For the mentally challenged like me, Russian as a language and indeed my own language is difficult. I still cannot speak English correctly after years of trying. I don't speak Russian. I would like to learn, but I think any teacher that spent an hour trying to teach me would jump out the window in depression. Today I found a new toy, Google translate. Does it work well? does it translate correctly?If you were to put: "I would like a kilo of carrots please shop women" would it translate into: "You have big hills, come to bed with me" I challenge any Russian to try it and get back to me when you can.
Hi Englishman, just found your blog yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI live in Ukraine but Russian is my mother tongue. I tried Google Translate for the phrase you suggested and in Russian it came out "I would like a kilo of carrots please, a shop of women" :) So my advice is: keep it short: "A kilo of carrots, please".
Julia
Cool thanks Julia. If you like the blog follow it. I'll take your advice.
ReplyDeleteI use Google Translate quite a lot. My wife is from Moscow (now in USA) and I talk to her family several times a week with ICQ and google translate. Works pretty good. Some words dont come through so I do my best to make the sentences as basic as humanly possible.
ReplyDeleteI couldnt say "Yo Sasha, whats the temp there man?" might get translated as "You are a hot man Sasha" obviously embarrassing and N>OT what I wanted to say!! It has to be more simple and direct like "What is the temperature?" or "How is the weather?". Sometimes >I will type out my sentence in english, then translate it into Russian, then reverse translate to get an idea whats being said. I once got busted by saying "Granny looks warm in her sweater tonite" turned into "granny looks sexy tonite". YIKES! Ive been to Moscow many times in the past, at some points spending a couple months at a time and picked up Russian enough to hop on the metro, move around easily, ask simple questions, etc. I can still read some russian but my speaking has virtually disappeared.
I like you blog! Hope to read more! -1916home