Tag Archives: Russian

Latin Script in Russia

I have heard a few people asking the same question about familiarity with the Latin script in Russia, so I decided this is worth addressing. An American technical writer once asked me if the Latin script in “Кнопка Shift” (“the Shift button”) was as unintelligible to Russians as “кнопка” was to Americans. For anyone whoContinue reading “Latin Script in Russia”

Russian Dialects

Unlike Spanish translators, who struggle to make their translation usable in multiple Spanish-speaking areas, Russian translators don’t really have to worry about locales. Are there regional dialects in Russia? Most academic resources, like this one, will tell you there are two (or three) main Russian dialects, the most prominent difference being pronunciation. However, the extent ofContinue reading “Russian Dialects”

February Issue: Naïve Comments About Russian

Having been exposed to several languages for most of my life–even though I was far from fluent in most of them–I am sometimes amused by the questions I get about Russian. I do not mean to be judgmental as I fully understand that a person who has never been exposed to a non-Latin-script language or,Continue reading “February Issue: Naïve Comments About Russian”

Things people just don’t say outside Russia

This post first appeared on my blog about Russia: Now that I am pursuing a Master’s degree in Translation (see my translation-related blog for more information), I often think about similar things people describe using totally different expressions that are not, strictly speaking, translations of each other. Say, one of my English students asked meContinue reading “Things people just don’t say outside Russia”