Aкцент

From Omniglot comes some interesting audio sites that document accents in the English language. Boy are there are a lot!

Here are just a few of my favorites from the alt.usage.english website.

New York


England (Cornish)


India

The first bit of text goes as follows:  

Once there was a young rat named Arthur, who could never make up his mind. Whenever his friends asked him if he would like to go out with them, he would only answer, "I don't know." He wouldn't say "yes" or "no" either. He would always shirk making a choice. 

His aunt Helen said to him, "Now look here. No one is going to care for you if you carry on like this. You have no more mind than a blade of grass."

A lot of the U.S. accents for this passage don't sound _that_ much different to me but I wonder what a non-native speaker thinks of them.

This got me interested in finding examples of Russian accents. I found a phonetics project from a fellow russophile entitled, "Identifing non-native accents in Russian".

Here is the audio test she gave to native and non-native speakers:



Can you identify who is a native speaker and who is not?

My first 3 Russian words

Before I went to Russia, I knew a lot more than 3 words. Tonight while reading the best Russian language blog out there, I was reminded of one of the first words I learned in the wild, щас! You can think of this as a contraction of сейчас which means "now". When you say this word fast it comes out like sounding like "щас". One of it's common meanings in it's contracted form is "wait a minute" or "hold on".

If you are not familiar with Russian coins (копейки) then you will end up saying щас a lot in stores. Everyone from the store clerk in the supermarket to the villager on the street selling potatoes is eager for exact change. I felt better once I saw that even Russians have a hard time sorting out their change and instead just hold out their palm o' coins to the clerk who then deftly plucks the magic combination.

While I search my pile of change, I ponder another new word that has just been thrown at me: "нужно пакет?" Once you realize how close this word is to it's English counterpart (packet), you feel stupid because you've just been asked one of the easiest questions: do you want a bag?

Of course, the mother of all "words in the wild" is the ubiquitous command давай! A simple translation is "let's", "do it" or "come on". This was the first word I picked up probably within a few days of being there. I actually knew the verb (давать) and some of it's usages but that did not prepare me for encountering it in more situations than I could imagine, such as being part of a goodbye when on the phone - "давай, пока". An interesting footnote: this verb is of Turkic origin.

Happy Pancake Week

his week is the Russian Mardi Gras celebration known as Масленица (Maslenitsa). Just like Mardi Gras and other carnival celebrations, it's a time to celebrate before the coming fasting period of Lent. The holiday also goes by such names as Pancake week, Butter week and Cheesefare week.

We decided to celebrate by making American style pancakes. In order to follow the Russian tradition, we should have made блины (bliny), and probably ate them for lunch or dinner instead of at 6 o'clock in the morning for breakfast.

Due to it's shared ancestry with pagan traditions, this holiday is also a time to celebrate the end of winter. A scarecrow called "Lady Maslenitsa" symbolizes winter and is burned at the end of the festival to say goodbye to the season.

And then, of course, there is the mosh pits... Actually this is part of the seven days of Maslenitsa. Thursday is the day of fisticuffs and rough housin'. The video above (facebookers - click the link) looks like footage from a game of "red rover" on steriods. 

Super Bowl XLIV

I would be remiss if I did not give at least a quick run down of the most watched sporting event in the United States: The Super Bowl. The term "super bowl" appears to be a play on Super Ball. Today is the second biggest eating day in the U.S., right behind Thanksgiving (boy does that make me proud of my country). This is also a good time to mention a fun phrase: armchair quarterback. 

Here are a few things I don't understand:

Why isn't it called "Handegg" instead?

With such tight fighting uniforms and copious amounts of butt slapping, why are football fans not more open minded?

Chekov on BBC Radio

"Shortly before he died in 1904 Anton Chekhov predicted he would be remembered for perhaps seven-and-a-half years. But far from being forgotten the Russian playwright, short story writer and physician is celebrated around the world and to mark the 150th anniversary of Anton Chekhov's birth, BBC Radio 3, BBC Radio 4 and BBC Radio 7 broadcast a range of documentary and drama as well as short stories and essays. An outstanding line-up of contributors to the season includes Simon Russell Beale, Timberlake Wertenbaker, Ben Whishaw and Daniela Nardini."

More at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/chekhov/