Ten facts about Russian (part 3)

What not to say and do

As with all languages beware of false friends, ie. words that sound similar but have a different meaning.
Don't try to buy a магазин, "magazin," in Russian - you end up with a shop. Better ask for a журнал, "zhurnal."
Don't be surprised if someone invites you into his kабинет, "kabinet." You're not meant to sit in his cupboard or join his cabinet, you're simply invited into his office.

Я плачу, ja plachU, means "I'm paying" while я плáчу, ja plAchu, means "I'm crying," which you might well be considering the prices in Russia today.

If your name is Luke or Luka, don't be offended if people start giggling when you're introducing yourself. Люк means "hatch" and лук, luk, means "onion."

The Novgorod Codex

First publication

Unearthed in 2000, the Novgorod Codex is considered to be the most ancient Russian book which dates back to the beginning of the 11th century. The wooden book with four wax pages was used for a few decades to record psalms and other religious texts.


How to be polite and show respect

Russian is one of those languages that differentiates between a formal and an informal you. So please use the polite Вы for people you've just been introduced to and switch to the informal ты after you've been invited to do so.

Then there is the patronymic: a Russian name consists of the first name, patronymic and family name, eg. Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoyevsky or Marina Ivanovna Tsvetaeva. The patronymic does what it says - it's based on the name of one's father with -ovich behind it for a son and -ovna for a daughter. It is considered polite to address someone by his first name and patronymic so if you're learning Russian there's no better way to impress than knowing someone's formal name. Learning to use it correctly in accordance with six cases is a completely different matter ...

Thanks to:

Ten facts about Russian (part 2)

The most difficult words and tongue twisters

Шла Саша по шоссе и сосала сушку.
Sasha walked down the avenue and sucked a biscuit.

На дворе трава, на траве дрова; не руби дрова на траве двора.
There is grass in the yard, there are logs on the grass, don't chop the logs on the grass of the yard.


Know any good Russian jokes?

The Russian sense of humour might seem sarcastic to foreigners and at times even rude, but even so Russians are ready to laugh at themselves. Since the Soviet era, jokes have reflected not only realities of everyday life but also politics. This is still unchanged in modern Russia where new jokes are being told the day after a story about a political row appears on the front page of the newspapers. Here is an example:

Транспортировка кока-колы через территорию Украины прекращена. Это потому, что они из нее газ воруют?
The transport of Coca-Cola through the territory of Ukraine has been suspended. Is it because they steal gas from it?

But Russians also laugh about the same topics as the rest of the world, eg. cute things children say, mothers-in-law, neighbouring countries and grannies visiting the doctor.

If I learn Russian, will it help me with any other languages?

Russian sits within the East Slavic branch of the Slavic subfamily of the Indo-European family of languages. The closest relatives of Russian are Ukrainian and Belarussian, which you will be able to understand on a basic level after learning Russian.

Knowing Russian will make it easier for you to speak any other Slavic language, eg. Polish, Czech, Slovak, Bulgarian, Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian or Slovene.

Thanks to:

Ten facts about Russian (part 1)

Where is Russian spoken?

Russian is the official language in the Russian Federation, which has a population of more than 140 million people. Russian is also spoken in Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan and other republics of the former USSR. Because of the legacy of the Iron Curtain, Russian speakers have a good chance of being understood anywhere from Riga to Belgrade.


What you already know about Russian

About 10% of Russian words are internationalisms and bear a resemblance to English words. For example:
проблема, problem
кофе, coffee
кафе, café

There are plenty of loan words from Italian, French or German, so you have an advantage if you know any of these languages already. Admittedly those loan words might look a bit archaic as they made their way into the Russian language in the 18th and 19th centuries, such as the word парикмахерская, "hair salon", from the German word for "wig maker."

The main source of loan words for modern Russian is English so don't be surprised if you see words such as флэш-карта, "flash card" or хакер, "hacker."

By the way, even the old word вокзал, "train station," comes from a very similar English word - Vauxhall.

How hard is it to learn?

Many people who are learning to speak Russian agonize over its pronunciation and grammar. The various endings of the nouns, six cases, two aspects of the verbs and the correct placement of stress may seem tortuous indeed. But the good news is that there are only three tenses in Russian and the word order in Russian sentences is predictable.

Thanks to

La ONU celebró el 20 de abril el Día de la Lengua China

Fuente: Centro de Noticias ONU

20 de abril, 2011  La ONU celebra el Día de la Lengua China como parte de los esfuerzos de la Organización por subrayar el significado cultural e histórico de cada uno de sus seis idiomas oficiales.

Talleres sobre caligrafía china, una demostración de artes marciales e interpretaciones de música tradicional y folklórica forman parte de la fiesta en la sede en Nueva York.

El 20 de abril fue escogido para la celebración en homenaje a Cang Jie, figura mítica que se presume inventó los caracteres chinos hace unos 5.000 años.

La ONU introdujo en 2010 los días de los idiomas oficiales utilizados en sus foros -- el inglés, el francés, el árabe, el chino, el ruso y el español-- para promover la diversidad cultural y el multilingüismo dentro del organismo mundial.

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23 de abril: Día Internacional del Libro y del idioma español

Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra

El pasado 23 de abril se celebró el Día Internacional del Libro y del idioma español. La celebración de la lengua española coincide con la fecha de la muerte de Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, autor de "El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de La Mancha," obra maestra del famoso escritor español y de la literatura en lengua española. Esta fecha difiere de la elegida por la Organización de las Naciones Unidas para celebrar el Día de la Lengua Española, el 12 de octubre, coincidiendo con la fecha en la que se supone que Cristóbal Colón llegó a tierras americanas en 1492.

William Shakespeare

Además de la muerte de Cervantes, el 23 de abril se conmemora la muerte de William Shakespeare, máximo exponente de la literatura en lengua inglesa. La coincidencia de la fecha de la muerte de los que son considerados como los dos escritores más importantes e influyentes de la literatura universal, hace que sea el 23 de abril la fecha elegida para celebrar el Día Internacional del Libro. Sobre todo en España, el 23 de abril, mucha gente regala libros a familiares y seres queridos.

¿Dónde se habla el alemán?

Aquellos que piensen que el alemán se habla sólo en Alemania, están equivocados. Son varios los países que lo tienen como lengua oficial. A parte de Alemania, el alemán es también lengua oficial en Austria, Liechtenstein, Suiza, Bélgica, Hungría y Luxemburgo.

Ahora bien, hay que especificar que, aunque el alemán es lengua oficial en todos estos países mencionados, en algunos de ellos lo es sólo en un determinado territorio. Un ejemplo es el caso de Suiza, donde el alemán comparte la oficialidad con el francés, el italiano y el romanche, aunque, eso sí, el alemán es el idioma más hablado entre los suizos (más del 65%). En Bélgica, el alemán es oficial, pero sólo se habla en las regiones orientales que limitan con Alemania; el resto de los belgas hablan neerlandés o francés (a veces ambas). En Luxemburgo, un pequeño país centroeuropeo que apenas supera el medio millón de habitantes, el alemán también es oficial, junto con el francés y el luxemburgués. La ciudad húngara de Sopron también tiene al alemán como lengua oficial (se encuentra en una región que limita con la nación germana).

El alemán también se habla en otros países como lengua materna, aunque no con el número suficiente de hablantes como para otorgarle el rango de lengua oficial. Éste es el caso de regiones de Francia, Italia, Polonia, Rumanía y la República Checa.

Guardia Suiza Pontificia con su uniforme tradicional

Como dato curioso, el alemán también se habla en la Ciudad del Vaticano, microestado en el que las lenguas oficiales son el latín y el italiano, pero la mayoría de los 110 soldados que integran la Guardia Suiza Pontificia (cuerpo militar encargado de la seguridad personal del Papa y de la Ciudad del Vaticano) hablan alemán.

Se calcula que al menos 120 millones de personas en el mundo hablan alemán.

Ten facts about the Japanese language (Part 3)

Famous quotations

Perhaps the best-known Japanese literary form outside Japan is the Haiku. With its simple 5-7-5 syllabic structure and origins within Zen Buddhism, it's been as popular with school teachers as with the Beat writers, such as Allen Ginsberg and Jack Kerouac. One of the most famous Haiku poets is Matsuo Bashō (1644-1694), and this is perhaps his best-known, and most evocative, work:

古池や 蛙飛びこむ 水の音

[Furu ike ya
Kawazu tobikomu
Mizu no oto]

Translation:

The ancient pond
A frog leaps in
The sound of the water.

First publication

The strange thing about Japanese is that there’s very little evidence of an indigenous writing system until the Chinese characters were brought over to Japan in the 5th century AD. Even after this, it wasn't until around the 8th century that a truly distinct form of written Japanese was developed. But it was a couple of centuries later when, what is often referred to as the world's first novel, 源氏物語 [Genji Monogatari], The Tale of Genji, was written by Murasaki Shikibu in 1007.

How to be polite and show respect

In the old days of feudal Japan, a samurai warrior would shout 身の程を知れ！[Mi no hodo o shire!], Know your place! at anyone who dared to show insufficient respect. And with that, a sword would be brought swiftly down upon the unfortunate one's head. Well, you might not have to fear a sword these days but it’s still wise to always remember your place. Even if you don't have the language skills, a softening of the voice, a discreet awareness of the other person's personal space and undemonstrative body language go a long way when it comes to courtesy and showing respect.

Thanks to

Ten facts about the Japanese language (Part 2)

Know any good Japanese jokes?

Japanese humour tends to be much more story-based, rather than the telling of simple gags. Whether it be the old style rakugo (storytelling by a comic in traditional dress) or the more modern manzai (comic double act having a rapid-fire conversation), the humour is in the, often rambling, ins and outs of the story. There is a lot of playing on words and the use of dialect for full comic effect.

Here’s a very condensed version of the very famous story, Manjū Kowai, told in the rakugo tradition and stripped of all the little side stories woven into the narrative:

友人達とお酒を飲んでいると、ある一人の人物がこの世で何が一番怖いか皆に問いかけます。一人はクモ、またもう一人はナメクジ、その横の人は蛇と答えます。そのうち一人はまんじゅうが一番怖い。。と答えました。それを聞くと他の友達は良くある冗談として大量のまんじゅうを買い込み、彼を一緒に部屋に閉じ込めてしまいます。しばらくして皆が様子を見ようと扉を開けると、なんと彼はまんじゅうを全部食べてしまっているではないですか！友達の一人が言います。『なんだ、お前まんじゅうが怖いって言ったじゃあないか。このうそつきめ！本当は何が怖いか正直に言ってみろ。』と聞くと、彼は『はて、、』と言ってしばらく考え込み、『いいタイミングで聞いてくれたものだ。今はおいしいお茶が本当に怖い』。

Translation:

A few friends are sitting around having some drinks. One of them asks the rest what they’re most scared of. One says spiders, another says slugs, the guy next to him snakes and so on... Finally, one of them admits it’s manjū cakes that scare him the most. So, as a practical joke, his friends go off to get heaps of manju cakes and lock him in a room with them. After a while, they open the door - only to see that he’s actually eaten all of them! "Hey!" shouts one of the friends, "I thought you said you were terrified of manjū! You liar! So come on, tell us the truth now! What is it that you're really frightened of?" "Well," says the man thinking for a while, "Funny you ask that, but at this very moment, I think I'm really scared of a nice cup of tea...."

If I learn Japanese, will it help me with any other languages?

A knowledge of Japanese will help immensely if you intend to learn Korean as the two languages are grammatically very similar. Chinese is very different in this respect although learning the Japanese characters would prepare you for the bigger task of learning the Chinese ones.

What not to say and do

One of the most notorious ways in which foreigners (especially Italians) embarrass themselves is when they first go to a Japanese bar and say cin cin on clinking glasses to toast. Unfortunately for them, chinchin is how Japanese children refer to the male organ!


(To be continued)

Thanks to

Ten facts about the Japanese language (Part 1)

Where is Japanese spoken?

Japanese is the official language of Japan, which has a population of over 125 million. There are also around 2.5 million people of Japanese origin, many of whom speak Japanese as their first language, living in the Americas, particularly the United States. You'll also find a sizeable expatriate presence in major cities such as London, New York and Paris.

What you already know about Japanese
It will be probably come as a relief that just like English, words have no gender. Japanese doesn't use articles as prolifically as English does and there's no way of showing whether a word is singular or plural. E.g. the word 友達 [tomodachi] can mean a friend, the friend, friends and so on. Sounds confusing, but once you get the hang of it, this actually makes things a lot simpler.

Since Japanese uses a vast amount of foreign loan words (外来語 [gairaigo] - literally words from outside) you’ll constantly hear familiar nouns and adjectives, and not just words borrowed from English. E.g. the word for TV is テレビ [terebi], bread is パン [pan] from the French word pain (and same sound as the word in Spanish) and part-time worker is アルバイト [arubaito], from the German Arbeit, work.

How hard is it to learn?

The most obvious challenge is probably learning the characters, but unfortunately, there's no getting around them! However, if you want to stick to spoken Japanese and just learn the Romanized script, then it can be a lot easier than learning many other languages. There are no pronunciations or tones to remember and each syllable is given equal emphasis.

Getting used to Japanese grammar can be a bit tricky because of the word order, which is Subject - Object - Verb. Great if you're used to other languages, such as German or Turkish which have similar word orders, but possibly a little confusing for English speakers unfamiliar with it. So, the verb is placed at the end, meaning a simple sentence like "I watch television" would be "I television watch". This also means that you have to be patient as until the speaker reaches the very last word of the sentence, you won't know whether they're coming or going, agreeing or disagreeing and so on!

The most difficult words and tongue twisters

The Japanese are rather fond of playing tongue twister games and here's one of the most famous, which is difficult enough to say in English, let alone Japanese!:

生麦、生米、生卵 [Nama mugi, nama gome, nama tamago], raw wheat, raw rice, raw egg.

(To be continued)

Thanks to

Dos reflexiones sobre el idioma y el lenguaje

Dietrich Schwanitz,
escritor alemán.

"El lenguaje ha de sernos tan familiar como nuestra propia vivienda o nuestra propia casa, cuyas habitaciones no necesitamos utilizar constantemente. El sótano de la jerga, el lavadero del desbordamiento emocional y el recinto destinado a la instalación de la calefacción, que alberga la pasión, no los frecuentamos tanto como el comedor del lenguaje coloquial, la habitación de la conversación íntima y la salita de estar en la que hacemos vida social. Lo mismo cabe decir de la buhardilla del lenguaje técnico y de la grandilocuencia, así como de la habitación de invitados, en la que hablamos un lenguaje elevado repleto de extranjerismos. Pero todas las habitaciones y todas las plantas de la casa del lenguaje deben resultarnos accesibles; hemos de poder movernos en ellas con familiaridad y facilidad, incluso con la seguridad de un sonámbulo".



Carlos Liscano,
escritor uruguayo.

"El respeto por el lenguaje rudimentario, de adjetivos únicos, tics, clichés, no es un favor que se le hace al hablante que lo posee como única variante de expresión. El lenguaje pobre, y su defensa, su culto, consagra y remacha las injusticias sociales y económicas. [...] La libertad individual depende mucho de la competencia (y la incompetencia) lingüística. Vivir en un mundo que uno no es capaz de nombrar es estar condenado a la esclavitud ante las cosas, las noticias, y, sobre todo, ante hablantes con un idioma desarrollado. [...] La indiferencia, el rechazo y hasta la hostilidad por el lenguaje complejo, matizado, flexible, se presentan a veces como forma de luchar contra el poder. De prosperar esta ‘escuela’ es seguro que se estaría condenando a los más débiles a nunca compartir el poder."


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