I’m honestly so glad that you love the Improvisation posts. I’m even more glad I have a lot of content to translate for you :) Hope you enjoy this bit!
*Alexander Nezlobin is a famous Russian comedian. **Sasha is short for Alexander. Don’t ask, I don’t get it either. There are a lot of instances where the short version of a Russian name sounds completely different from the name itself.
Here’s another great bit from a Russian TV show which remains my favorite after all these years. The show “Improvisation” is basically the Russian version of “Whose line is it anyway?”. If you want to learn about what the Russian sense of humor is like, you should definitely check out this show.
I think this is the perfect video to watch if you can’t remember the word казус (kazus sing., m.)
Fun fact: this episode has become iconic and remains a huge meme in the Improvisation fandom (yes, this show has a fandom).
My boyfriend woke up from a nightmare last night, got up from our bed, took his laptop and launched chess. Half asleep, he was silent the whole time, thinking of his moves. When he finally won against the computer he calmed down and explained with relief: “I saw a dream where I became dumb…”
“Back in my art school, I had a nasty and strict professor who would comment on every bad work of mine with “What is that? Even dolphins would do a better job!” Even though he would often be extremely annoying and piss me off, he still was a great teacher, so right after I graduated I gave him two tickets to a dolphinarium and saw his smile for the first time.”
This post is a little late, but I wanted to thank you all for 500 followers!
Though sometimes I make some grammar mistakes in my posts, I really hope that I am making learning Russian a little more fun to you guys. I intent to improve my content and keep sharing some cool stuff about the Russian language.
This is my favorite TED talk by Mikhail Kazinik called “The school is dead, long live the school”.
The point of his TED talk is that the school system is not teaching the right way anymore. The school used to teach to create the image of the world, but it now teaches the subjects without associative thinking.
“We shove information into our poor children like bags […] and where do we put the bags after that? To the junkyard. Because the school’s task is to ignite, and not to shove information.”
I’m not gonna lie, this is probably my favourite episode from Evening Urgant. This is a bit from the interview with Stephen Colbert.
What are they talking about? Stephen and Ivan are referring to the so called ‘White Nights’ (Белые ночи),which Saint-Petersburg is famous for. It’s a night when it is never properly dark. The White Nights’ season usually takes place from June 11th to July 2nd. By ‘the bridges’ Ivan meant the Palace Bridge, which draws at 1:10 AM and 3:10 AM.
A picture from Wikipedia taken in Saint-Petersburg. June 23rd, 2009, 11:49 PM
Hey, thank you so much for the feedback on my previous post! I’m so glad you liked it! This time, I translated a scene from ‘Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire’.
In Russian, instead of calling You-Know-Who ‘Voldemort’, all the characters in the HP universe call him Волан-де-морт (Volan-de-mort). Yeah, I don’t get it either.
Snape’s ‘don’t lie to me’ line has been a huge meme among Russians for years now. Russian Harry Potter YTP was the thing that started it.
What movie scene should I translate next? Do you have any suggestions?
So I wanted to do something different and translate a scene from the Russian version of Howl’s moving castle! Hope you enjoy the voice acting just as much as I do.
*Бабка, бабки(babkasing., babki plur.) — rude way of saying ‘old woman’. Бабушка, бабушки(babushkasing., babushki plur.) — neutral/polite way of saying ‘old woman’ or ‘grandmother’. Баба, бабы(babasing., baby plur.) can refer to a grandma you already know (in this case the grandmas name is usually followed) or a woman (in a rude way). All the nouns are feminine.
Waiter: here’s your glass Me: oh, thank you Waiter: *puts the glass down* Me: thank you Waiter: *fills the glass with water* Me: thank you Waiter: I’ll bring your order soon Me: thank you
Another funny moment from Evening Urgant! This is an old interview with Milla Jovovich.
What is Milla talking about? There are tons of Russian fairy tales about baby goats and wolves. One of the most popular ones is “The wolf and the seven baby goats” (Волк и семеро козлят). However, the one Milla is talking about must be a fairy tale called “Grandmother once had a grey baby goat…” (Жил-был у бабушки серенький козлик…). Here’s the link. It doesn’t have an English translation, but I can try and translate it if you’re interested. https://stihi.ru/2012/08/15/7403
Useful words from this video: Страшный (m.), страшная (f.), страшное (n.), страшные (plur.) - scary; Сказка, сказки (f.) - fairy tale, fairy tales; Лес, леса (m.) - forest, forests; Конец, концы (m.) - end, ends; Сильный(m.),сильная(f.),сильное(n.),сильные(plur.) - strong
Interesting fact: Last month, Milla made a video of her reading one of the most well-known Russian fairy tales “Fly Tsokotuha” (Муха-Цокотуха). And again, unfortunately, I could not find the English version of this fairy tale. I can try and translate it, but I cannot guarantee my version won’t be cringeworthy. Here’s the link. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a69FMum_nnM&t=249s
I was watching Evening Urgant as usual and I just couldn’t resist translating this funny bit for you.
What is Ivan talking about? Беляш, беляши — bel’ash (sing.), bel’ashi (plur.) Bel’ash is a dish of Kazakh, Bashkir and Tatar cuisine. It’s practically the same as a regular pirozhok with meat. Except the recipes and the forms of the dishes are a bit different.
P. S. Please let me know if you want me to keep tranlsating fun parts from Russian TV shows and wether or not the Russian subtitles above the screen are comfortable for you to watch/are necessary. Thanks for reading my little blog :)
Here’s a piece of information about the Russian cuisine!
Пирог, пироги — pirog (sing.), pirogi (plur.)
Pirog is a baked case of dough with a sweet or savoury filling. It’s pretty much a regular pie. Pirog is one of the oldest dishes in Russia that our grandmothers bake to this day.
In ancient Russia, there were a lot of traditions regarding the consumption of a pirog. For example, the first bite of a pirog was always taken by the oldest man in the family. After him were younger men, then women and children. People started noticing how inconvenient these traditions were, so Russian women started baking small pirogs. They were more convenient to eat and to even pack for the road. This is how pirozhki (пирожки) were created.
There is no known date of when pirozhki were created, but some sources say that they were already around when Ivan the Terrible was ruling Russia (1533).
The most popular flavours of pirozhki are: apple jam, meat, smashed potatoes, eggs and fish.
Another Improvisation post! Thank you for the feedback and the suggestions!
Fun fact: Dr. Dolittle’s name in Russian is Айболи́т (Aibolit) which is a combination of a Russian exclamation «Ай!» and the word «Боли́т» («hurts»). The Russian translators really wanted to make his name speak for itself so they literally named him «Ouch, (it) hurts».
I’m sorry, but THIS. This is what great translation is. Simple, yet genius.
Shield — щит (pronounced as ‘sheet’; masc., sing.)
So yeah, in the Russian version of Free Guy, Chris Evans said both ‘what the shield’ and ‘what the shit’.
The translators could have just put ‘Что за чёрт?’ in there (which is a standard way of translating ‘What the hell/shit/etc?’ in Russian), but they used this beautiful combination of circumstances to their advantage.
As someone who’s majoring in translation, I just can’t get over how good this bit is. This joke got a lot of laughs in the movie theater I went to.
Back in the 90’s, my mom was doing a fan translation of this one book that wasn’t translated into Russian yet, but she was sure it was going to be. I read it in English and was sure she was wasting her time because I thought no person in the world would be interested in something like this. Eventually my mom didn’t finish the translation because she couldn’t negotiate with the publisher, but a couple of years later it was oficially released by the name of “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”. Well, I was a little wrong.
In Swedish we don’t say that someone “has it easy”, we say that that “glider på en räkmacka” and I think that’s beautiful.
Glida = To glide/slide
Räkor = Shrimps/prawns
Macka = (open) Sandwich
So the phrase “glider på räkmacka” translates to “glide/slide on a shrimp sandwich”. And you should probably know that Swedes love their mackor (which is another word for smörgås)
What this expression really means is that someone has an easy time… that things work out for them with little effort.
This is used to talk about people that are perceived as lucky, who move forward through life, fast, “gliding”. And of course, all done in a seemingly easy and very pleasant way. Most swedes love a good räkmacka.
Also räkor are highly considered in Sweden. Tasty and healthy, but not cheap. So it is a bit fancy as well. Probably the fanciest of all mäckas. The good life. Which sometimes, might also point to the fact that you have it easy because you have rich parents.
Hans föräldrar köpte en lägenhet till honom = His parents bought him an apartment
Han glider på en räkmacka = He glides on a shrimp sandwich (he has it easy)
In Swedish we don’t say that someone “has it easy”, we say that that “glider på en räkmacka” and I think that’s beautiful.
Glida = To glide/slide
Räkor = Shrimps/prawns
Macka = (open) Sandwich
So the phrase “glider på räkmacka” translates to “glide/slide on a shrimp sandwich”. And you should probably know that Swedes love their mackor (which is another word for smörgås)
What this expression really means is that someone has an easy time… that things work out for them with little effort.
This is used to talk about people that are perceived as lucky, who move forward through life, fast, “gliding”. And of course, all done in a seemingly easy and very pleasant way. Most swedes love a good räkmacka.
Also räkor are highly considered in Sweden. Tasty and healthy, but not cheap. So it is a bit fancy as well. Probably the fanciest of all mäckas. The good life. Which sometimes, might also point to the fact that you have it easy because you have rich parents.
Hans föräldrar köpte en lägenhet till honom = His parents bought him an apartment
Han glider på en räkmacka = He glides on a shrimp sandwich (he has it easy)
