Moscow Times article
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learn_russianSpinning the News
By Michele A. Berdy
Темники: in Ukraine, an official brief, special orders to mass media on how to present the news
Recent events in Ukraine have given everyone plenty of food for thought, if you can understand what everyone is talking about, that is. Take темники. This is the word used in Ukraine to describe the official instructions given to news agencies on what news to report and how to "spin" it. It would seem to come from the word тема -- topic -- but has the echo of темнить (to obscure) and тёмный -- dark, shadowed, shady, fishy. Perhaps you hear that echo because of the Russian phrases чёрные технологии (dirty tricks, literally "dark/black technology") and чёрный пиар (smear campaigns, literally "black PR"). For example, one Internet blogger asks, Значит, наши СМИ ловчее темнят? (So it means that our mass media are more adept at obscuring information?)
During elections in Russia, one source says, these instructions are called технические задания, literally "technical tasks," but better translated as "briefs" -- that is, a written document that defines and shapes the messages that should be conveyed. Another source says, У нас это делается негласно. (Here it's done without words -- what's called in English "by a wink and a nod.")
Folks who prepare these can be called спин-доктора (a dreadful calque of "spin doctors") or пиарщики (PR specialists). The folks who oversee the entire strategy of the campaign are called политтехнологи -- political strategists. The folks who sit back and analyze what's going on among the политтехнологи in rival camps are политологи (political analysts, political scientists). And the poor folks who are the object of this frenzied activity are избиратели (voters), электорат (electorate) or simply народ (the people). Although most of the time, these folks feel more like подопытные кролики (laboratory rats, literally, "test rabbits").
One of the many sources of argument over the election in Ukraine is the question of who's paying the политтехнологи. Они работали на деньги московских / американских / европейских заказчиков. (They were paid by customers/clients in Moscow / the U.S. / Europe). Заказчик in Russian has a stronger sense of "the person placing the order" (заказ), i.e., the person calling the tune.
This is very wicked indeed, since as everyone knows: нельзя вмешиваться в чужие выборы (interfering in another country's elections is wrong). But since everyone does this all the same, one Russian politician had the honesty to add: по крайней мере, нельзя вмешиваться активно, открыто и публично (at least it's wrong to interfere actively, openly and publicly). This realpolitik view of things was echoed by a Ukrainian politician, who said: нельзя грубо влиять на те процессы, которые происходят в Украине (this ham-handed influence on what's happening in Ukraine is wrong). You can also translate нельзя as "you can't," "you shouldn't" or "it's forbidden" -- but since everyone does it, in these contexts the most you can do is assert that "it's wrong to do."
The other big issue is, of course, Сфальсифицированы ли выборы на Украине? (Were the elections in Ukraine rigged?) The answer seems to be, well, we don't want to say for sure, but since there's such hoopla over this, let's have a third round of elections (третий тур выборов).
And then there's the question of just what's going on there: переворот (a coup), захват власти (a takeover) or каштановая революция (Chestnut Revolution), which is often called the Orange Revolution in the Western press. This is of course the Ukrainian version of the розовая революция (Rose Revolution) in Georgia, which was in turn a version of the бархатная революция (Velvet Revolution) in Prague. Calling it the Orange Revolution stresses the orange symbol of the Yushchenko campaign, and perhaps is based on the understanding of the Rose Revolution as a color, not a flower. In any case, the big question seems to be: Будет ли берёзовая революция в России? (Will there be a Birch Revolution in Russia?)
Stay tuned, and read those темники.
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.
By Michele A. Berdy
Темники: in Ukraine, an official brief, special orders to mass media on how to present the news
Recent events in Ukraine have given everyone plenty of food for thought, if you can understand what everyone is talking about, that is. Take темники. This is the word used in Ukraine to describe the official instructions given to news agencies on what news to report and how to "spin" it. It would seem to come from the word тема -- topic -- but has the echo of темнить (to obscure) and тёмный -- dark, shadowed, shady, fishy. Perhaps you hear that echo because of the Russian phrases чёрные технологии (dirty tricks, literally "dark/black technology") and чёрный пиар (smear campaigns, literally "black PR"). For example, one Internet blogger asks, Значит, наши СМИ ловчее темнят? (So it means that our mass media are more adept at obscuring information?)
During elections in Russia, one source says, these instructions are called технические задания, literally "technical tasks," but better translated as "briefs" -- that is, a written document that defines and shapes the messages that should be conveyed. Another source says, У нас это делается негласно. (Here it's done without words -- what's called in English "by a wink and a nod.")
Folks who prepare these can be called спин-доктора (a dreadful calque of "spin doctors") or пиарщики (PR specialists). The folks who oversee the entire strategy of the campaign are called политтехнологи -- political strategists. The folks who sit back and analyze what's going on among the политтехнологи in rival camps are политологи (political analysts, political scientists). And the poor folks who are the object of this frenzied activity are избиратели (voters), электорат (electorate) or simply народ (the people). Although most of the time, these folks feel more like подопытные кролики (laboratory rats, literally, "test rabbits").
One of the many sources of argument over the election in Ukraine is the question of who's paying the политтехнологи. Они работали на деньги московских / американских / европейских заказчиков. (They were paid by customers/clients in Moscow / the U.S. / Europe). Заказчик in Russian has a stronger sense of "the person placing the order" (заказ), i.e., the person calling the tune.
This is very wicked indeed, since as everyone knows: нельзя вмешиваться в чужие выборы (interfering in another country's elections is wrong). But since everyone does this all the same, one Russian politician had the honesty to add: по крайней мере, нельзя вмешиваться активно, открыто и публично (at least it's wrong to interfere actively, openly and publicly). This realpolitik view of things was echoed by a Ukrainian politician, who said: нельзя грубо влиять на те процессы, которые происходят в Украине (this ham-handed influence on what's happening in Ukraine is wrong). You can also translate нельзя as "you can't," "you shouldn't" or "it's forbidden" -- but since everyone does it, in these contexts the most you can do is assert that "it's wrong to do."
The other big issue is, of course, Сфальсифицированы ли выборы на Украине? (Were the elections in Ukraine rigged?) The answer seems to be, well, we don't want to say for sure, but since there's such hoopla over this, let's have a third round of elections (третий тур выборов).
And then there's the question of just what's going on there: переворот (a coup), захват власти (a takeover) or каштановая революция (Chestnut Revolution), which is often called the Orange Revolution in the Western press. This is of course the Ukrainian version of the розовая революция (Rose Revolution) in Georgia, which was in turn a version of the бархатная революция (Velvet Revolution) in Prague. Calling it the Orange Revolution stresses the orange symbol of the Yushchenko campaign, and perhaps is based on the understanding of the Rose Revolution as a color, not a flower. In any case, the big question seems to be: Будет ли берёзовая революция в России? (Will there be a Birch Revolution in Russia?)
Stay tuned, and read those темники.
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 12:51 am (UTC)The ancient numeral тьма has survived in modern language meaning
"lots of, multitude". Тьма тьмущая = "enormous amount, countless numbers".
no subject
Date: 2004-12-03 05:57 pm (UTC)10 soldier unit = арбан / arban
100 soldier unit = жагхун / jaghun
1000 soldier unit = миңхан / mingghan
10000 soldier unit = тюмэн / tyumen
The word may have migrated into Tatar and other Turkic languages with the Mongol expansion into the west, although the root word could have been present in Turkic languages beforehand as well. Mongolian and Turkic are related as Altaic languages, so the word could have been common to both prior to the Mongol empire.
Here's a little excerpt from a geographic history of Ural towns. Specifically, about the town of Тюмень:
И уже в XVIII в. было высказано мнение, что название Тюмень - татарское слово со значением «десять тысяч». Эта старинная версия является единственно верной, но с одной поправкой: источник названия, возможно, не татарский, а древнемонгольский язык, где было слово тюмэн - «тьма», «десять тысяч», «бесчисленное множество». Правда, есть и древнетюркское тюмян - «десять тысяч», «очень много». [1]
** In the XVIII century there was already an opinion that the name Тюмень is from the Tatar word for the number "ten thousand". This old version is precisely accurate, save for one adjustment: the source of the name is perhaps not Tatar but from the Old Mongolian language where the word of тюмэн means "dark", "ten thousand", "uncountable group". True there is an ancient Turkish тюмян/tyumyan which means "ten thousand", "very much". **
[1] Географические Названия Урала, Матвеев А.К.
no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 10:19 am (UTC)Мильоны вас.
Нас - тьмы, и тьмы, и тьмы.
There are millions of you,
but there is an incountable number of us.