Lex Libertas

Yerevan is one of my favorite cities in the former Soviet Union. I’ll write more when I get back from my Caucasus trip, but here are some quick highlights:

• Beautifully designed city center
• Travel Agencies on every corner, sometimes more than one
• The best collection of cafes that I have ever seen
• The best collection of statues and monuments that I have ever seen
• Exact same police uniforms as in Russia
• Cafes use boxes of Kleenex instead of napkins (though not the actual brand)
• Everything is written in Armenian, sometimes with an English translation, almost never with Russian
• People seem very relaxed about the language issue, unlike some of the other former Soviet Republics (particularly the European ones)
• Strange Marshrutkas
• Neat pinkish-red stone called “Tuff” (long “u”) that is used for most buildings
• Fountains all over the city center

PS: Russophile, thanks for the help, much appreciated

Yerevan can get pretty hot during the day, and most people stay indoors during those hours. I have several times tried to leave and walk around the city between the hours of 12 and 4, only to be met with looks of astonishment and incredulity. Here are some kids doing what I always wanted to as a child, swimming in a fountain.

I’ve been insanely busy  since arriving.  First wedding, then travel.  I hope to have a break tomorrow and get some pictures up.

A good friend is getting married in Yerevan on Sunday, and I’ve decided to fly down for a visit. I’ve never been to the Caucasus before, and I figure this was as good a reason as any. I’ll be gone for a while, and posting will unfortunately be limited. This also means that your comments may not be immediately approved, though that shouldn’t discourage you from posting, of course

I just found a great resource for anyone interested in learning Russian, it’s a shame I didn’t know about this three years ago.

http://community.livejournal.com/learn_russian

You can ask questions and get answers from a whole range of people, from native-speakers to non-native linguists and laymen.

Is free trade worth this???

New intelligence reveals China is covertly supplying large quantities of small arms and weapons to insurgents in Iraq and the Taliban militia in Afghanistan, through Iran.

Some arms were sent by aircraft directly from Chinese factories to Afghanistan and included large-caliber sniper rifles, millions of rounds of ammunition, rocket-propelled grenades and components for roadside bombs, as well as other small arms.

According to the officials, the Iranians, in buying the arms, asked Chinese state-run suppliers to expedite the transfers and to remove serial numbers to prevent tracing their origin. China, for its part, offered to transport the weapons in order to prevent the weapons from being interdicted.

The Bush administration has been trying to hide or downplay the intelligence reports to protect its pro-business policies toward China, and to continue to claim that China is helping the United States in the war on terrorism.

China is supplying weapons that kill our soldiers and thousands of civilians, and we’re playing it down?!?! We should be letting China know that capitalism work both ways. We want to buy things, but they need an export market. I agree that not all disputes are worthy of bringing to the forefront of international relations, but giving weapons to terrorists is. Iraq and Afghanistan have become proxy battlefields for people who would like to take the US down a notch, in terms of blood, money, and international prestige. Whatever your complaints with the US, how is that fair to the civilians of Iraq and Afghanistan who are living through your nightmare? How is that we, who are seeking to stabilize the countries, are seen as the morally culpable ones, while other countries are arming those people whose sole aim is mayhem and destruction?

In light of the recent flurry of activity, I think it’s time to institute a comments policy.  I initially had hoped that anyone stopping by my site would be interested in reasoned discussion.  It is amazing how wrong I was on that count.  I want people to feel free to post whatever they want, the majority of comments add to and enrich this site.  Unfortunately, however, there are some who have attempted to hijack this site for their own personal vendettas.

I will delete any comments with non-topical vulgarity, as well as personal attacks and insults.  I also reserve the right to edit your comments if they contain any personal information, such as telephone numbers, addresses, etc.

A post by Darkness at Noon reminded me of the difficulty of addressing people here in Russia. In English it is quite easy to get someone’s attention a simple Sir or Ma’am will do. Russian, as always, is more complicated.

For young people, it’s easy enough. If you wish to speak to a young woman, you say “Devushka” (approximately 13~30 years of age), or “Molodoi Chelovek” for a young man (literally “young person,” because women aren’t people). It did take a while before I was able to yell out “Girl!” in a restaurant while trying to get the attention of a waitress. I did have some preparation, though, I went once to Midieval Times where you’re supposed to call out “Wench!” I’m still uncomfortable calling out “Young Man,” it seems like something only older people would say.

The real problem comes when trying to get the attention of anyone in the 30+ range. The somewhat corresponding titles of “Muzhchina” (Man) and “Zhenshina” (Woman) are considered slightly offensive, especially “Woman.” If you use that one, expect to get a nasty look. It’s more appropriate for situations like, “Woman, you weren’t standing here” (ie. don’t cut in line), and “Woman, go make us something to eat.” At the same time, it’s somewhat surreal to refer to a mid-40s shop clerk as “Young Lady.”

In the Soviet times, this was all much simpler. As with many other things, there was one standard choice, “Tovarisch” (Comrade). This was used on the entire spectrum of social distinction from the girl selling you potatoes to government officials. It doesn’t depend on age or sex, and if you want to be more polite you can add one’s title to the end, such as “Tovarish Diplomat” or “Tovarish General.” Unfortunately, there is significant ideological subtext, but as Tovarish Rubashov points out,

If they brought back the red flag for the army and the old hymn for the state, why not the old “comrade” for the people? It’s not like the Russian government is all that keen on de-Sovietization and grappling with its past, after all.

I second our Comrade’s call to rehabilitate this term, if only to make it easier for me to get the attention of the woman at the store whose job is to pick bread up from a shelf and hand it to me.

Tom McClintock, whom I supported during the 2003 recall election, has a good piece on the governor’s questionable description of California’s financial state. Some of the highlights:

• In 2003, Davis’ budget was $78 billion, in 2007 the budget has grown by 33% to $104 billion

• Under Schwarzenegger the annual budget growth was 8% compared to 7% under Davis and 5% under Wilson

• In 2003, our minimum credit due payment was 3% of our budget, now it’s 7%, thanks to the unbelievable bonds passed in 2004

• In Davis’ five years, we got $4 billion in debt. In Schwarzenegger’s, we’re set to be $10 billion in debt

Why, exactly, is Schwarzenegger a Republican? We all knew that he was socially liberal, but I at least hoped he’d be fiscally conservative. What a strange world we live in when two Republicans, Bush and Schwarzenegger, have created worse fiscal outlooks than the Democrats who preceeded them. Is a balanced budget too much to ask of Republicans???

Dusty at Goodbye Baby Lenin has been preparing for his year in Siberia, and in doing so has complied a list of random useful vocab. while I am in no way a linguist and have had very little formal instruction in the language, I’d like to add a few thoughts from my three years on the ground. There was vocab on there that was new to me, and some of the others have language subtleties. Native speakers, feel free to chime in.

сотрудник - employee
коллега - co-worker

I have always understood сотрудник as coworker, and коллега as someone who works in the same field. Two engineers, for example, would be colleagues, even if they didn’t work together.

я благoдарен тебе за помощь – I’m grateful to you for the help

я очень рад с вами познакомиться – I’m very glad to meet you

вы могли бы это повторить? - Could you repeat that?

мне без разницы – to me there isn’t a difference

These seem a bit too formal to me, I would be very surprised if I heard a young person use them. Russians don’t use polite words nearly as often as we do in English, so you don’t hear lots of “pleases” and “thank yous.” Oddly enough, they also don’t curse as much as we do. In general, though, the communicative norms are much more brusque and straightforward. My alternatives:

спасибо за помощь - Thanks for the help

приятно познакомиться - Nice to meet you

Повторите, пожалуйста - Please repeat
You could also just say “что” (what) or my favorite “чё” (huh).

Мне все равно - It’s all the same to me
Мне по фигу - I don’t care (not quite vulgar, but close. Use this with your peers, not with professors, etc.)

Я изучал два предмета, русский язык и компьютерную технику
I studied two subjects - Russian and computer science

какой ваш родной язык? – what is your native language?

The first one really feels like a forced translation from English, not just the words, but the thought process, “I double-majored in ….” The Russian education system is structured in a fundamentally different way than ours, and this is reflected in their speech. Russians wouldn’t ask, “What did you study in school,” like Americans would. Instead, they ask, “What did you study to become?” (Ты на кого учился?) The answer would be something like “a linguist,” “an economist,” or “a computer programmer.” (На филолога, на экономиста, на програмиста) My standard answer, while technically incorrect, is “I studied to become a political scientist” (на политолога), because it’s much easier to say in Russian than “I studied at the faculty of international relations” (Я учился на факультете международных отношений).

In Russian, they have a strange grammatical construct to indicate possession. In English we ask, “What is your native language?” And the Russian translation given corresponds exactly to those words. While this is acceptable, it just doesn’t sound right. I would instead say “Какой у вас родной язык?” Which translates woodenly to “Which native language is around you?” This construct of “around you” is used often instead of the direct replacement words твой, ваш, их (you can say ихний if you really want to sound like a hick :)).

доход - income
зарабаток - wages

I’ve never heard зарабаток, only зарплата. A very common question is “Какой у вас средний доход,” “What’s the average income where you’re from?”

Возбужденный - excited

Perhaps it says something about the people I hang out with, but I’ve only heard this used in a sexual context.

встаньте - stand up!

If you really want to convey that exclamation mark, say встать!

по-видимому - аpparently

I’ve never heard this, maybe because it’s too formal for dorm life. I would say “кажется.”

впечатление о чём - impressions ABOUT something

Whenever you come back from a trip or see a sight, Russians will ask “Какие впечатления.” It translates directly as “what were your impressions,” but an American would more naturally say “What’d you think?”

я был шокированный - I was shocked

I wouldn’t use shocked as an adjective, I always heard people say “Я был в шоке,” (I was in shock). Another option is “Я удивилися,” or “я был удивлен” (I was surprised)

Виноватый - guilty

There’s a great song by Фабрика called “Не виноватая я,” which mentions all the best (rich) boyfriends (sponsors) to have, including an oligarch, an oilman, and an American.

рад тому, что - glad about the fact that…

My passport is in a cover that says “Russian Federation” and has the double-headed eagle embossed on it. I was stopped by the police once, and wanted to warn him that there was an American passport in there. I handed it over and said “I’m American.” He curtly responded “Я рад за вас” (I’m happy for you). I figured that from now on it was better to just keep my mouth shut and let them figure it out themselves.

Taking a quick nap between rounds.

Does anyone have any idea what this flag is supposed to mean? If I saw the Russian two-headed eagle on a Ukrainian flag I would guess it was some sort of imperialist who wanted to return Ukraine to Russia. But this … ?

There are a lot of Russians in London, and the women have a reputation for being single-mindedly interested in finding a sugar daddy.

It all started a few weeks earlier when I heard that Britain is under siege from a monstrous regiment of Russian temptresses - arriving here on the billionaire coat tails of Roman Abramovich and his fabulously wealthy friends, and set on grabbing a British boyfriend, a British expense account and a British passport.

One young British writer sets out to uncover the veracity of this stereotype.

Was this true? Or was it just an urban myth? It is certainly widely believed, I found.

My technique is simple. I shall adopt the persona of a wealthy young man-about-town.

Not wanting to be caught out by elaborate lies, I tell anyone who asks that I inherited my money and amuse myself by writing screenplays.

The truth is I am not a City high-flyer and not even a plumber. In fact, I’m a penniless young writer. But I do own one good suit and I know how to act.

I resolve to spend money I don’t have as if there’s no tomorrow - and keep a diary that may go some way to keeping me.

He spends quite a bit of money on clubs, restaurants, and drinks. For the Americans, remember to double all the amounts to get dollars.

There’s much laughter and joviality. Unfortunately, much of it is in Russian and I’m beginning to feel my function is merely to pick up the bill.

I recommend reading the whole article, it’s not that long. The author’s conclusions:

I am beginning to think that even if they are all golddiggers, they are tremendous fun.

Natalia, Ludmila, Nastia, Svetlana, Oxana - were they typical? It had become clear to me that I had only scratched the surface - that there are thousands, maybe tens of thousands out there, looking for a rich British date.

But let me offer a word of warning to over-sexed Englishmen hoping for an easy catch and quick escape.

These Russians are no credulous bimbos. Nor are they one-night escorts in search of a smart restaurant, champagne and a taxi home.

They may be hot stuff, but they are smarter than you, more determined than you - and probably taller than you, too.

So think twice before messing with an unattached Russian lady. Believe me, there will be a high price to pay.

Not all Russian women are like this, but it is a significant subgroup. While I have been in tangential contact with people like this, I’ve only been exposed to their world once or twice. After those shocks to my wallet, I had to politely excuse myself from their lives. I just couldn’t, nor did I want to, keep up.

I leave tonight for Kazan, it’s been good so far here in Kirov. The next three days, however, don’t work out time-wise ideally. We leave tonight at 19:15, arrive in Kazan around 11. Then we leave Kazan on Friday morning at 9, and get into St. Petersburg on Saturday around 1pm. We wanted to leave on Thursday night, but there’s only one train a day from Kazan, and it’s a long one, with many stops. Tonight sleep on train, tomorrow night we’ll figure something out (probably a club, either dance or internet), then the next night also on a train. Let’s hope for good neighbors.

Kazan is the capital of Tatarstan, and recently celebrated it’s 1,000 year birthday, so the city should be nice and clean. Lots of mosques and whatnot to look at.

In opining on the GOP’s presidential field:

GOP will end up with Romney because the ex-gov looks good, has nice hair - and the Republicans really don’t have anyone else.

“The Mormonism thing is really suspect,” he added, “but they’ll take it at this point. I mean, who else do they have? Crazy (Rudy) Giuliani and (John) McCain who’s completely insane?

What, exactly, is suspect? I thought Dems were the Party of Tolerance …

The article closes with a nice little jab:

Romney’s main mouth Eric Fehrnstrom, when asked to comment about the Affleck rant, told the Track in an e-mail: “I think the polite thing to say is no comment. We don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what Hollywood actors are saying about the presidential campaign.”

Unlike John Kerry - Ben’s last No. 1 presidential pick.