Category: Russian

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Как сказать “…”?

In honor of осення хандра (fall melancholy), me and my language scholar had a quick yet inspiring discussion on the aforementioned word. You see, the word “хандра” is quite unique in its translation simply for the fact that there’s none.

Our dialogue teleported me back to my 8th grade when I read a story about Nabokov. When working on a translation for one his works from Russian to English, Vladimir Nabokov claimed that the word “toska” is quite literally, untranslatable. In attempts to explain what “toska” meant, he couldn’t figure out anything better than to write a whole paragraph in the footnotes describing the word as,

“At its deepest and most painful, it is a sensation of great spiritual anguish, often without any specific cause. At less morbid levels it is a dull ache of the soul, a longing with nothing to long for, a sick pining, a vague restlessness, mental throes, yearning. In particular cases it may be the desire for somebody of something specific, nostalgia, love-sickness. At the lowest level it grades into ennui, boredom.”

I’m not a language expert to claim that “toska” can’t have — at the very least — an approximate translation but what is true is that many languages have their own list of words that referred to as non else than “cultural identifiers”. They carry meanings, feelings and experiences unique to their languages. I would like to present a list of Russian “untranslatable words”

Бытие — bytiye

    The word that signifies one’s lifestyle, a way of living but in a more daily, humble almost peasant-like way. The word “бытие” is commonly interpreted as a day-today rhythm that one has built and swears by over an extended period of time. It’s not about a dietary lifestyle or sport preferences, it’s about waking up early to drink a cup of tea and maybe smoke a cigarette right after. It’s about one’s habits that emerged as a result of life circumstances and experiences.

    Хамство — hamstvo

      Many people would translate it as “rudeness” and I would agree if we were to add “passive-aggressive” right in front of it. “Хамство” is about quite yet sudden attack that’s not necessarily a verbal one. It’s usually concealed, a type of disrespect you have to decipher and be able to read your attacker’s body language in order to respond.

      Хандра — handra

        Very similar to “toska” in its essence but unlike the latter this word doesn’t posses the same degree of sadness. Speaking in English terms, “toska” is more similar to depression while “handra” is a close ally of “melancholy”. Have you ever felt numb for no apparent reason? Then you definitely experienced “handra”.

        Авось — avos’

        Sometimes you just don’t want to deal with stuff. You submit an unreviewed essay, mix all the ingredients left in your fridge and blindly buy a pair of pants in a nearby thrift store. It’s what we call “avos” — when something is done with an utter trust in luck deep in one’s heart. And it’s truly beautiful to be able to trust the world this carelessly.

        So the next time you feel bad for not being able to translate something — many that word wasn’t meant to be translated in the first place! What are the “untranslatable” terms in your language?

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          Turkisms in Russian

          Historical interaction and close proximity added to the diversity of Russian lexicon

          Russian – the strong and mighty language – has an estimated range of 150.000 to 500.000 words (depending on what is counted). And many of them sound challenging, some might sound “harsh” while others don’t sound like Russian at all.

          It’s because they’re not!

          Russian possesses at least 2000 words of turkic origin, that is words loaned from proto-Turkic languages and changed to fit the Russian phonetics and spelling rules. Many of these include what we would consider “regular”, day-to-day words like “watermelon”:

          қарбыз —–> арбуз (watermelon)

          алмас ——> алмаз (diamond)

          қамыс ——> камыш (reeds)

          Most of the times the phonetical change is so drastic that many, even native speakers, would have never noticed that certain Russian words were derived from a non-Slavic group of languages that are traditionally situated in the Asian subcontinent. But what’s the history behind that?

          Russia has been a trans-continental empire for the last 3 centuries, engulfing large territories that stretch from Eastern European grasslands to Siberia’s eternal tundras and covering the Northern part of Caucasian mountains. From both colonial and non-colonial interactions such as conquest and trade respectively, Russian as a language been in tight-knit contact with its Turkic neighbors for a while which left a considerable impact on its vocabulary. Whether it’s Kazakh, Turkish, Tatar or Yakut (Sakha), porto-turkic languages have given Russian a range of useful terms that we keep on using in our everyday lives.

          The scope of Turkic and Mongolic lands (circa 13-14th centuries)

          A more in-depth history of Turkish’s in Russian originates in the middle of 13th-century, commonly referred to as “pre-Mongolian period”. That’s when Russian as a language gained words like “шатер”- tent, “богатырь”-soldier, “жемчуг”-pearl and even “лошадь”-horse! The borrowing of the word “horse” attested in the inventories of the 12th century, and caused a reverse restructuring in the semantic relationship of Russian lexicon.

          Beginning in 14th century, Russia has been under economical rule of the Golden Horde that consisted of various Turkic tribes that will further progress into modern-day Turkic ethnicities. During this period, a number of important words entered the Russian language related to the state (yam, yamshchik, yarlyk, kazak, to roam), military (esaul, karaul, ensign, dagger, ataman, saber, koshevoy) and economic system (denga, treasury, treasurer, tamga, profit, owner, food, and even possibly bondage). Other borrowings relate to such areas of life as construction (brick, tin), jewelry (earring, emerald), drinks (braga, buza), vegetable garden (watermelon, rhubarb), fabrics (satin, braid), clothing and footwear (shoe, caftan, trousers, sheepskin coat, pimy, bashlyk, sarafan, cap, veil, stocking), everyday life (glass, chest), weather.

          But in 16th century is when Turkic influence has grown even bigger. Borrowings from this period are particularly numerous, which is explained by the enormous cultural influence of the Ottoman Empire. This influence extends even to the early 18th century: such well-known borrowings as the bashka (head), the ocher (imperfection), the pencil (pencil), and porcelain (porcelain) date back to the Petrine era.

          Turkic expansionism in Russian vocabulary of that era is also directly tied to Russia’s colonial expansion in Central Asia and Siberia. Imperial conquest did a number of indigenous culture and languages but ironically enough made Russian “absorb” a list of terms, and words from the languages that Russians considered to be of “lower culture”.

          So the next time you stumble across a word that sounds “weird” — you have photo-turkic languages to thank for that linguistical diversity!

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          Non-trivial way to improve your Russian and make everybody believe you’re a native speaker (sort of….)

          Soviet Winnie the Pooh is a core childhood memory of mine

          It’s never been a secret — Russian is notoriously challenging, filled with confusing conjugations and challenging slang that leaves even the most experienced learners crying, screaming and pulling their hair.

          But you don’t have to jump straight into banging your head with a thick Oxford dictionary — there are multiple easy – perhaps even childish – ways to upgrade your Russian skills.

          Continue reading “Non-trivial way to improve your Russian and make everybody believe you’re a native speaker (sort of….)”
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          They play spoons in Vermont?…


          As a way to engage more of our students with language programs at Reed, we will be starting a series of interviews with our dear language tutors. Miriam (or Masha!) has a lot to share about her experience!

          There is always a backstory to every language journey. Tell me more about your background and what inspired you to undertake a not-so-easy language like Russian.

          Learning languages is my thing,especially being a linguistics major. I started with Hebrew, French, some Spanish and moved on to German. And coming to college I wanted something totally different which was Russian – I loved it, it’s my absolute favorite. 

          Continue reading “They play spoons in Vermont?…”
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          Meet Miriam! (or Masha)

          Hi and привет! My name is Miriam, and I am a sophomore linguistics major.

          I took Russ 111 in the fall of ’23 with Zhenya. As a recent first-year Russian student, I know what is expected and will happily help with homework, practicing conversation, or checking grammar. I look forward to working with you!

          LangLabbie note: Drop by the Language Lab to see Miriam’s hours!

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          Meet our charming and amazing Russian tutor – Nina Gopaldas!

          Hi there! My name is Nina (she/her), and I am a senior comparative literature major. Learning the Russian language has been the highlight of my Reed experience, but I understand that learning a new language can be a long and difficult process. I am available to help make that process a little easier! I am always happy to practice grammar, writing, and speaking with you. If my schedule doesn’t work for you, please shoot me an email! We can find time outside my available hours.

          Привет! Меня зовут Нина (она/её), и я — студентка четвертого курса. Моя специальность — сравнительная литература. Изучение русского языка было самой яркой частью моего опыта в Риде, но я также понимаю что изучение нового языка может быть долгим и трудном процессом. Я готова помочь с трудностями процесса. Я всегда рада практиковать грамматику, письмо, и разговорную речь с вами! Если мое расписание вам не подходит, напишите мне на имейл, и мы найдём другое время встретиться.

          Note from a Labbie: Nina tutors for Russian 111, 112, 120 as well as 220. So if you’re thinking about studying Russian or currently in the process – don’t miss out on practicing with Nina and learn from her vast experience!

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          Non-Russian Russian Music for Your Consideration

          One thing I’ve learned in my year learning Russian is that the Russian-speaking world is very much massive. With speakers of the language spanning across the entirety of the Post-Soviet Union and its allies, it’s almost impossible to find Russian language books, shows, movies, and music without finding some that are decidedly not of Russian origin. So for your consideration, dear reader, I have compiled a list of some singers and bands from outside of Russia that you can add to your Russian language playlist. Keep in mind that while none of these songs are obscene by any means, you may want to find translated lyrics before playing them in public. 

          Continue reading “Non-Russian Russian Music for Your Consideration”
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          Investigating Narrative Levels in the Short Stories of Vladimir Nabokov

          For a semester project here in the language lab, I chose to investigate narrative levels and how they interact and change in stories. To do this, I attempted to replicate a project published in The Journal of Cultural Analytics, a journal focusing on the intersection of data and human action. The project aimed to understand how narrative levels work, as well as how uniformly standard definitions of them could be identified by different scholars in different places. The project lays out three main types of narrative that deviate from the main speaker, narrator, or story:

          Uninterrupted narrative: this is just a narrative by itself. It has the same speaker, the same time period, and the same point of view. 

          Embedded narrative: A story within the original narrative. The original narrative will always signal a reason for an embedded narrative. These typically take place in dialogue, when a character is prompted to tell a story.

          Interruptive narrative: a structural separate narrative in the midst of the original narrative. It is usually signaled by some sort of stopping point in the original narrative, such as a chapter end or a section break, and often changes narrator or time period. Unlike the embedded narrative, there is nothing within the original narrative that prompts an interruptive narrative. 

          Continue reading “Investigating Narrative Levels in the Short Stories of Vladimir Nabokov”
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          Film Recommendation: Зеркало (Mirror)

          Andrei Tarkovsky is one of, if not the most famous Russian film director of all time. One of his most beloved films by Russian people, Зеркало (1975) is a semi-autobiographical sequence of clips playing with memory, war, and daily life in Moscow.

          The film features stunning creative techniques, such as Tarkovsky’s famous long shots. The one above is considered not only one of his best shots, but one of the best in film history. Other techniques include color schemes and themes such as the mirror, time, and poetry, which is read by different characters and narrators throughout the film.

          The plot is kind of tricky to explain. A dying poet is the narrator (something that isn’t revealed until the end), but the story is far from linear or clear. The scenes switch between different time periods, and it’s sometimes difficult to keep up with which one you’re actually in.

          I’m no film buff, but this is definitely one of Tarkovsky’s most important works. He’s a hard director to understand no matter what, so you might as well start here! The Russian is fairly hard to understand, and I did need the help of subtitles to understand what was going on.

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          Museums in St. Petersburg

          If you’re planning a trip to Russia soon or hoping to go there eventually, museums are a great way to learn about a city’s history and culture. Of course there’s the Hermitage in St. Petersburg: Peter the Great’s old palace that is now one of the largest art museums in the world. If you go to Russia’s cultural capital, you’ll have to stop by that one, but here are a few others that you can’t miss.

          The Russian Museum

          Established by Tsar Nicholas II, the Russian Museum is the first and largest collection of Russian art in the world. It is housed in the Mikhailovsky Palace right off of Nevsky Prospect by the Gostini Dvor metro stop. The collection features Russian art from the 10th to the 21st centuries, along with a sizable amount of modern art from other countries. You can find names from Rublev to Picasso, and the layout is much less intimidating than that of a big museum like the Hermitage.

          The Menshikov Palace

          Built for Alexander Menshikov, a royal official and one of Peter the Great’s closest friends, Menshikov palace was the first palace in St. Petersburg, and the only one to survive from the beginning of the 18th century. The admission is free for students, and inside you’ll see rooms and furniture both from the time period of the palace and after. It’s located right on the Neva river, and is beautiful to walk around inside and outside.

          Dostoevky’s House

          Though only one of many house museums, this is perhaps the most famous, as it is for one of Russia’s most iconic writers. Dostoevsky was a known wanderer, drifting from house to house. This is partially his childhood building, and the last apartment he and his family lived in until his death. The museum is only a few rooms and features his own furniture and pictures from his family and daily life. After seeing this museum, be sure to check out the other house museums such as that of Nabokov and Akhmatova!