Russian speakers help please

[Apech]

We have a family of Ukrainian Russian speakers in the village.  Everyday I try to say something in Russian to them ( cos they don’t speak the local lingo).

 

Privet, kak dela? Is getting bit old now- so what are some easy phrases/ normal pleasantries one might say in Russian.

 

oh and please transliterate from Cyrillic cos I can’t read that 😎

 

thanks

[Taomeow]

It's perfectly fine to do it the English way -- i.e. drop statements about the weather.

 

SeVOdnya ZHARko  -- it's hot today.

KhoROshaya poGOda -- the weather is nice.

BUdet dozhd' -- it's going to rain.

 

Or you could get curious (the American way):

 

OtKUda vy? -- Where are you from?

Iz kaKOvo GOroda? -- From what city?

Vam zdes' NRAvitsya? -- Do you like it here?

 

Actually, if you give me a sample list of things you would say to a neighbor who does speak the language, I can try to come up with a Russian situational equivalent.

 

 

 

[Apech]

1 hour ago, Taomeow said:

It's perfectly fine to do it the English way -- i.e. drop statements about the weather.

 

SeVOdnya ZHARko  -- it's hot today.

KhoROshaya poGOda -- the weather is nice.

BUdet dozhd' -- it's going to rain.

 

Or you could get curious (the American way):

 

OtKUda vy? -- Where are you from?

Iz kaKOvo GOroda? -- From what city?

Vam zdes' NRAvitsya? -- Do you like it here?

 

Actually, if you give me a sample list of things you would say to a neighbor who does speak the language, I can try to come up with a Russian situational equivalent.

 

 

 

They say what sounds like zharka for hot … is that a regional accent?

 

 

[Taomeow]

29 minutes ago, Apech said:

They say what sounds like zharka for hot … is that a regional accent?

 

 

 

No, that's how "o" in an unstressed syllable is pronounced -- like a semi-swallowed "a."  English speakers often have trouble with it when they learn the language -- they pronounce it too distinctly like an "o" everywhere.  E.g. the word "horosho" (good or well or OK) which Anthony Burgess phonetized as "horror show" in "A Clockwork Orange" is a typical example -- but it's actually pronounced "harashO" since only the last of the three Os is under stress.  

 

Note (putting on my Henry Higgins top hat): there's regional dialects in some parts of Russia where o is indeed pronounced as o in an unstressed position, and a special verb in the language that specifically refers to this way of speaking -- Okat'.  Then there's the Moscow accent and a word for that -- Akat' -- characterized by exaggerated a's where unstressed o's are encountered.  While standard Russian, like I said, often semi-swallows them, a bit like the English schwa /ə/.)  

[Nungali]

Ha har !  I did that with a PNG guy at work . I knew a little and introduced myself in pidgin  and also said I can only speak a little bit of pidgin  ( 'Dis pella he  savvy lik lik talk boi ' )  ... only to get a barage of enthusiastic sentences assail me  at high speed  - " Whoa !  lik lik ... lik lik !  "  ( little bit ) 

 

Besides ... how you gonna get the pronunciation ?  

 

 

" KhoROshaya poGOda ...  BUdet dozhd "

 

Ukrainian man to wife :  " What did he say ?"

 

Wife; " I am not sure , I think his pagoda got crushed and  a bulldozer wrecked his bidet ."  

 

 

 

[Taomeow]

/\ We have a whole series of jokes based on interpreting what one hears in a "lik lik" known language.  Goes both ways, by the way -- e.g. we use "bread of sieve cable" to mean "bred sivoy kobyly" -- an idiom meaning "delirious bullshit," literally "the ravings of a grey mare."       

 

The latest example from my just-concluded trip to Greece.  Me and my friends were sipping espressos in a cafe in Corfu Town, and at the next table some young Greek guys were having a very lively conversation.  In the course of which one of them jumped to his feet and exclaimed, with great feeling and energy, what sounded like "Shabliaka ty moliaka!" to my ear.  Now I don't know about other people's ears but to mine it was simply delightful.  In Russian it could have been a yet unknown curse, but also words of endearment, or a nickname for a friend, or a dire warning -- watch out, I'm about to kick your ass!  Could be anything but due to the manner of delivery I was convinced it wasn't something boring.  So later I tried to pick AI's brain to decipher it.  What Greek expression, in a context I described to it, could it have been, and what could it mean?  After a brainstorming session we zeroed in on "Ti blaxia, ti malakia" -- which is the Greek for "what nonsense, what stupidity!"  Perfect.  I still haven't decided which version I like better, the real one or the misheard one, but I'm tempted to start using one of them, or maybe both.      

[Nungali]

" My hovercraft is full of eels ."

 

PNG Pidgin is  weird in that it developed from Aussie English , things like ;  their word for themselves  was 'boi'  ( white fellas ; " Boy ! get my bag .  Boy !  carry this box ."  etc  )   and , not being rude or politically incorrect at all  ( I think political correctness is  not a thing at all in PNG     )   as its just words' ; 

 

That man  broke   something  ( or did a process badly )  -   Dispella  buggerimup     ( that fellow buggered it up ) 

 

And for someone that has a habit of doing that -   Dispella , ime fuckimarse  ( that fellow he is .........   'constantly buggering things up '    )  

 

here is my classic one .... I have put it up before , but it belongs here . 

 

I had been 'in camp'   for about a week and a half  ( with the Bundjulung blackfellahs )  ,  they maintain their language well and it is constantly spoken. Often at times in an English convo their will break into Bundjaung , sometimes it seems without realizing  it . I am having a dispute with one of them , he is saying something exists or something is true  and I don't believe him .  Its a modern thing and it sounds like crap to me . 

 

Me ;  " Nah ... doesn't sound true to me , I don't believe it ."

 

Him :  " Why you don't believe it ? I believe it its true  !    You ..... you  !   I don't have time for you  .... ugogooglebro !  " 

 

Me:  "  What ?" 

 

" Ugogooglebro ! "  

 

" I'm sorry I am not familiar with that word what is it in English ? " 

 

" I am speaking English !   You  *&x#x%F  !    UGO  GOOGLE  BRO  !  "

 

 ....    !     OHHHHHHHH   ' you go and  goggle it bro '  .

 

 

 

I YI  YI !  

 

 

 

[Lois]

On 02.07.2025 at 8:50 PM, Apech said:

Privet, kak dela? Is getting bit old now- so what are some easy phrases/ normal pleasantries one might say in Russian.

hi, how are you?

 

I recommend you start working with a neural network. It's a piece of cake for it to solve this problem.

[Apech]

Just found out the Ukrainian Russian I was trying to talk to is from Baku, Azerbaijan !

 

 

[Nungali]

My Persian friend told me that's where   ' Good Iranians '  go   for 'holidays'  ( to be naughty ) .

[Apech]

10 hours ago, Nungali said:

My Persian friend told me that's where   ' Good Iranians '  go   for 'holidays'  ( to be naughty ) .

 salam nechusum

 

or something

[Taomeow]

4 hours ago, Apech said:

 salam nechusum

 

or something

 

Salam, nəcəsən? -- Hi, how are you?

There's also "Salaam aleykum" used in Azerbaijan (though it may be more of a Muslim greeting), to which a common response is "Aleykum salaam."    

I think you may be dealing with a rather complex accent in the case of your neighbors (or not, depending on the family.)  

 

I've been to Azerbaijan at the dawn of my misty youth (as we say to mean "young and innocent and devoid of clear thinking").  Befriended some homespun drug dealers -- they were all law students, young sons of high-ranking Communist Party functionaries, who had this idea to turn me into their Ukrainian connection for distribution and explained how protected I would be from the law ('cause their fathers were the law and could buy the law anywhere) and how safe and profitable it would be.  Lacking a knack for business, illegal or otherwise, I turned down the offer.  But I did get introduced to ganja -- a rarity in our parts back then -- and it was hands down the best.  They spoiled me for life with that first hit, it was so superior to anything I ever encountered since that I never made a habit of it.  It turned the world into a cosmic comedy show, everything was funny, all of nature was hilarious...  Maybe that's how gods feel about everything.             

[Apech]

4 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

 

Salam, nəcəsən? -- Hi, how are you?

There's also "Salaam aleykum" used in Azerbaijan (though it may be more of a Muslim greeting), to which a common response is "Aleykum salaam."    

I think you may be dealing with a rather complex accent in the case of your neighbors (or not, depending on the family.)  

 

I've been to Azerbaijan at the dawn of my misty youth (as we say to mean "young and innocent and devoid of clear thinking").  Befriended some homespun drug dealers -- they were all law students, young sons of high-ranking Communist Party functionaries, who had this idea to turn me into their Ukrainian connection for distribution and explained how protected I would be from the law ('cause their fathers were the law and could buy the law anywhere) and how safe and profitable it would be.  Lacking a knack for business, illegal or otherwise, I turned down the offer.  But I did get introduced to ganja -- a rarity in our parts back then -- and it was hands down the best.  They spoiled me for life with that first hit, it was so superior to anything I ever encountered since that I never made a habit of it.  It turned the world into a cosmic comedy show, everything was funny, all of nature was hilarious...  Maybe that's how gods feel about everything.             

If I understood him correctly he was full of praise for the USSR and how he could move from Baku to Ukraine.  I have to admit a certain vagueness about the Caspian Sea, Georgia, Armenian, Ngoro Karabash (?) etc.  I don’t think the British empire penetrated thus far - or was it part of the Great Game, not sure.  I should brush up on my history.  After all weren’t the Proto Indo-Europeans supposed to originate somewhere around there?

[Taomeow]

47 minutes ago, Apech said:

If I understood him correctly he was full of praise for the USSR and how he could move from Baku to Ukraine. 

 

It's a fairly widespread sentiment in the former Soviet Union.  I don't think the majority of the population got a good deal out of the break-up.  Some left for greener pastures, a small percentage got rich, and a very small percentage got stinking rich -- but for the majority of ordinary folks it was just endless difficulties and complications and loss of whatever social safety net and a lot of new but not necessarily improved things that, once the initial excitement wore off, just felt alien and dystopian.  That, of course, is not how "everybody" feels, and I don't really know the percentage of people who do -- but it is very, very common.  Some of that sentiment is based in reality, some, in illusion that edits out the dark aspects of the past and preserves the rosier ones.

 

47 minutes ago, Apech said:

I have to admit a certain vagueness about the Caspian Sea, Georgia, Armenian, Ngoro Karabash (?) etc.  I don’t think the British empire penetrated thus far - or was it part of the Great Game, not sure.  I should brush up on my history.  After all weren’t the Proto Indo-Europeans supposed to originate somewhere around there?

 

I've been to all those places (except Nagorno-Karabakh, but I know what the conflict was about) -- the Caspian Sea is warm and always somewhat stormy because the wind blows relentlessly, Georgia is blessed with great climate and great soil and is home to my favorite cuisine in the whole world, Armenia is -- well, they tell the story there about how god sifted the soil through a fine sieve and made Georgia, and all the rocks left in the sieve, he threw across his shoulder to discard and that was how Armenia came to be.  Azerbaijan is Muslim, Georgia and Armenia are Christian.  Nagorno-Karabakh was an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijani territory and a site of several wars over whose it is, the latest ending in Azerbaijani (backed by the West) grabbing control and kicking out the Armenians.  The British Empire was very active in Azerbaijan in the early 20th century, due to wanting their vast oil fields around Baku.  They even gained control of it for a while after WWI and established martial law.  Then they were very active there before and during the 1917 revolution and the civil war that followed.  But the Soviets prevailed back then.  

Edited Tuesday at 06:55 PM by Taomeow

[Apech]

13 minutes ago, Taomeow said:

 

It's a fairly widespread sentiment in the former Soviet Union.  I don't think the majority of the population got a good deal out of the break-up.  Some left for greener pastures, a small percentage got rich, and a very small percentage got stinking rich -- but for the majority of ordinary folks it was just endless difficulties and complications and loss of whatever social safety net and a lot of new but not necessarily improved things that, once the initial excitement wore out, just felt alien and dystopian.  That, of course, is not how "everybody" feels, and I don't really know the percentage of people who do -- but it is very, very common.  Some of that sentiment is based in reality, some, in illusion that edits out the dark aspects of the past and preserves the rosier ones.

 

 

I've been to all those places (except Nagorno-Karabakh, but I know what the conflict was about) -- the Caspian Sea is warm and always somewhat stormy because the wind blows relentlessly, Georgia is blessed with great climate and great soil and is home to my favorite cuisine in the whole world, Armenia is -- well, they tell the story there about how god sifted the soil through a fine sieve and made Georgia, and all the rocks left in the sieve, he threw across his shoulder to discard and that was how Armenia came to be.  Azerbaijan is Muslim, Georgia and Armenia are Christian.  Nagorno-Karabakh was an Armenian enclave in Azerbaijani territory and a site of several wars over whose it is, the latest ending in Azerbaijani (backed by the West) grabbing control and kicking out the Armenians.  The British Empire was very active in Azerbaijan in the early 20th century, due to wanting their vast oil fields around Baku.  They even gained control of it for a while after WWI and established martial law.  Then they were very active there before and during the 1917 revolution and the civil war that followed.  But the Soviets prevailed back then.  

It’s odd to think that the Brits were still pushing their weight around less than 100 years ago.  When you look at us now you have to wonder how that was even possible.  Shows how mighty empires come crashing down - quite quickly and easily (a warning for America).

 

I used to have a landlady who was besotted by a Georgian boy and used to go there to go ‘walking’ with him.  He threw her over for a very young ‘doll like’ girl with whom he planned to have many children.  She was devastated and her behavior became increasingly erratic.  She is a fairly famous playwright and has a wiki page so I won’t mention her name.

 

Looking at the map (in a very superficial assessment) Georgia, Armenian and Azerbaijan look like a fault line between the great powers of Iran, Turkey and the Russian empire.  So probably not a restful place I would guess.

 

My neighbour is quite fond of Putin by the way - so I guess he likes a bit of a strong man in charge.

 

 

 

 

[Cobie]

There’s, just arrived, an Armenian shop in my street.  It reminded me of Greece, especially the sweets sold. When I said so to the owner, she got very happy with me.  

[Taomeow]

1 hour ago, Apech said:

I used to have a landlady who was besotted by a Georgian boy and used to go there to go ‘walking’ with him.  He threw her over for a very young ‘doll like’ girl with whom he planned to have many children.  She was devastated and her behavior became increasingly erratic.  She is a fairly famous playwright and has a wiki page so I won’t mention her name.

 

 

Georgian suitors (not all of them of course, but there's always something like trends...) are passionate and can go over the top at that, but there's a bit of a double standard regarding how they treat their own (pretty traditionally, at least it used to be the case) vs. "foreign" girls.  Sorry to hear your landlady wasn't prepared for this turn of events and had to suffer.  

In middle school I was friends with a girl who was Georgian, Lali was her name, and she was very popular, perhaps the first girl to "wake up" our boys to the existence of girls, a coming of age thing.  After the 8th grade the family moved back to Georgia, and some heart-wrenching letters followed -- Lali fell in love with an Ossetian (an ethnic and religious -- Muslim -- minority in Georgia) and her family demanded that she has nothing to do with him.  It was a drama of many years that ended in their eloping I think and getting disowned by both families 

-- such a medieval story, I thought, so weird -- Lali was so modern, always on the cusp of fashion and trends...  and voila.  

[Nungali]

On 7/3/2025 at 10:09 AM, Taomeow said:

/\ We have a whole series of jokes based on interpreting what one hears in a "lik lik" known language. ....

 

A joke from my Persian boss about being a new migrant and trying to understand English    ;

 

" A man rushes into hardware store ; " Quick, sell me potato clock ! "

 

Assistant; "  I'm sorry a what ? "

 

" A potato clock ... quick !  Or my boss sack me .... I need job  bad ." 

 

" Hang on  I am not understanding you  ... slow down and tell me what you want ?"

 

" I don't understand , all new and confusing . My boss tell me quick I get a potato clock or I get the sack from new job, I don't understand please help me ! "

 

" You better tell me the whole story, that might make it clear on what he wants . "

 

" Yes, ok, very good ... my name is  Massoud, I come from Iran , I have work visa .  I get a nice flat nearby and luck, I also get good job, just around the corner , near flat, I can walk to work . I start  work at 9 am , so easy,  I get up 8:30 ... easy to make on time . But I want to look   good for first day , so iron best clothes , have good shower, deodorant, shave , after shave  , do hair ... shine shoes ... I get carried away ... turn up  9;10 . Boss very unhappy he ask 'Massoud ! I give you job and you turn up 10 minutes late on first day !  Why ?"

 

So I explain to him what happened , how I  get up 8;30 but it took too long as I want to make ready for a good impression  and that's when boss say to me ; 

 

" Well Massoud , if you want to keep your job   ...   you better get   a potato clock  !  

 

 

Spoiler

 

 

up at 8 o'clock 

 

 

 

 

 

... and then , a few weeks later I saw this !   

 

of course I had to buy it for my boss as a present ;  

 

 

 

[Nungali]

5 hours ago, Apech said:

If I understood him correctly he was full of praise for the USSR and how he could move from Baku to Ukraine.  I have to admit a certain vagueness about the Caspian Sea, Georgia, Armenian, Ngoro Karabash (?) etc.  I don’t think the British empire penetrated thus far - or was it part of the Great Game, not sure.  I should brush up on my history.  After all weren’t the Proto Indo-Europeans supposed to originate somewhere around there?

 

Possibly far north in the Volga Delta  and then into the Central Steppe area .   But that general area , especially to the south and into Ukraine had some of the largest human settlements of the time .... vast !  yet little known as they did not 'classify;'  (  in the resent past )  as 'civilizations' . 

 

New Research Suggests Ukraine May Precede Mesopotamia as Home of First Cities 

[Nungali]

4 hours ago, Taomeow said:

 

It's a fairly widespread sentiment in the former Soviet Union.  I don't think the majority of the population got a good deal out of the break-up.  Some left for greener pastures, a small percentage got rich, and a very small percentage got stinking rich -- but for the majority of ordinary folks it was just endless difficulties and complications and loss of whatever social safety net and a lot of new but not necessarily improved things that, once the initial excitement wore off, just felt alien and dystopian.  That, of course, is not how "everybody" feels, and I don't really know the percentage of people who do -- but it is very, very common.  Some of that sentiment is based in reality, some, in illusion that edits out the dark aspects of the past and preserves the rosier ones.

 

Its effected    some archaeology as well , especially in my area of specialty ; south Central Asia  /  ancient Margiana Archaeological Complex / BMAC / 'Oxus Civilisation' .  Previously  access was a little difficult , but one could 'play ball' with the Soviets , once you were 'in'   you only had to deal with the central authority . Now one has to deal with Uzbekistan , Tajikistan and  ( forget it ! ) Afghanistan  to gain access to  what was previously one area . 

 

(And it is just as bad the other way around .... back then one Soviet archaeologist specialist in that area  was invited to USA for a conference . he was taken on  sightseeing trip as well and like tourists do he was taking photo ... and talking in a Russian accent . later he got all messed up in some 'spy ' BS  until his US counterpart professor bailed him out . ) 

 

And the most relevant parts ?  Forget it ;  aside from the difficulties of terrain isolation and weather ..... i the political / military   situation there  is near impossible .

 

There has been one recent doco on  it though  ; 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Apech]

11 hours ago, Nungali said:

 

Its effected    some archaeology as well , especially in my area of specialty ; south Central Asia  /  ancient Margiana Archaeological Complex / BMAC / 'Oxus Civilisation' .  Previously  access was a little difficult , but one could 'play ball' with the Soviets , once you were 'in'   you only had to deal with the central authority . Now one has to deal with Uzbekistan , Tajikistan and  ( forget it ! ) Afghanistan  to gain access to  what was previously one area . 

 

(And it is just as bad the other way around .... back then one Soviet archaeologist specialist in that area  was invited to USA for a conference . he was taken on  sightseeing trip as well and like tourists do he was taking photo ... and talking in a Russian accent . later he got all messed up in some 'spy ' BS  until his US counterpart professor bailed him out . ) 

 

And the most relevant parts ?  Forget it ;  aside from the difficulties of terrain isolation and weather ..... i the political / military   situation there  is near impossible .

 

There has been one recent doco on  it though  ; 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Do you know a lot about the Greco Bactrian invasion of north India after the fall of the Mauryan empire?

[Lois]

God told me in a dream that Georgians are an interesting people

[Nungali]

11 hours ago, Apech said:

Do you know a lot about the Greco Bactrian invasion of north India after the fall of the Mauryan empire?

 

 

No . 

[Apech]

54 minutes ago, Nungali said:

 

 

No . 

Sad face.  Maybe you could look it up and we could discuss it?  If you have the time?