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Solfrid Cristin TAC 2012 Team Sputnik | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Learning Log |  | |
| Brun Ugle Diglot Senior Member Norway brunugle.wordpress.c Joined 6618 days ago 1292 posts - 1766 votes  Speaks: English*, NorwegianC1 Studies: Japanese, Esperanto, Spanish, Finnish | Message 177 of 270 16 July 2012 at 9:47am | IP Logged | ||
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I should stop reading your log. You make me want to learn Russian and go to Russia.
Maybe someday I should try traveling again. It's been years since I've gone any farther than Trondheim. I'll be going to the US soon, but that hardly counts since I will be stuck at home with my parents most of the time. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5054 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 178 of 270 16 July 2012 at 1:42pm | IP Logged | ||
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How expensive was the hotel?
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| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5554 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 179 of 270 16 July 2012 at 2:36pm | IP Logged | ||
Lol...that's almost word for word what my wife said last night! I tried to defend this unlucky misinterpretation by pointing out that the inverted triangle pointing downwards is often taken for a feminine symbol of fertility in other cultures (i.e. resembles the womb, points down to Mother Earth, etc), and that a triangle pointing upwards tends to suggest a masculine element (hopefully I don't need to picture this one for you)...however, despite my best attempts and desperate gesticulations, my Russian better half was not really convinced in the end, and simply said..."no, it's a dress!". ;) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5224 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 180 of 270 16 July 2012 at 3:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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This is what you get when things are over-stylized instead of kept visual.
The thing is, I really have trouble associating triangles, whether pointing up or down, with 'men', while I have none visualizing dresses nor muffs (if you pardon me the expression), and, mind you, I don't think I am particularly obsessed with women. If I had been there I'd have guessed correctly because I'd have interpreted the 'tip up' triangle being a dress, the other image being too coarse. However, that would still have been out of sheer luck. Here we have these stick-figures in some places, and one has long hair and a skirt. I suppose the feminazis or other idiots will do something about that because it might be offensive for some other idiot(s) and then the fun will begin, but meanwhile you can't miss it unless you come from another point of space *and* time. I guess we could do with short and long skirts then :) Even better, why can't they just write "gents'" or "ladies'" on a sticker on the door or something? Oh, that would be no fun at all :) Edited by mrwarper on 16 July 2012 at 3:26pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Марк Senior Member Russian Federation Joined 5054 days ago 2096 posts - 2972 votes Speaks: Russian* | Message 181 of 270 16 July 2012 at 3:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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They often write letters М and Ж. Men have wide shoulders, that's why the triangle is
down. Edited by Марк on 16 July 2012 at 3:39pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| mrwarper Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member Spain forum_posts.asp?TID=Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5224 days ago 1493 posts - 2500 votes Speaks: Spanish*, EnglishC2 Studies: German, Russian, Japanese | Message 182 of 270 16 July 2012 at 4:04pm | IP Logged | ||
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That's even worse. I'd go nuts trying to figure out what the letters stand for, instead of taking them as stylized representations of anything.
In ID cards here we used to have V and M for "varón" (man, from Latin "vir"), and "mujer" (woman) but at some point they decided to 'support' transvestites and transsexuals (or rather, to invade everyone's privacy of medical records) by adding 'F' and 'M' for 'feminine' and 'masculine', so you can be MF, MM, VF or VM with the most usual values being the obviously redundant 'feminine woman' and 'masculine man', which in turn can be easily mistaken for 'man-woman' if you're not used to neospeak. Good for laughs until they drop it (I think they might have already) ; ) 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Teango Triglot Winner TAC 2010 & 2012 Senior Member United States teango.wordpress.comRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5554 days ago 2210 posts - 3734 votes Speaks: English*, German, Russian Studies: Hawaiian, French, Toki Pona | Message 183 of 270 16 July 2012 at 4:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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There's often confusion over signs for the loo, if written in abbreviated Irish too... :D
M = Mná = Ladies F = Fir = Gents [edit] Edited by Teango on 16 July 2012 at 4:32pm 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Tecktight Diglot Winner TAC 2012 Senior Member United States Joined 4974 days ago 227 posts - 327 votes Speaks: English*, Serbian Studies: German, Russian, Estonian | Message 184 of 270 21 July 2012 at 9:25am | IP Logged | ||
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Cristina,
Wow, what a fantastic travel journal you have here! I am so happy to hear that your trip was a success. Russia has indeed improved A LOT since Soviet times, and now you can get almost anything you’d get elsewhere in Europe—or some Russian interpretation of that—for relatively reasonable prices. From the sound of it, you walked your legs off in St. Petersburg. I’m glad you got to see so many of the sites, though, and made new friends, to boot! Then again, I’ve yet to hear of a journey of yours during which you did /not/ make new friends. ;) And, despite the few occasions on which people spoke to you in English, it seems you did seem to get quite a bit of Russian practice in. Many of my American friends here can’t get past one sentence before the switch to English occurs, so think of it as a testament to your Russian that you can go so far without that occurring. I wasn’t at all surprised to hear of the metro incident. I’ve found metro attendants to be the most unpleasant of any employees in this country. In fact, I have a bit of a fear of them. And watch out if you don’t have small change. Glad you got through that one, though. If you had been in Peter longer, you could have gotten a monthly pass or some such thing, which lets you avoid the agony of having to buy a ticket each time. I nearly choked on my coffee reading your description of the restrooms. Oh, dear, that’s quite hilarious, I must say. Я согласна, the ambiguity of the triangle can be rather off-putting. At least you didn’t run into any embarrassing situations until your realization at the very end. And now you know for future trips, of which I’m sure they’ll be many, because you’re crossing in and out of Russian-speaking territory quite frequently these days. Why, you’re becoming a regular Slav! ;) I, too, am sorry we did not get to meet up. Circumstances here didn’t come together well—however, we’ll make it happen! Like we were talking about in our last Skype session, we should arrange some sort of Team Sputnik—or HTAL-wide—Europe meet-up. Or both. Lots of possibilities. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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