45
votes
Accepted
Why is the Turkish president's surname spelt in Russian as Эрдоган, with г?
Russian has different transcription systems for different languages.
Some of them (Japanese, Korean, Chinese) have been developed by a single person or by a group of scholars, who had invested some ...
- 56k
42
votes
Accepted
How should I understand and translate "закатить истерику"?
I think your translation, a bout of hysteria, is more about an uncontrollable physiological process, whereas the verb закатить speaks to the girl’s motives. So maybe ‘throw a tantrum’ would be better ...
- 639
34
votes
Accepted
Is there a Russian equivalent of "red flag"?
The closest match I can think of is "тревожный звонок" / "тревожный звоночек" (more popular form), like in:
Если твой парень никогда не приводит тебя в свой дом - это тревожный ...
- 38k
30
votes
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Russian equivalent of the idiom "crown jewel"
It almost complete equivalent, it's жемчужина, like in жемчужина коллекции. Here's an example of real-life usage:
Один из коллекционеров марок в Красноярске выставил на продажу
жемчужину своей ...
- 38k
27
votes
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What does "Бошетунмай" mean?
OK, I've waited long enough and since nobody's answering, I'll do it myself.
If a native speaker with no knowledge of the song hears "Бошетунмай", it won't mean anything to him. As for ...
- 38k
27
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of: "- Отнеси кота на веранду. - Да уж лежит там."
First of all, you translation is correct and I would not fail you for that.
That said, да уж лежит там is a peculiar, if grammatically correct, to put "it's already lying there" in Russian. ...
- 56k
26
votes
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What is the closest equivalent to "Armchair <profession>"?
There is an expression "диванный эксперт" ("the sofa expert"), I think it is almost the same. It could be applied to any profession. Also, there is another one expression - "диванные войска" ("the ...
- 1,960
26
votes
Accepted
Why is Tolkien’s “pipe-weed” translated as “трубочное зелье”?
The word зелье comes from Proto-Slavic *zelьje "grass, vegetation" which kept its meaning in many Slavic languages, including Church Slavonic.
It shares the root with the word зелёный "...
- 56k
26
votes
How do I ask "Really?" in Russian?
There are many phrases that can be used in a situation like this. Some of them include:
Правда? or Чё, правда? (Mostly used if you indeed question the truthfulness of what you've heard; the latter is ...
- 1,615
25
votes
What is this Russian word which means "just a sec"?
Most common variants are "сейчас" (which colloquially is pronounced "сщас" or "щас"), "[одну] секунду / секундочку", "[одну] минуту / минуточку" and &...
- 38k
23
votes
Accepted
Does «Энергия-Буран» mean "Energy Blizzard"?
No, translation "Energy Blizzard" is incorrect. It assumes that the meaning is compound, where the first noun plays a role of adjective (i.e. blizzard made of energy).
But for this to be correct, in ...
- 544
22
votes
Accepted
Почему в русском языке японские названия переведены с 'си' там, где в японском 'ши' или 'щи'
Вы же понимаете, что собственные имена не переводят, их либо транскрибируют, либо транслитерируют. В случае японского языка речь идёт как раз о транслитерации, а именно, транслитерации русскими ...
- 26.1k
20
votes
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Do Russians really use "Расход!" to say, "Let's go!"?
The character is saying расход! indeed, which is supposed to mean "scatter!", as a command.
This is not a mainstream word, but its meaning is obvious to a Russian speaker.
Russian sports and ...
- 56k
18
votes
Why is the Turkish president's surname spelt in Russian as Эрдоган, with г?
There are formal rules for practical transcription of Turkic proper names into Russian:
Турецко-русская практическая транскрипция
According to that table, ğ is transcribed as г and in rare cases as ...
- 11.9k
18
votes
Accepted
How can I say in Russian "I am not afraid to write anything"?
To eliminate the awkwardness of such double negations a safer approach is to (steer away from English patterns and) use сложноподчиненное предложение, e.g.:
Нет ничего, о чём я побоялась бы написать.
...
- 3,012
18
votes
Accepted
What does "калмыжка" mean in this context?
According to this source :
Калмыжка. Слово имеет разные звуковые формы в зависимости от говора:
калмыжка, калмышка, колмыжка, колмышка. Диалектное колмышка происходит
от комлыжка посредством ...
- 38k
18
votes
What is this Russian word which means "just a sec"?
You're probably looking for щас which is just a lenient rendition of сейчас.
It's the same as saying "wassup" instead of "what's up" or "ain't" instead of "am not&...
- 56k
16
votes
What is the meaning of: "- Отнеси кота на веранду. - Да уж лежит там."
Quassnoi suggested in his answer that the key might be the homonym "уж", which can mean "already" and "grass snake," and this possibility made me so pissed off that I got ...
- 11.3k
15
votes
Does the famous Russian translation of Jabberwocky by Lewis Carroll imply using drugs?
Absolutely not.
It absolutely does not imply drug usage and this is a classic example of overthinking without prior thorough research.
There is canonical explanation
Dina Orlovskaya, the translator ...
- 38k
14
votes
Accepted
What is the meaning of "еле-еле"?
Most probably you misheard "еле-еле" which means "with great difficulty", "scarcely".
It is a reduplication (intensified version) of "еле"
Example:
Он еле-еле идет.
He's barely even walking.
...
- 820
14
votes
How do you say: "You sound German" in Russian?
People don't generally "sound" in Russian; using звучать here would suggest an absurd notion that the speaker themself is a sound. Ты говоришь как немец (male) / немка (female) is one way to say it, ...
- 19.2k
14
votes
Accepted
Why is the Russian adverb "уже" not always translated into English?
"Уже" can be an adverb and an intensifying particle.
As a particle it doesn't bear any meaning but is used with words denoting time to stress their duration.
All your examples are connected with "...
- 21.9k
14
votes
What is the closest equivalent to "Armchair <profession>"?
Кабинетный учёный (your case), паркетный генерал, комнатный (офисный) журналист.
There's even a publishing house ironically named "Кабинетный учёный":
http://www.armchair-scientist.ru/
- 11.9k
14
votes
How to shortly translate "FAQ" into Russian?
Conventional abbreviation of Часто задаваемые вопросы in Russian Internet lingo is ЧаВо which is clever because it also reminds of the pronunciation of colloquial interrogative word чего? meaning что?
...
- 19.6k
14
votes
Accepted
Meaning of "Похоже, ты к нему клеишься"
I don't think any of the variants fits.
It seems you're making a move on him
It seems you're hitting on him / trying to get with him
- 19.6k
14
votes
Accepted
When to use и or а as “and”?
И joins, unites words and clauses, a contrasts them, singles them out, sets them aside.
Imagine a photo of Anna and Tom, a married couple. When showing the photo to your friend who doesn't know them, ...
- 26.1k
13
votes
Accepted
"Borrow" and "lend" in Russian
Одолжить means "to lend", can refer to money or to anything else.
Можешь одолжить мне 1000 рублей до понедельника?
Could you lend me 1000 roubles until Monday?
Often this word is used ...
- 2,117
13
votes
Accepted
What is the word for "troll"?
This word is borrowed directly from English and it's actually "тролль" or "троль" (pronounced almost like English trol but l is softer). It's quite common word in Internet slang and there is also a ...
- 38k
13
votes
"There are no people, there are no problems" - tell me what this saying is?
Есть человек — есть проблема, нет человека — нет проблемы.
Wrongly attributed to Stalin: there is no evidence that he ever said or wrote something similar.
This phrase from the novel "Children of the ...
- 2,337
13
votes
How do I write a name of a person when it is called from far away
That depends on whether you want the literary norm or something informal you could use, say, on the internet.
The literary norm would be Ка-а-атя-а-а. Note the hyphen before each vowel repetition. I'...
- 19.2k
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