Dirty Russian
Have you ever wanted to know how to say “where can I buy some smack”, “let’s have an orgy”, or “I feel like shooting the shit with someone”? Then this may be the book for you!
(Note: This is a small, almost pocket-sized book.)
Don’t worry – it’s not all dirty words, and body part euphemisms. While much of the book does make me blush, there are still sections like ”Friendly Russian” and “Poppy Russian”. It even provides some basic language instruction at the beginning, including an alphabet pronunciation guide.
Here are some other things I like about the book:
- They give you full phrases and sentences, not just one-word translations.
- They tell you the feel of a word – whether it’s “kind of formal” or “cutesy”.
- They relate it to specific English slang. They don’t just give you five ways to say you’re not feeling well – they tell you how to say “lousy as hell”, “pretty crappy”, or “really shitty”.
- Quick reference charts, like a guide to name-calling.
- Bits of info on Russian culture, for example, what their toilets are like.
- And of course, cute illustrations!
My one criticism of the book is how the stresses are represented. As you might be able to make out in the photo above, the phrase is given in English, then transliterated, then in Russian. But the stress is only indicated on the transliteration. So for those of us who can read the Cyrillic alphabet, you still may need to look at the transliteration to find the stress – just a tad inconvenient. Oh, and there’s no index, which would’ve been helpful.
Published by Ulysses Press, you can find the book anywhere online, but here’s a link to Amazon.com, where you can get it brand new for about $5.
This photo has nothing to do with Russian other than it’s what I got to enjoy while I wrote this post – Thanks, Danny!
January 29, 2010 at 2:17 pm
There is a mistake in the book. Pay attention to the following sentence:
Where can I buy a felt banya hat around here?
Где тут можно купить чапку?
Actually not чапку, but шапку, because hat means шапка, шляпа. There is such a word as чапка in Russian, which implies to a national Polish cap, but it has nothing in common with Russian banya. No one will understand you if you say in Russian чапка для бани. It is called шапка для бани or банная шапка.
January 30, 2010 at 6:15 pm
Wow – good attention to detail! Thanks for the tip!
January 22, 2010 at 11:21 am
I got this book for Christmas and I love it… it’s hilarious, even though I probably won’t actually use most the expressions in it
January 22, 2010 at 4:32 pm
haha
did you notice the acknowledgements? something about coffee – i loved that and wanted to include it in my post, but had to trim the fat. Nice blog, by the way!
January 14, 2010 at 9:19 am
I wouldn’t, if I were you, get too addicted to Dirty Russian. You’d be running the risk of sounding very impolite. It’s a good idea though to get the knack of spoken Russian and words like “чувачёк”, “пупсик”, ” детка”. I’m sure you’ll amaze your Russian listeners and make them grin.
Честно признаться, я бы тоже почитал эту книжицу.
January 14, 2010 at 11:50 am
Right – I think it’s fun to read, and it’s good to be able to recognize the terminology when you hear it. I don’t necessarily advocate going around speaking like this!! (I don’t say most of these things in English.)
Plus, unless you are really fluent (sometimes even then) slang just doesn’t sound right coming from a foreign speaker. One of my coworkers occasionally tells me how he is “working with his ass off”. Just sounds silly.
January 13, 2010 at 10:27 pm
actually this looks like a great book for laughs, everyone wants to know how to say dirty or what not things in different languages! Lol I will be picking this up from the bookstore.
thx for the review “DC” see ya on twitter!
much respect,
kris aka @clubsnork
January 13, 2010 at 10:41 pm
Yeah – it is fun! Hope you enjoy!
(And thanks for the comment!)