Fun with English-Russian Translations
My dad forwarded me some examples of mnemonic aid for English-speaking learners of Russian. I find them rather amusing, check it out:
[English Meaning - Russian word/phrase - English mnemonic (sounds very similar to the pronunciation of the Russian phrase)]:
I love you - Я люблю вас - "Yellow Blue Bus"
Good/great - Хорошо - "Horror Show"
Mayonnaise - Майонез - "My On Ass" (no Russian salad goes without it ;))
Pelmeni - Пельмень - "Pale Man" (a typical Russian meal, something like tortelloni)
Puke - Блевота - "Blue Water"
Hurry up and get dressed - Одевайся скорее - "Our device is Korea"
Very vivid, I must say.
There are also some real examples of translations gone extremely wrong, taken from English movies that were translated into Russian:
By the way -- Купи дорогу (translated as: "Buy a way")
Downtown -- Город даунов ("city of retards")
Notorious murderer -- Нотариус-убийца ("a notary who is a killer")
I'm not a woman you can trust -- Я не женщина, поверь мне ("I'm not a woman, trust me") :D
Silver is the best conductor of electricity -- Сильвер - лучший кондуктор электрички ("Silver is the best train conductor around")
Spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak -- Водка ничего, а мясо протухло ("The vodka's fine, but the meat has started decomposing") :D :D :D
I am not like you -- Вы мне не нравитесь ("I don't like you")
The troops were marching -- Трупы маршировали ("The corpses were marching", "troop" sounds like the Russian word for "corpse")
No smoking! -- Пиджаки не вешать! ("Don't hang your smokings here!")
I miss my town badly -- Я девушка и живу в плохом городе ("I'm a girl and I live in a bad city")
Give up smoking -- Дай закурить ("Give me a cigarette")
We are the champions -- Мы шампиньоны! ("We are the white mushrooms")
[English Meaning - Russian word/phrase - English mnemonic (sounds very similar to the pronunciation of the Russian phrase)]:
I love you - Я люблю вас - "Yellow Blue Bus"
Good/great - Хорошо - "Horror Show"
Mayonnaise - Майонез - "My On Ass" (no Russian salad goes without it ;))
Pelmeni - Пельмень - "Pale Man" (a typical Russian meal, something like tortelloni)
Puke - Блевота - "Blue Water"
Hurry up and get dressed - Одевайся скорее - "Our device is Korea"
Very vivid, I must say.
There are also some real examples of translations gone extremely wrong, taken from English movies that were translated into Russian:
By the way -- Купи дорогу (translated as: "Buy a way")
Downtown -- Город даунов ("city of retards")
Notorious murderer -- Нотариус-убийца ("a notary who is a killer")
I'm not a woman you can trust -- Я не женщина, поверь мне ("I'm not a woman, trust me") :D
Silver is the best conductor of electricity -- Сильвер - лучший кондуктор электрички ("Silver is the best train conductor around")
Spirit is strong, but the flesh is weak -- Водка ничего, а мясо протухло ("The vodka's fine, but the meat has started decomposing") :D :D :D
I am not like you -- Вы мне не нравитесь ("I don't like you")
The troops were marching -- Трупы маршировали ("The corpses were marching", "troop" sounds like the Russian word for "corpse")
No smoking! -- Пиджаки не вешать! ("Don't hang your smokings here!")
I miss my town badly -- Я девушка и живу в плохом городе ("I'm a girl and I live in a bad city")
Give up smoking -- Дай закурить ("Give me a cigarette")
We are the champions -- Мы шампиньоны! ("We are the white mushrooms")