Learn Russian

доброволец or волонтер, depends on context

From:

Which one more closely describes a person who does volunteer work for a living?

From:

valikv.livejournal.com

how is that possible?
That's probably why this people don't understand you.
I am russian and I don't get it eather

From:

superslayer18.livejournal.com

If you are married to someone who makes enough money to support you both, it isn't necessary to make money. Instead, you might give your time to a school or local organization to help do community service. This is just an example...

From:

valikv.livejournal.com

My udnerstanding of "work for a living" is to work an pay bills from the compensation. But again, I am not native, so what do I know...

From:

wingxnut18.livejournal.com

When he put it like "work for a living," I can see where you would be confused. If you "making a living" you are working towards supporting your lifestyle (paying bills, buying food, etc...). I wouldn't say it's impossible for volunteers to make a living doing what they are doing, but it's not too common. Volunteers might get free food and shelter to be close to their volunteer work, like volunteering overseas to another country.

From:

superslayer18.livejournal.com

well technically that is how it is usually used, but it is also more like... "what I do all day" kind of thing... but not really... I don't know how to explain it well sorry lol.

From:

Sorry - I should have explained better. The organization is taking care of food and housing, but is not providing you with any pay, so to speak.

From:

kutsuwamushi.livejournal.com

Some very lucky people don't need to work for a living--for example, if their family has enough money to support them.

There are also charity organizations that will support their volunteers living abroad but don't pay them otherwise. I don't think that any of these are life-long jobs, though; usually, volunteers working abroad only do so for a limited time, like six months or a year.

From:

al-aaraaf.livejournal.com

my parents are charity workers. they basicly get $50 checks in the mail from a LARGE network of friends who believe in what they're doing, at odd intervals. doesn't pay much, but it's certainly doable. they plan on living the rest of their lives doing it.

From:

Do you mean volunteer work as in completely unpaid, supported by spouse (which isn't doing it for a living, as the spouse is providing the living) or nonprofit work (not well paid, and similar to volunteer work in aim, but actually doing it for a living)?

From:

Volunteer work as in nonprofit work, where the organization pays for basic living expenses and nothing else. In other words, you would neither see a bill for your apartment (because the organization takes care of it) nor need to visit the grocery store (same reason). On the other hand, you don't have any outside funds for travel, going out, etc.

From:

zloizloi.livejournal.com

What you are explaining here, it can be translated as "работать за харчи", :) somewhat rude and informal expression. It is used in contexts of pilgrims/aides working in monasteries, vagrants working on farms, etc.

From:

See, being paid room and board is still being paid -- that's likely where the confusion comes in. That sort of thing is sort of a fuzzy area between volunteer work and regular nonprofit, but you are still being paid a living wage (simply in room and board rather than money) -- it doesn't require you to have an outside source of income to pay for basic necessities.

From:

nonprofit

mostly got nothing to do with bored housewives

From:

I'm not quite sure what you mean by that.

And don't knock the bored housewives -- their volunteer work keeps a lot of good organizations running (as does the volunteer work of students who also lack paying jobs).

From:

You can hardly respect an adult woman who lives on other person's money and does something just because she has to "pass the day", can you?

It's like being on the dole;)))

Just the dole depends on how rich the husband is;))))

From:

Um. My mother quit her job shortly after I was born because my father persuaded her to. (He then spent the next twenty years of retirement telling us that he had earned all the money, which was not true.) She did the majority of child-rearing, all of the housework, and almost all of the cooking. Please don't tell me that's not work. My father was also retired for most of my childhood, but he didn't cook, clean, or repair anything -- he sat around in coffeeshops, disapproved of my mother's friends, and told her she wasn't really doing any work. My mother started volunteering because it was something constructive and enjoyable to do with her time once I started high school. Now that my parents are divorced, my father is drifting around mooching off his other children and my mother is using her volunteer experience on job applications.

Retirees also do a lot of volunteering -- are they lazy for retiring in the first place?

Being a housewife is hard work. And I respect someone who spends their time and energy volunteering a lot more than I respect someone who sits around sipping martinis by the pool.

You're making a lot of assumptions based on stereotypes there.

From:

Bingo:)

Thanks God I do not have children.

From:

The problem for my mother was less that she had a child than that she had a husband who wouldn't pull his weight. But I don't suppose you can comprehend that, since you're clearly rather narrow-minded.

I don't think it's worth my time replying to you further.

From:

доброволец
but работал добровольцем (worked as a volunteer) sounds weird in Russian - you only work when you get payed, if you're not get payed, you do not work.

трудился добровольцем sounds a bit softer

From:

Thanks for reminding that technicality!

From:

rodmonga.livejournal.com

"волонтер" means army volunteer, and the first meaning of "доброволец" is the same. You can give the example of "Red Cross volunteers".

From: