Peculiarities of the Russian Language

Sometimes, if you read Russian journalistic publications which discuss technology and science, you get hints of how Russian writers dumb it down for the less educated readers.

In English, the word "complex" is usually an adjective; but it can be a noun, as in "military-industrial complex." Well, the Russian language has a virtually identical cognate of our word "complex":
КОМПЛЕКС -- and it is _always_ a noun, though there is also a derivative adjective. The Russian "complex" can mean virtually _everything_ that has component parts. For instance, a missile and its launcher together make a complex; or a satellite and its ground control station can make a complex. Ironically, "complex" thus becomes....a simplification.
 
Hey can you throw a few Russian town names? (preferably small and not the best known places), in Russia and even anywhere else you would know, like Germany, Poland, Scotland...
 
Here are some random Russian town/city names:

Tula, Kirensk, Vyatka, Kemerovo, Severodvinsk, Orenburg (German-rooted name, but in Russia), Vladimir (same as the personal name), Kaliningrad, Yakutsk, Polyarnyy, Saratov.
 
Yes, Nuremburg is real. The most famous _Russian_ city with a German-rooted "-burg" name is St. Petersburg.

I do know the meanings of some of the placenames. Yakutsk means approximately "In the historic territory of the Yakut ethnic group." Polyarnyy means "In the Polar (Arctic) Region." The name Severodvinsk is composed from the Russian word for "north," which is pronounced like the English verb "sever," plus the name of the Dvina River; thus it is "The City on the North Part of the Dvina River."
 
I believe you mean how do we say them in RUSSIAN?

"Peach" is ПЕРСИК, pronounced like the English words "pear" and "sick."

"Ghost" is ПРИЗРАК, pronounced like "Please rock," except with the L changed to an R.
 
Learning any language requires what, in the Navy, we call "attention to detail." As an illustration:

There are two Russian phrases which are so nearly identical that they only differ by having different FORMS of the SAME two words. The two phrases, in a crudely literal translation, both mean "not one time." But "NI RAZU" means "never, not at all," whereas "NE RAZ" means "not ONLY one time," thus repeatedly, even often.

Confusion of these two expressions can cause you to say exactly the opposite of what you think you're saying.



Everybody look for Evening Star's story

"SWEPT AWAY!"
 
Что делаете? Мой предмет заслуживает лучшего того, чтобы его бросили!

TRANSLATION: "What are you doing? My topic deserves better than to be thrown out!!"
 
Прекратите выбрасывать мою нитку! Я всегда переводил содержание!


("Stop throwing out my thread! I was always translating the content!")
 
В исполнении роли я только что притворил, что поженился.

The above is pronounced: VISS-pol-NEN-ee-ee RO-lee, yah TOL-kuh shto PREET-vor-EEL, shto PO-zhe-NEEL-s'yah.

And it means: In roleplay, I just pretended that I got married.
 
Hello all! I'm russian girl. I'm translating that, what I'm writing -
Всем привет! Я русская девушка. Перевожу то, что я написала
 
Hello all! I'm russian girl. I'm translating that, what I'm writing -
Всем привет! Я русская девушка. Перевожу то, что я написала


Добро рожаловать (Welcome), Katenja!!

For the benefit of any learners who still are looking, here is the approximate _pronunciation_ of what Katenja wrote in Russian:

F'syem preev-YET! Yah ROOS-ka-yah D'YEH-voosh-ka. Pe-re-vuh-ZHU toe, shto yah NAH-pi-SAH-la.

Thank you for participating, Katenja.
 
Copperfox, thanks!
If anything, I'm always glad to help!
To be honest, I myself English by the end I don't know, on this, I will learn it from you!
You don't mind? If anything, you could correct me?
 
С удовольствием--which means "gladly" or "willingly."

Let me begin with a correction of something you already posted here. When you said the Russian word
написала, that was a verb in the past; but you put it in English as "writing," which is in the present. "Writing" in the past is "wrote," or sometimes "was writing."
 
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