Reading signs in Cyrillic

[SANDRO43]

This head-ware is just as Russian as Mortadella.

He used to be an Italian Communist Party leader .

[Ooooops]

He used to be an Italian Communist Party leader .

That's what happens when one wears propaganda printed materials too close to the brain...   

[Misha]

As long as we are on the "kalbasa" subject - БУТЕРБРОД - it's German, not French, but it's tastier than кошмар   

I did not say it was German, but I would still prefer a котлета (French côtelette) to a БУТЕРБРОД

[SANDRO43]

That's what happens when one wears propaganda printed materials too close to the brain...

Well, he also happens to be currently our MOST respected political figure - not too difficult considering Berlusconi, one might add - as were many of our old Communist Party leaders, the first in disengaging themselves from Moscow in the 1970s.

[Ooooops]

I did not say it was German, but I would still prefer a котлета (French côtelette) to a БУТЕРБРОД

Yes, cold котлета on rye also makes great бутерброд!       I'm hungry, gotta go rummage some food... 

[Faux Pas]

As long as we are on the "kalbasa" subject - БУТЕРБРОД - it's German, not French, but it's tastier than кошмар   

Are you sure? Not Polish maybe? 

[Boethius]

Definitely German, also used in Ukrainian.

[Ooooops]

Are you sure? Not Polish maybe? 

Which one - Butterbrot or Kielbasa?   

[SANDRO43]

I did not say it was German, but I would still prefer a котлета (French côtelette)

Here we have a typically Milanese dish, our cotoletta derives from costoletta (small rib) adapted in French as côtelette, in English as cutlet: a slice of veal with rib bone, covered with egg-mixed grated bread and fried in butter:

Cotoletta alla milanese

Austrians claim their Wiener Schnitzel was a forerunner, but a reliable source (Marshal Johann Josef Wenzel Anton Franz Karl Graf Radetzky von Radetz, Viceroy of Lombardy-Venetia from 1848 to 1857) reported to Vienna that here we did NOT fry it covered with flour as they did .

[Faux Pas]

Which one - Butterbrot or Kielbasa?   

Kielbasa

[Ooooops]

Kielbasa

Ковбаса відома з давніх часів. Назва ковбаси можливо походить від тюрк. kul basti — «смажене м'ясо». Згадки про неї зустрічаються в джерелах Давньої Греції (свинячі шлунки начиняли вареними шматочками м'яса), Риму (копчені кілечка кров'янки), Вавилону і Давнього Китаю. Кочові народи виготовляли «суджук» — в'ялене на сонці м'ясо, що доводили до кондиції солоним потом коней під сідлами. В Україні ковбасне виробництво відоме з давніх часів. Татищев вказує, що русини вміли солити м'ясо вже при Святославі, а, заКарамзіним, шинка з'явилася на Русі в епоху Володимира, окости подавали на бенкетах князя в Києві. У новгородських берестяних грамотах XII століття згадуються ковбаси начинені свининою, гречкою, салом, кров'ю та яйцями.ІсторіяУ Московії виникнення ковбасної справи відноситься до часу царювання Петра I. Саме в ці роки в Росії з'явилися німецькі ковбасники, які відкривали свої виробництва спочатку в Петербурзі, а потім і в Москві. На початку XIX століття завдяки все більшому розвитку російського способу виробництва, в продажу з'явилася знаменита згодом углицька ковбаса, винайдена Русиновим, російським учнем німецького ковбасника, у місті Угличі. Після 1910 року в ковбасному виробництві почалося повальне технічне переозброєння за допомогою німецьких фірм, які пропонували сучасне обладнання.

[OlgaH]

The less you know the better your sleep, remember?        Although couple times that I bought my favorite Doktorskaya kolbasa in local Russian grocery store it was really bad... 

Ooooops, just for you 

(-Why this kolbasa is called "Doctorskaya"? - Because you eat it and after you go to a clinic for stomach cleansing.)

[Ooooops]

Ooooops, just for you 

Mmmm...   rat....   mmmm....   

[mendeleyev]

Sandro, thanks for catching that and I've edited it.

хлеб {khlep] = bread


This word can be a hard one for beginners and what Sandro is referring to is that the last letter is spoken like a p instead of a b in this instance. Russian has a rule about certain voiced consonants at the end of a word. б ("beh") is one of those letters at the end of a word which is changed from voiced to voiceless and "beh" becomes "peh" although the spelling remains the same.

This happens to other popular words as well. For instance:

Vodka is spelled водка or v-o-d-k-a. However the D is written as a D (д) but the word is spoken as "voT-ka" because T ("teh") is the "voiceless counterpart" to the Russian letter д ("deh").


Fortunately there are only six letters covered by this rule and it only happens at the end of a word or at the end of a consonant cluster within a word.

For those actively studying, the six letters are:

b (voiced like p)
v (voiced like f)
g (voiced like k)
d (voiced like t)
zh (voiced like sh)
z (voiced like s)

One more example: We'll look at a very common word you might use in the FSU, the term for bus. It is written in Russian as автобус and spelled as a-V-t-o-b-u-s but V is spoken like an F (see the chart above) and so it sounds like "afTO-boos."

Also remember that the u sound represented by the letter у is more like "OO" in Russian so 'bus' in your ears will sound like BOOS. There are two "u" letters in Russian and the other one sounds closer to an English "u" but not this one.

[mendeleyev]

Olga and Ooooops brought in the word sandwich to our word topics on food: бутерброд

Here again that pesky voiced to voiceless consonant rule applies to the д at the end of the word. That is a "d" but we'll speak it as a "t" at the end: "boo-tyer-brot"

For readers who are studying Russian the following may help you consolidate some of your learning steps. As you know the ending of nouns change according to the "case" in which they are used. We're nowhere close to talking about cases in such a thread but this is a practical example of how Russian grammar rules are more consistent that we might at first think when approaching the language.

Some of you have studied how to tell time and telling the number of sandwiches follows the same pattern as the number of hours. Watch the last letter in each word:

один бутерброд (one sandwich)
два бутерброда (two sandwiches)
три бутерброда (three sandwiches)
четыре бутерброда (four sandwiches)
пять бутербродов (five sandwiches)
and so forth...

It is the same pattern of noun endings as when telling time:

час (hour, literally one hour or one o'clock)
два часа (two hours/two o'clock)
три часа (three hours/three o'clock)
четыре часа (four hours/four o'clock)
пять часов (five hours/five o'clock)
and so forth...

[Ooooops]

Olga and Ooooops brought in the word sandwich to our word topics on food: бутерброд

Actually, it is not entirely correct...   Sandwich in US is usually a closed one vs. an open as in some European countries and which is translated as бутерброд.   So there is a straight anglicism in Russian language for that - сэндвич. 

[mendeleyev]

Thanks Oooops, you are my hero. On another Internet place I was once slammed for suggesting a difference between open faced and closed as compared to Europe vs the USA.

So since both terms are used, we'll teach both. As Oooops says, there is an Anglicized version for sandwiches, сэндвичи or "send-vichi." On the Subway sign below you see сэндвичи and next to it the term for salads, салаты "sah-la-ti."

[Ooooops]

Thanks Oooops, you are my hero.

On another Internet place I was once slammed for suggesting a difference between open faced and closed as compared to the USA vs Europe.

Really?   By whom - Europeans or Americans?     

[mendeleyev]

Both unfortunately. That was in a past life however. 

[mendeleyev]

Some food words are very easy, such as the word for "juice" which is сок. Spelled s-o-k, it is spoken just like it sounds: "SOK."

[Ooooops]

Some food words are very easy, such as the word for "juice" which is сок. Spelled s-o-k, it is spoken just like it sounds: "SOK."

Mendy, did you read the label on this bottle???   

[SANDRO43]

Russian has a rule about certain voiced consonants at the end of a word. б ("beh") is one of those letters at the end of a word which is changed from voiced to voiceless

Just a phonetical nitpick about those 2 terms: they indicate whether our vocal cords in the larynx are made to vibrate or not while emitting a sound.

For example, in English:

- This (voiced)/Thin (voiceless)
- Base (voiced)/Bus (voiceless)

Place a finger on your Adam's apple, try those word couples and you'll notice the difference. In your list:

Fortunately there are only six letters covered by this rule and it only happens at the end of a word or at the end of a consonant cluster within a word. For those actively studying, the six letters are:

b (voiced like p)
v (voiced like f)
g (voiced like k)
d (voiced like t)
zh (voiced like sh)
z (voiced like s)

this would apply only to the 3 highlighted cases. In the other 3 cases it's the place of articulation that moves forward in the mouth (palatal to alveolar/guttural to palatal).

A similar sound change (B/D/G -> P/T/K) occurred in the First Germanic Sound Shift (also known as Grimm's law). It's a not infrequent development in language phonetics: a move towards easier pronunciations . 

[Misha]

Some food words are very easy, such as the word for "juice" which is сок. Spelled s-o-k, it is spoken just like it sounds: "SOK."

You forgot to mention that it is alcohol-free orange "juice" with that has a taste of beer  Methinks it would not quite be your standard orange juice

[mendeleyev]

Mendy, did you read the label on this bottle???

You forgot to mention that it is alcohol-free orange "juice" with that has a taste of beer  " title="Evil" class="smiley"> Methinks it would not quite be your standard orange juice

Yes. 

Me thinks the same. However there was no wish at the introduction of the word "juice" to develop the types of juice products or an explanation of why апельсиновый сок sounds to the English ear very much like apple ("apel") at the beginning of the word when it is orange juice. 

The word for juice however is a basic food term and that was the focus of the post.

сок [sok] = juice


As Misha noted, obviously there are various types of fruit juices and here are some of the most popular at шоколадница (Chocolate Coffee) a popular coffee, tea and juice chain:

Can you identify the juices pictured here?

[Misha]

As Misha noted, obviously there are various types of fruit juices and here are some of the most popular at шоколадница (Chocolate Coffee) a popular coffee, tea and juice chain:

Can you identify the juices pictured here?

More importantly can you identify the prices  $9 for a large glass of juice in what is in my experience a mediocre cafe. The last time I was there I gave the manager an earful for bringing us cold soup (and, yes, it was supposed to be hot) and cold lasagna...