Andrew Davie wrote:
>
> Re: translation
> Well, I'm self-taught since starting my Museum - and can read most technical
> terms and understand what many documents are about. I may be a bit slow,
> but I get there. The good thing about Russian is that many words (computer,
> program, fluorescent, etc) are pronunced pretty much the same, and once you
> know the sound of the letters you're halfway to reading Russian. It's the
> odd words that get me, and for that my Russian/English dictionary does fine.
> I can also recommend a program "ParsWin" which does translations both ways.
Once you knou the alphabet, the technical parts are easy, since there
are no native Russian words for anything above the level of plowing a
turnip field. Everything else is from German, French or English
converted to Cyrillic spelling. The grammar is a bitch, but it's not
a high priority in technical documentation. In any language. (I can
read Russian technical stuff, but unlike the romance and germanic
languages, I can't order a beer without a dictionary with a large
grammar component -- my father-in-law is slowly teaching me, but at
past eighty he's teaching me more Lithuanian than Russian, and the
words for seducing a girl in either language is probably beyond my
remaining learning curve -- good thing I'm married and don't need to
sweat the fine points).
--
Ward Griffiths <mailto:gram_at_cnct.com> <http://www.cnct.com/home/gram/>
WARNING: The Attorney General has determined that Alcohol, Tobacco,
and Firearms can be hazardous to your health -- and get away with it.
Received on Sun Jan 31 1999 - 17:06:19 GMT