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I was trying to check my transliteration of Roman text back into Cyrillic and my obviously inept translation of the following two Russian phrases:
O Lyubvi malyu otchayanno (I pray for love desperately)
-- О любви молюÑÑŒ отчаено
V krayu dalyokum, chuzhie ne nuzhny. (In distant lands, a stranger is not needed)
-- В краю далёкому чужие не нужны
I recieved the help I requested very promptly, for which I thank my respondent profusely.
They're from Mary Black's Prayer for Love (Molenie O Lyubvi) also recorded by Thom Moore. I still suspect that there is an original Russian song out there somewhere, so if anyone knows about *that* I'd be awfully grateful.
Cheers,
Liobhan
Comments
Russian Translation
Chuzhie means stranger, not companion.
So, "V krayu dalyokum, chuzhie ne nuzhny" says, "In distant lands, a stranger is not needed"
The ne, or not is missing from your Crylic version.
Mr. Ram
Counting bathrooms
I used to be able to count and ask directions to the -- library, yeah, that's it -- in Russian but that was about my limit. :) I did wonder about the 'ne' though.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Going to the library
I never actually took Russian, but my then girlfriend did, so I used to read her lessons to her, and check her responses (within the limits of my ineptitude) so she could practice her dialogues and such. This was before "language labs" and tape players became common in language programmes. Whatever I learned was through pure osmosis and some small measure of devotion. I wonder how she's doing these days....
Maybe she's at the library!
Liobhan
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Cheers,
Liobhan
Thank you so very much!
I must have forgotten to mention that my eyesight isn't too good these days either.
Now that I am fully enlightened, I am being translated directly to Nirvana.
Om.
Liobhan
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Cheers,
Liobhan
Rusty Russkiy
It's been about twenty-five years for me, but I can still transliterate and double-check with Google Translate. It should be отчаÑнно in the first phrase, and I'm not sure the ÑÑŒ is needed at the end of молюÑÑŒ based on the Roman transliteration (though it doesn't change how Google translates it).
Google Translate
There's a Google Translate? Fancy that. Will it write my stories as well, translating vague and amorphous ideas into stunning and literate prose sure to garner a Nobel prize or two? (I'm hoping for Literature plus Physics)
Where do I get one?
Astonished,
Liobhan
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Cheers,
Liobhan
Get yours right...
...here
It only does languages though. If they could make it do that other stuff, that'd be worth a Nobel prize or two in itself....
Since we're on the subject
I've been looking unsuccessfully for a English phonetic translation of Russian for Golden Apple the closest the on-line translators have come is Alma-Zalatoy. Any help would be nice.
The only Russian I ever knew was the bit and pieces I pickup from the translators I hung with after work. Or in other words just enough to get me in serious trouble! :) Excuse my Georgian accent Ya'll!
hugs!
grover
Russian Apples
Golden Apple, in Russian, would be Zolotoye Yablochko. It is the name of a Russian fairy tale.
My wife is Russian, I haven't had lessons either, but learned it at home. My mother in law and niece both lived with us for years, so all I heard at home was Russian. It is easier to learn when you are immersed in it.
Mr. Ram
Thanks Mr. Ram
That's exactly what I needed. Gee a fairy tale? :)
grover
Grover, don't tell me HE was your grandfather ...
Joesph Stalin?
You said you were from Georgia.
Svetlana, his daughter, fled the USSR and lved in or near Wauwatosa for sevral decades, attneding a Frank Lloyd Wright designed Greek Orthodox church. I think she returned to her homeland after the colapse of the USSR.
John in Wauwatosa
John in Wauwatosa
Shame John
You miss a Maxwell Smart quote? Shame John, shame! Nope I'm from South Carolina but it made a good reply. As for Papa Joe, He was a bad, bad, bad man. No relation seeing how I'm Scot-Irish from my thinning red hair down to my sunburned freckles.
grover
subject ... and verb
Heyo.
Not to be pedantic (and I'm possibly wrong; my Russian's a bit rusty, these years), but I don't believe that your subject line is entirely grammatical.
I believe that it should be: Ð’Ñ‹ не можете дать мне помочь? или Ð’Ñ‹ не можете помогать менÑ?
Or possibly, more simply: Помогите, пожалуйÑта!
All my dictionaries and such are in storage; it's possible that помочь is the perfective verb form of помогать, but requesting help in the future perfect is idiomatically odd. I'd be surprised, as well, if it takes dative (мне) instead of accusative (менÑ). Also, idiomatically (or at least in the areas where I lived), asking in the positive, even using the polite second person plural (Ð’Ñ‹ можете ...?) borders on a demand; the polite formulation would include the negative expectation, via a negating particle (Ð’Ñ‹ не можете ...?)
In order: You wouldn't be able to give me help? or You wouldn't be able to help me? Help me!
For the truly humble subjunctive form: Ð’Ñ‹ не могли бы помогать менÑ? Translates the same: You wouldn't be able to help me?, but with a connotation of extreme politesse, verging, perhaps, on sarcasm (depending upon tone ... said in a heartfelt manner, it would be pleading; said casually or ironically, it would have the sense of "Of course you couldn't be bothered to help me").
Amy!
All of the above -- Irony c'est mon métier.
What do I know? I never took one single solitary lesson, since I wan't registered for the class and they were fairly strict about discouraging auditors who hadn't paid, but *only* helped my gf with her recitations. The great and terrible beauty of the noble Russian tongue is a distant echo to me, a faint melody wafted in on a wayward breeze, rising, then fading, a half-forgotten but poignant memory, a mere rivulet, a trickle, compared with our mighty Mother Volga. All I really know by heart are a random assortment of endearments, "moya rodnaya," "lyubimaya," "dorogaya moya," "ti takaya krasivaya," the Cyrillic alphabet, and "priyatnyh snov." Oh! And I could probably remember the responses to many of the dialogues, if only someone who used the same text could start me off. Not that I remember the name of said text.
I did mention that it's not hard to be better at Russian than I am. Much better.
Afterthought:
I did, however, initiate a search for the exact phrase, with a view toward correcting my many errors, and found 10,100 examples through Google, most apparently on Russian pages but this very page at the top of the list for some odd reason. I must have been in love. Go figure. If only she'd been a concert pianist at Juliard I'd be famous now. On the other hand, it is nice to know that I haven't quite succumbed to dementia yet. I have no idea, of course, *why* this phrase is so much used, nor what grammatical rules it violates, but what do I know? See above.
"Помогите, пожалуйÑта," the third alternative provided, had 2,970,000 hits, so it's obviously the preferred phrase, but my dim memory wasn't completely weird. The first two had no hits, but "Ðе могли бы вы помочь мне," a very slight alteration in spelling from the example suggested, had 44,800. Another winner.
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Cheers,
Liobhan