I made two
business trips to Russia for a total of approximately three weeks. These notes are reflections on some of the
events I experienced.
Note that I
am no expert on the Russian language, and perhaps much of what I write here may
not be precise. I am just writing
impressions from my own mind.
I had worked with a team of Russian customers for
over a year before I made the trip to Russia.
I heard the language spoken, and skimmed through enough translated
documents to the point where I could often make out the context of the
document, although I had no specific knowledge of the script. Still, I had no working clue as to the
structure of the language for a long time, and I still do not. I know French pretty well, and I can
understand a lot of Spanish. Even when I
do not understand any particular French or Spanish word, I can usually use context
and the Latin base structure of the language and words therein to usually get a
solid grasp of what a particular text says, and often, what a speaker is
saying. However, this process does not
work for Russian. English has a Germanic
base structure with borrowings mostly from French. French has a Latin word structure with a
Germanic base of subject-verb-object.
So, learning French for an English speaker is straightforward since
context, base structure, and many words can be guessed at with a good chance of
understanding, although many people will agree that French is not an easy
language to learn, in any case. Learning
French simply means getting the verbs straight, the pronunciation right, and
the addition of many vocabulary words, which often have English approximations.
Russian has no base structure or common words with
English or French – except for a small list of common words that I have noticed
on occasion. It is a Slavic language
written in Cyrillic letters. So, the
English or French speaker must learn a new alphabet, in addition to a new list
of vocabulary. Furthermore, Russian is
not a language with grammar in the subject-verb-object format; it is a language
based on the declension of words, which makes its structure similar in idea to
ancient Greek and Latin. The six Russian
declensions are as follows: Nominative, Genitive, Dative, Accusative, Instrumental,
and Prepositional. (Those who may have
studied some Latin may notice a pattern here.)
I am told that in Russian, one can place words in just about any
position in a sentence (with some exceptions) since the declension of the word
identifies its function, and not its position within the sentence. (I must mention here that I have noticed
borrowed words specifically from French and English while in Russia; however, the
level of borrowing does not even approach a fraction of the level of borrowed
words between French and English.)
I purchased a laminated card with basic Russian
words and phrases from Barnes and Noble a few months back. It allowed me to “get by” in the airports and
in some restaurant situations. Some of
my Russian colleagues were amused at this card and called it my “Menu Russian.” It came in handy at one point when I was
instructing a service engineer in how to assemble a piece of equipment. The particular guy was from the Czech Republic,
and spoke no English. However, he knew a
little Russian, but many claimed that even his Russian was not that good. Anyway, with this “Menu Russian,” many hand
signals, and with his small list of English words, we were able to communicate
more or less functionally, although when complex subjects came up involving
time differentials and safety precautions, we had to call the translator.
To add to the complexity of learning Russian, in
addition to the different base structure and letters, some Russian words
require the blending of several consonants together, which is extremely
difficult for an English speaker, and perhaps even more difficult for someone
accustomed to the French style of pronunciation, since in French one must generally
get the vowels correct for proper understanding, whereas in English, one must generally
get the consonants correct for proper understanding. However, in English, even though hitting the
consonants are important, we do not have to blend long strings of consonants
together, as is required with Russian.
I had heard one Russian word in particular– or a
set of similar words – for over a year, and on my second trip, I think I gained
enough experience to pronounce the word perhaps not correctly, but at least
understandable. The two words are for “on”
and “off” as in turning a computer on or off.
The word for “off” is as follows: выключен (pronounced “vyklyuchen”
according to Google Translate, which is pretty close).
The word for “on” is as follows: включен. The latter is supposedly pronounced
“vyklyuchen” according to Google Translate, which is not correct. My Russian colleagues claim that it is
pronounced “vkl-ee-oo-chay-n.” The trick
I learned is that the first three consonants are jammed together hard, “vkl,”
followed quickly by the blended sound “ee-oo” (or “yee-oo” said quickly). This is not easy for an English speaker! The difference between on and off is
extremely important – especially on engineering projects – so, I did not want
to use these two words until I got at least a functionally correct
pronunciation. Look at the differences
in pronunciation:
·
v-uh-kl-
ee-oo-chay-n (выключен) (English for “off”)
·
vkl-ee-oo-chay-n
(включен) (English
for “on”)
If you are not
paying close attention, this can be a major screw-up! Notice the jamming together of the three consonants for “on” versus only two for the word “off” in bold.
In getting around Russia, there are a few words that will get you very far with a few hand gestures:
·
Пожалуйста (Pronounced
“pah-zh-ahl-st-ah”) (English “Please”
or “You’re Welcome”or“ I would like…”)
·
Это (Pronounced “eh-tah”) (English “this” or “that”)
·
Спасибо (Pronounced “spah-see-bah”) (English “Thank you”)
So, if you are in a
Russian store or airport and you want to purchase something, you point to
something you want and say, “Пожалуйста Это.”
When the transaction is done, you say “Спасибо,” and the reply is
usually “Пожалуйста.” Just that can get you very far.
Two other words to know that can help during the inevitable times of misunderstanding:
·
Извините (Pronounced “eez-vehn-eet-yeh”) (English “Excuse me”)
·
Простите (Pronounced “prohs-teet-yeh”) (English “I am sorry”)
In listening to the
language for a while, and while hearing certain recorded messages repeatedly
over the Moscow airport sound system, I think there is a certain Slavic beauty
to the language in its consonant blending and vowel blending. It takes some time to catch on to the beauty
of the sounds of the Russian language, but I am slowly hearing it the more I
listen.
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