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- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Fremdsprachen
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012
The fast and easy way to learn to speak Russian With Russia in line to host the World Cup in 2018, the Winter Olympics in 2014, as well as a Formula 1 Grand Prix, interest in Russia is on the rise. Russian For Dummies is an excellent resource for students, tourists, and businesspeople looking for an introduction to this popular and complex language. This updated edition offers new and improved content, more useful exercises and practice opportunities, all new content devoted to the Cyrillic alphabet, and much more. * A revamped, user-friendly organization * A fully updated and expanded audio CD with real-life conversations by native speakers * Expanded coverage of grammar, verb conjugations, and pronunciations * A refreshed and expanded mini-dictionary complete with even more essential vocabulary Russian For Dummies provides basic instruction to those seeking to grasp the basics of conversational Russian. Students, travelers, and businesspeople with little or no language experience will gain a clearer understanding on how to communicate in Russian.
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Russian For Dummies,® 2nd Edition
Visit www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/russian to view this book's cheat sheet.
Table of Contents
Russian For Dummies,® 2nd Edition
by Andrew Kaufman, PhD, and Serafima Gettys, PhD
Russian For Dummies,® 2nd Edition
Published byJohn Wiley & Sons, Inc.111 River St.Hoboken, NJ 07030-5774
Copyright © 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey
Published simultaneously in Canada
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Library of Congress Control Number: 2011945674
ISBN 978-1-118-12769-8 (pbk); ISBN 978-1-118-20638-6 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-20639-3 (ebk); ISBN 978-1-118-20640-9 (ebk)
Manufactured in the United States of America
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
About the Authors
Andrew Kaufman, PhD, is a Russian literature and culture scholar who has spent the last 15 years bringing alive the Russian classics to Americans young and old. An innovative, award-winning teacher of Russian language, literature, and culture, Dr. Kaufman holds a PhD in Slavic Languages and Literatures from Stanford University and currently lectures at the University of Virginia.
Author of Understanding Tolstoy, Dr. Kaufman has discussed Russian literature and culture on national and international TV and radio programs. Known as a passionate, down-to-earth, and inspirational speaker and workshop facilitator, he was a featured Tolstoy expert for Oprah’s Book Club in 2004 and cowrote the Reader’s Guide to Tolstoy’s The Death of Ivan Ilyich for the National Endowment for the Arts’ “Big Read” program. He is currently at work on Give War and Peace a Chance, to be published by Free Press.
Fluent in Russian, Dr. Kaufman has lectured at the Gorky Institute of World Literature of the Russian Academy of Sciences and at the Leo Tolstoy Museum and Estate at Yasnaya Polyana. Having lived and studied extensively in Russia, he has also worked as an interpreter, translator, and management consultant.
Dr. Kaufman also trained and worked as a professional actor for close to a decade. He helps people appreciate the rich tradition of Russian literature and draws on his acting skills to create captivating and enlightening talks, as well as inspirational readings from the Russian classics. He is currently a Lecturer and an ACE Faculty Fellow at the University of Virginia, where he created and teaches a community-based literature course, “Books Behind Bars: Life, Literature, and Community Leadership,” in which students lead discussions about Russian literature with incarcerated youth at juvenile correctional and treatment centers in Virginia.
Serafima Gettys, PhD, earned her doctorate degree in Foreign Language Education from A.I. Hertzen State Pedagogical University, Leningrad, USSR. Before coming to the U.S. in 1990, Dr. Gettys taught English, American Studies, and Methodology of Teaching Foreign Language at A.I. Hertzen University of Education. In the U.S., she taught Russian at Stanford University and the University of California at Berkeley. She is currently a Director of the Foreign Language Program at Lewis University, where she also teaches Russian. Dr. Gettys is also a member of a number of professional language associations. She is the author of more than 30 publications in the area of foreign language education.
The second edition of Russian For Dummies was prepared by Dr. Gettys.
Authors’ Acknowledgments
Andrew Kaufman: I would like to thank my colleague, former Stanford professor, and coauthor, Serafima Gettys, one of the most original and inspired Russian language teachers I know. Her grace, infectious love of Russian, and professionalism were instrumental in making this book happen — and a joy to write.
A hearty thanks to Georgette Beatty at Wiley for her expert guidance and her encouragement throughout the writing process, and to Tracy Boggier at Wiley for her supervision and coordination, and for making this book possible. I’d also like to thank Christy Pingleton, the copy editor, and Carol Apollonio and Natalia Rekhter, the technical reviewers, for helping to make sure that every sentence in the book is both accurate and readable.
A heartfelt thanks to my agent, Margot Maley-Hutchison of Waterside Productions, for her expert representation and skillful problem resolution throughout.
Thanks to all my colleagues and students at the University of Virginia for helping to create a supportive and stimulating environment in which to share our common passion for Russian literature and culture.
I am grateful to my former professors at Stanford University and Amherst College for their mentorship and for helping me to discover the fascinating world of Russian language, literature, and culture.
Finally, and most importantly, I thank my wife, Corinne, whose love, generosity, and encouragement are the greatest gifts a writer could ever hope for.
Serafima Gettys: Many thanks to Andy Kaufman for bringing this project to my attention and for taking on the responsibility of organizing and managing the project.
Many thanks go to Stanford University for bringing Andy and me together at an earlier point in our lives, first as teacher and student, later as colleagues, and now finally as coauthors. Warm thanks also to my past and current students of Russian at various schools, both in Russia and the United States, who constantly challenge and inspire me and without whom this book would not have been written.
A loving thanks also to my family, husband Steve and daughter Anna. Their love has been an inspiration throughout.
Publisher’s Acknowledgments
We’re proud of this book; please send us your comments at http://dummies.custhelp.com. For other comments, please contact our Customer Care Department within the U.S. at 877-762-2974, outside the U.S. at 317-572-3993, or fax 317-572-4002.
Some of the people who helped bring this book to market include the following:
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Technical Editors: Carol Apollonio, Natalia Rekhter
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CD Producer: Her Voice Unlimited, LLC
Editorial Manager: Michelle Hacker
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Cover Photo: ©iStockphoto.com/ Alexander Bryljaev
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Publishing and Editorial for Consumer Dummies
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Introduction
Speaking more than one language is like living more than one life, one of the ancient philosophers said. And it’s true — traveling in a foreign country such as Russia suddenly becomes a lot more exciting when you can engage in elegant small talk with a hotel receptionist, compliment your tour guide’s dress, or actually read the menu and order the food that you really want. Being able to ask for things instead of pointing at them and getting directions from the locals instead of staring at a map are some of the little things that make you feel at home.
You don’t even need to cross the ocean to immerse yourself in Russian culture; you can find little Russian neighborhoods (or even pretty big ones!) in many American cities. Whether your colleagues, your neighbors, or your friends speak Russian, the best way to win their hearts is to speak their language to them.
Now, Russian For Dummies, 2nd Edition, won’t make you a fluent reader of the original works of Dostoevsky (most Russians themselves need some preparation for that). It will, however, equip you with phrases necessary to function in many life situations, from shopping to visiting the theater. And little gems of cultural wisdom offered throughout the book help you not only translate the language, but also understand Russians so much better. So, buckle up, and good luck on your journey! Or, as the Russians like to say, Желаем вам удачи! (zhi-lah-eem vahm ooh-dah-chee!) (We wish you good luck!)
About This Book
The best thing about Russian For Dummies, 2nd Edition, is that you don’t have to read all the way through it to get the information you need. You can open the table of contents, find the section that interests you at the moment, and start talking! You don’t have to read the previous chapters to understand any sections of this book. And if you decide that you want more information about something, a convenient system of cross-references takes you to just the right place.
Another thing you don’t need to do is memorize long vocabulary lists or grammar rules. We give you ready-made phrases; you just need to read them to start using them right away to impress your Russian friends!
Conventions Used in This Book
Here are some conventions that allow you to navigate through this book with maximum ease:
We present Russian in Russian, or what is also known as the Cyrillic alphabet. You can see the Cyrillic alphabet in Chapter 2. Russian terms are easily found in the text because they’re set in boldface.
Each Russian word or sentence is followed by its pronunciation shown in English letters, and its English translation, respectively, in parentheses. In each pronunciation, the stressed syllable is in italics; translations are also in italics.
Here’s a little example to give you an idea of what we mean: The phrase for “I love you” in Russian is Я тебя люблю (ya tee-bya lyooh-blyooh) (I love you).
Verb conjugations (lists that show you the forms of a verb) are given in tables in this order:
The I form
The you (informal singular) form
The he/she/it form
The we form
The you (formal singular or plural) form
The they form
Pronunciations follow in the second column.
The meaning of a phrase doesn’t always equal the sum of the individual words the phrase consists of. In this case, we talk about a literal meaning (the meaning of the individual words) and an idiomatic meaning (the actual meaning of the phrase in conversation). If the literal translation of a phrase differs from its idiomatic meaning, we give you both the idiomatic and the literal meanings in parentheses. For instance: Как дела? (kahk dee-lah?) (How are you? Literally: How is business?)
In each chapter, look for the following elements:
Talkin’ the Talk: These real-life dialogues illustrate how native speakers use words and phrases in a particular section of the book. These informal dialogues are the actual conversations you may hear in similar situations. You can also play an audio version of these dialogues to help you grasp them even faster!
Words to Know: This element follows every Talkin’ the Talk and provides pronunciation and transcription of key words and expressions you encounter in the dialogue.
Fun & Games: Find this section at the end of each chapter. These fun activities allow you to use the new words and phrases you encounter in each chapter to answer questions and solve puzzles.
What You’re Not to Read
We like to think that you’ll read every word in this book, but we also know that you’re eager to start speaking Russian. So feel free to skip the sidebars (the gray-shaded boxes sprinkled throughout the book); they contain interesting information but aren’t essential to your study of Russian.
Foolish Assumptions
When we started writing this book, we tried to imagine what our future reader was going to be like. In the end, we came up with a list of foolish assumptions about who we think wants to read this book. Do you recognize yourself in these descriptions?
You know no Russian — or if you took Russian in high school, you don’t remember a word of it.
You’re not looking for a book that will make you fluent in Russian; you just want to know some words, phrases, and sentence constructions so that you can communicate basic information in Russian.
You don’t want to have to memorize long lists of vocabulary words or a bunch of boring grammar rules.
You want to have fun and learn a little bit of Russian at the same time.
How This Book Is Organized
Russian For Dummies, 2nd Edition, consists of five parts. Each part of the book offers something different.
Part I: Getting Started
In this part, you find the essentials of the Russian language. Chapter 1 gives you an overview of what you discover in this book. Chapter 2 introduces the Russian alphabet, Chapter 3 gives you a crash course on Russian grammar, and Chapter 4 gets you started with some basic Russian expressions. Chapter 5 is the right place to turn to if you want to talk about numbers, times, and measurements in Russian. And finally, Chapter 6 encourages you to start speaking Russian in the comfort of your home.
Part II: Russian in Action
Part II prepares you for most social situations that you need to handle in Russian. Chapter 7 shows you how to make small talk; Chapter 8 is all about asking for directions in a strange city. Chapters 9 and 10 prepare you to talk about food and shopping. Chapter 11 equips you with words and phrases you can use while going out on the town. Chapter 12 takes you on a tour of your office and equips you with the necessary phrases to make phone calls and use a computer. In Chapter 13, you find out how to talk about fun things, such as sports, reading, and other hobbies.
Part III: Russian on the Go
This part covers all the aspects of traveling, such as planning your trip (Chapter 14), settling your financial matters (Chapter 15), discussing transportation (Chapter 16), and arranging for a place to stay (Chapter 17). Chapter 18 prepares you for handling emergencies.
Part IV: The Part of Tens
The Part of Tens is an unusual part of this book; it gives you lists of fun things to know, such as ten ways to pick up Russian quickly and ten things never to say in Russian. This part is also the place to find ten favorite Russian expressions and to pick up ten phrases that make you sound authentically Russian.
Part V: Appendixes
Russian For Dummies, 2nd Edition, also includes four appendixes, which bring together some useful information. In Appendix A, you find two mini-dictionaries (both Russian-to-English and English-to-Russian) for quick reference. Appendix B contains verb tables that show you how to conjugate regular and irregular verbs. Appendix C contains descriptions of all the audio dialogues and tells you in which chapter you can find the text of each dialogue. And Appendix D offers the answer keys to the Fun & Games sections of each chapter.
Icons Used in This Book
For your convenience, we marked some information in this book with special icons. Check out this guide to the icons, and the next time you see one of them, you’ll know what to expect!
From famous Russian writers to a polite way to decline an invitation, this icon marks a wide variety of curious and useful facts about Russian culture.
If you’re curious about how the Russian language works or if you want to expand your command of Russian to the extent of making up your own phrases, these bits of grammatical information may be of interest to you.
This icon indicates those Talkin’ the Talk dialogues that are featured on audio tracks, allowing you not only to read but also to hear real, conversational Russian.
This icon points out some important information about Russian that’s worth remembering.
This icon signals a useful bit of information that can make life easier for you, whether it’s a handy way to remember a useful word or an insider’s advice on how to better handle a certain situation.
This icon attracts your attention to something you need to know to avoid a common mistake.
Where to Go from Here
Now that you’re familiar with the anatomy of Russian For Dummies, 2nd Edition, you can embark on your journey. You can start anywhere, and you don’t have to go in a specific order. Just choose a topic that seems appealing, find the corresponding chapter in the table of contents, and start speaking Russian!
If you’re at a loss about where to start, please take our advice and begin with Chapter 2: It provides you with a very powerful tool — the ability to read Russian. Chapter 3 is a good place to get a grasp on the essentials of Russian grammar. After that, you can go straight to the sections that deal with information you need urgently. Wherever you decide to start, you can find plenty of useful phrases to get you speaking Russian and exploring the benefits that your language skill brings. And now we wish you Счастливого пути! (sh’ees-lee-vah-vah pooh-tee!) (Bon voyage!)
Part I
Getting Started
In this part . . .
Part I is the beginning of your exciting journey with Russian. Here you get the essential information you need to take you through the rest of this book. First, we put you at ease with the Russian alphabet and give you the basics of Russian grammar. We also provide some handy expressions you can start using right away and help you get your numbers, times, and measurements straight. Finally, we encourage you to start speaking Russian at home.
Chapter 1
Russian in a Nutshell
In This Chapter
Approaching the Russian alphabet
Looking at grammar in a new light
Getting started with some useful words and expressions
Putting Russian to use in common social situations
Taking Russian on the road
Russian has a reputation for being a difficult language. Is it? We would say different is a better word to describe the experience of studying Russian. Russian actually is a distant cousin of English: They both belong to a huge Indo-European family of languages — unlike, say, Arabic, Chinese, or Japanese, which belong to completely different language family clans.
This chapter provides you with a taste of Russian; get ready to study this fascinating language!
Discovering How Easy the Russian Alphabet Really Is
If you were to ask people on the street what they think the most difficult thing about learning Russian is, most of them (slightly taken aback by your question) would likely say “The alphabet!”
But we’re here to tell you that nothing could be farther from the truth: The Russian alphabet is perhaps the easiest part of learning Russian. In fact, you may be surprised to hear that most people are able to start reading Russian in several hours! That’s how easy the Russian alphabet is!
Don’t believe us? Consider this: The Russian alphabet, often called the Cyrillic alphabet, was named after a 9th century Byzantine monk named Cyril, who developed it with the help of his brother, Methodius. (Please don’t ask us why Methodius’s name wasn’t added to the name of the alphabet: Life isn’t fair.) Cyril and Methodius wanted to translate the Bible into one of the Slavic languages spoken by the Eastern European pagan tribes, because the brothers were planning to convert those tribes to Christianity. These languages had never been written down before. When the brothers were creating their alphabet, they borrowed quite a few letters from the Latin alphabet to indicate the sounds produced by the tribes. Luckily for those tribes (and for anyone studying Russian), a lot of the borrowed letters sound the same in Russian as they do in any Latin-based alphabet (like English).
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
Lesen Sie weiter in der vollständigen Ausgabe!
