’s a recording:

Resolutions

By Simon

Happy New Year to you all!

If you make New Year’s resolutions, have you resolved to learn a new language or to learn more of language?

I don’t really make resolutions, but plan to continue my studies of Breton and Russian this year. I don’t know how long it will take me to get to a level I feel comfortable with in each, but once I get there, I may have a go at Swedish or Norwegian, probably using an Assimil course in German, which will help to improve my German as well.

Scripts and alphabets

By Simon

I tend to use the words script and alphabet fairly interchangeably – I might talk about the Arabic script or the Arabic alphabet, for example. However I just noticed today that Wikipedia has one page on the Cyrillic script, which focuses mainly on the history of the script/alphabet, and separate pages for Cyrillic alphabets as used for particular languages (Russian, Bulgarian, Serbian, etc). The Latin/Roman script is treated in a similar way.

It seems that a script refers to the overall writing system rather than to the particular set of letters used to write a particular language, or alphabet. So you could talk about the Devanagari script, and the Hindi alphabet, i.e. the Devanagari letters used to write Hindi.

Have you come across this distinction before? Do you think it’s a useful one to make?