Can стакан сока be used here instead of сок?

Question

In the book Дорога в Россию - учебник русского языка, there's a conversation that describes the scene of buying food:

Мне нравится эта рыба, этот салат, этот сок. Дайте, пожалуйста.

which means the following

I like this fish, this salad, this glass of juice. Give them to me, please.

My teacher says that сок here cannot be replaced by стакан сока. However, in English, it seems strange to say "this juice". It is common to say "this glass of juice" instead.

My question is, is it correct to replace сок by стакан сока? If not, why?

Answer 1

It depends. Basically, you can say anything that accurately describes what you are looking at.

1. You are looking at the menu which says something like "Сок 200мл 50 руб".

Here you are looking only at juice, so the determiner has to apply to the juice itself: этот сок/этого сока.

However, since 200ml of juice is likely to be coming to you in a glass, you can use the word "стакан", just make sure the determiner is still pointing to "сок": стакан этого сока.

Also, if the menu gives you options in the amount (200ml glass vs. 500ml jug), using "стакан" this way can specify which one you want.

2. You are looking at an image of a glass of juice in the menu.

Both options from 1 apply here as well: этот сок or стакан этого сока. However, you could move the determiner to the word "стакан": этот стакан сока. It is not particularly weird and will not necessarily give you away as a non-native speaker.

It does, however, invite a joke like: "Oh, this one specifically here on the page?", but chances of anyone actually saying anything like that are next to none.

3. You are looking at an actual glass of juice.

Both options from 1 and 2 are perfectly fine here: этот сок, стакан этого сока, or этот стакан сока.

4. You are looking at a jug of juice as you order.

Again, both options from 1 apply: этот сок or стакан этого сока.

However, I would refrain from using the option from 2. Since you are not looking at the glass of juice, you can not use determiner to point to the word "стакан". It just sounds somewhat bizarre, as if you imply that the jug is a glass. It sounds like a slip of the tongue, so it will most likely prompt a person servicing you to confirm whether you want just a glass or an entire jug.

Finally, you can use this approach with pretty much anything that comes in any container: a glass of juice, a plate of salad, a bowl of soup, or a pack of drinks.

Answer 2

My Russian is at the A2 level, at best, and I don't know your teacher, so I don't know what reason he or she may have had for telling you that сок cannot be replaced by стакан сока, but I know why I would tell you that you shouldn't replace сок with стакан сока. I would tell you that "стакан сока" shouldn't replace "сока" because it breaks the pattern in the series. If the sentence were to read:

Мне нравиться эта тарелка рыбы, эта миска салата, ...
I like this plate of fish, this bowl of salad, ...

then I would find "этот стакан сока" not only acceptable, but preferred. However, since (in the first example) the preceding elements of this series do not include the amount or utensil by which the food or drink is served then the last element in the series shouldn't either.

Answer 3

I think, the root of the problem is that the word "like" can have different meanings in English. It can mean "I want to buy/book/order" or simply "It is pleasant to me".

In the English sentence the intended meaning looks like "I want to buy", so the correct translation into Russian will not be with "мне нравится" but with "я хочу купить/заказать" (I want to buy/order) or with simply "я хочу" (I want). In that case, one can say both сок or стакан сока, just like in English.

But if the original English meaning was "It it pleasant to me", then you translate it with "мне нравится" and only can use "сок", not "стакан сока" (unless the very look of the glass of the juice is pleasant, which is quite weird situation, but can happen if you are a painter looking for things to paint).

So, I think, your teacher's translation of the English sentence with the word нравится is wrong, because the English original meant "like" in the sense "I want", not in the sense "I enjoy".

When Russian speakers want to buy something, they usually do not use the word "нравится", addressing the sellers. They can use it to their fellow buyers or friends, discussing the goods, or even to seller when want to discuss the thing, but not when had decided to buy.

Answer 4

The Russian sentence does not give any extra information about the juice apart from it being an item on some kind of a menu or a list. It may be a glass of juice, a bottle of juice, a cup of juice. Maybe you are expected to have your own barrel they would pour the juice into - who knows, you need some extra context to tell.

I don't think that it is a good practice to add some extra meanings to a translated sentence that is not contained in the original one. Sometimes there is just not enough meaning to construct a somewhat proper English sentence but you should at least do your best and try to find some kind of an equivalent even if the result sounds pretty ugly and strange. And in this respect the two options you are asking about are definitely not interchangeable.