Learn the difference between Russian and other Slavic languages
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Intro |
|---|
| Michael: Which Slavic languages are similar to Russian? |
| Saodat: And are they mutually intelligible? |
| Michael: At RussianPod101.com, we hear these questions often. Consider the following situation. Ben Lee, a college student, picks up the Russian Classic, Crime and Punishment, but finds it surprisingly hard to read. He turns to his friend Natalia Ivanova, who is shopping with him, and asks, |
| "Is this in Russian?" |
| Saodat: Это русский? (Eto russkiy?) |
| Dialogue |
| Бен Ли: Это русский? (Ben Li: Eto russkiy?) |
| Наталья Иванова: Нет, это болгарский. (Natal'ya Ivanova: Net, eto bolgarskiy.) |
| Michael: Once more with the English translation. |
| Бен Ли: Это русский? |
| Michael: "Is this in Russian?" |
| Наталья Иванова: Нет, это болгарский. |
| Michael: "No, it's in Bulgarian." |
Lesson focus |
| Michael: For people just beginning their journey with Russian, it's possible to confuse it with other Slavic languages, since these languages have a lot in common. Sometimes, it's even hard to distinguish at first sight, if it's Russian, or a different Slavic language. |
| In this lesson, we'll tackle the similarities and differences between Russian and other Slavic languages, and try to answer the question if Russian can be used intelligibly with other Slavic languages. |
| [Recall 1] |
| Michael: But, first, let's take a closer look at the dialogue. |
| Do you remember how Ben says "Is this in Russian?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Saodat: Это русский? (Eto russkiy?) |
| And how Natalia Ivanova answers "No, it's in Bulgarian?" |
| (pause 4 seconds) |
| Saodat: Нет, это болгарский. (Net, eto bolgarskiy.) |
| Michael: As mentioned before, for people who are beginning Russian, it might be difficult sometimes to distinguish between Russian and other Slavic languages.This is due to the fact that East Slavic languages such as |
| Saodat: русский, белорусский и украинский (russkiy, belorusskiy i ukrainskiy) |
| Michael: or Russian, Belarusan, and Ukrainian, and some South Slavic languages, such as |
| Saodat: болгарский, сербский и македонский (bolgarskiy, serbskiy i makedonskiy) |
| Michael: or Bulgarian, Serbian, and Macedonian, all use alphabets based on the Cyrillic script. The Cyrillic script actually comes from the First Bulgarian Empire, and had been developed to replace the previous Slavic script. However, each alphabet based on the Cyrillic script has its own quirks, so you won't find, for example, the letter |
| Saodat: Ё (yo) |
| Michael: in most of the languages using Cyrillic scripts while it's part of the Russian language. However, reading the Russian alphabet will allow you to read and understand some words in Bulgarian or Ukrainian as well. |
| It's easier to recognize West Slavic languages, such as |
| Saodat: польский, чешский и словацкий (pol'skiy, cheshskiy i slovatskiy) |
| Michael: or Polish, Czech, and Slovak, since those use a modified version of the Latin alphabet. |
| Another similarity throughout all Slavic languages is, to some extent, shared vocabulary. |
| For instance, Russian and Bulgarian share a high percentage of words, and, in most cases, people from both countries could communicate on a basic level, even if they had never learned each other's languages. Of course, if the topic gets complicated, basic knowledge won't be enough. |
| Also, a lot of Russian idioms are shared throughout the Slavic languages, so telling someone, |
| Saodat: В здоровом теле – здоровый дух (V zdorovon tele — zdorovyy dukh) |
| Michael: literally "in a healthy body, healthy mind," many people native in a Slavic language will understand what is meant. |
| But, there are also a lot of false friends between all Slavic languages. If we take the Russian word for "to remember," |
| Saodat: запомнить (zapomnit') |
| Michael: and we ask someone from Poland without any Russian knowledge what this word means, they would most likely answer that this means "to forget," since the Polish word is spelled and pronounced in an almost identical way. So be careful, and, if you're not sure of a meaning, it's better to double-check. |
| We might find the most differences between the languages when it comes to grammar. Let's take, for instance, Russian and Ukrainian. Both use a Cyrillic alphabet, although there are some differences between those two alphabets, many words are very similar. Even though the pronunciations vary a bit, they're still understandable to each other. While Russian, for example, uses only the past, present, and future tenses, the Ukrainian verb tenses are more complicated, including the past continuous tense. |
| [Summary] |
| Michael: In this lesson, you've learned that Russian shares an alphabet and a lot of its vocabulary with other Slavic languages. You've also learned that it's possible to communicate with people speaking other Slavic languages in a very limited way. |
Outro |
| Michael: Do you have any more questions? We're here to answer them! |
| Saodat: Пока! (Poka!) |
| Michael: See you soon! |
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