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Russian "На здоровье" | ||
Tags: False friends | Russian | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| ember Triglot Groupie CyprusRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 5228 days ago 63 posts - 101 votes  Speaks: Russian*, English, German Studies: Spanish, French, Greek, Polish | Message 1 of 7 06 April 2010 at 9:14am | IP Logged | ||
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Just curious... I am Russian, and one thing that always surprised me with the learners of Russian (or even tourists) is why oh why they all think "На здоровье" is a common drinking cheer?
(It is indeed in Polish, or more exactly, "Na zdrowie") The only way this phrase is really used is in reply to "thank you for the meal" I was wondering how such a misconception could appear in the first place. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| OlafP Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 5260 days ago 261 posts - 667 votes Speaks: German*, French, English | Message 2 of 7 06 April 2010 at 8:45pm | IP Logged | ||
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Many people also "know" that the Inuit have a hundred words for snow. There is no end to misconceptions. In every discussion about the usefulness of basic research someone comes up with teflon being a byproduct of space flight. Once something wrong has become "common knowledge" you cannot stop it anymore.
One of the best sites on Russian grammar (in German) mentions that this mistake can be found in many dictionaries. 
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| dantalian Diglot Senior Member Bouvet Island Joined 5507 days ago 125 posts - 156 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: German | Message 3 of 7 06 April 2010 at 9:43pm | IP Logged | ||
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Maybe, the learners think that all beverages are so useful for Russians that it would be more polite to say «Na zdorovie» in such cases.
The other day I have read that "bears shamble down the streets in Moscow and Russians begin drinking vodka with their mother’s milk".:)) http://rbth.ru/articles/2009/12/17/171209_vodka.html (Certainly, I am joking) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Khublei Bilingual Triglot Senior Member Yugoslavia homestayperu.net Joined 5172 days ago 90 posts - 141 votes Speaks: English*, Irish*, Spanish Studies: Russian, Khasi, French, Albanian | Message 4 of 7 21 April 2010 at 6:12pm | IP Logged | ||
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I think I've heard people use that though after someone sneezes, or am I thinking of
something else? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Siberiano Tetraglot Senior Member Russian Federation one-giant-leap.Registered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6318 days ago 465 posts - 696 votes Speaks: Russian*, English, ItalianC1, Spanish Studies: Portuguese, Serbian | Message 5 of 7 21 April 2010 at 9:07pm | IP Logged | ||
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When someone sneezes, you say "будь здоров(а)!" (bud' zdorov(a), "be healthy").
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| Cherepaha Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6414 days ago 126 posts - 175 votes Speaks: Russian*, English Studies: Spanish, Polish, Latin, French | Message 6 of 7 28 April 2010 at 9:12am | IP Logged | ||
I’d imagine it may also be a mix up with "За Ваше здоровье!" – a valid cheer. Among similarly pervasive odd "knowledge" is the word "'бабушка", which just about every person in the States seems to know as "ba-'booshka" with an incorrect stress on the 2nd syllable, which is also frequently accompanied with a question about its meaning. Perhaps it was used in a movie at some stage? Nobody seems to remember where they "know" it from. My daughter makes a point out of teaching all of her friends that if they want to yell out the word "grandmother" in Russian, they should pronounce it with a stress on the 1st syllable. So, perhaps slowly but steadily with all this grass roots effort the stress will eventually migrate back to its rightful place :). 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| clang Groupie United States Joined 5164 days ago 54 posts - 82 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Russian, Italian | Message 7 of 7 28 April 2010 at 10:58am | IP Logged | ||
You nailed both of them. It's hard to expect someone to know the difference between за and на when they don't know anything about the language, especially when seemingly similar languages, like Polish, do something differently. At least people are in the ball park with this one. Frequently in the US, people will use the word baBOOshka to mean the head scarf worn by a бабушчка. It's in movies and songs all over the place, so your daughter has a lot of work to do! 1 person has voted this message useful |
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