Abbreviations in Russian

[apollotiger.livejournal.com]

My Russian textbook went over "тéхника", and one of the items listed for vocabulary was "видеомагнитофóн". I was wondering if there is an abbreviation for that — in English, we don't say "video cassette recorder", we say "vcr". Does Russian have something similar? вмф or something?

Comments

[lucky-lr.livejournal.com]

"видик", may be.

But this is slang word, not official.

[apollotiger.livejournal.com]

I wasn't expecting anything official. ;) How's it stressed? видик or видик?

[moon-aka-sun.livejournal.com]

вдик

[lucky-lr.livejournal.com]

видик

[sertoun.livejournal.com]

видак is also frequently used.

[ex-novia.livejournal.com]

now, this is slang

[yers.livejournal.com]

"ВМФ" actually stands for "Military Sea Fleet" ("военно-морской флот")... :)

[apollotiger.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, so it's one of the assumptions to avoid? "Well, I rented a video the other day." "Really? Can we watch it?" "No, I left it in my military sea fleet."

[ex-novia.livejournal.com]

...and "Military Sea Fleet" is Navy

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Aren't we discussing Russian abbreviations here, not English? ;-))

[ex-novia.livejournal.com]

oh, I know, I know. but..military sea fleet sounds funny
there's one word for it - Navy. I was clarifying the meaing of вмф

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Yes, any Russian (or any other foreign) expression, being translated "word by word" into English, may sound funny; but we are learning Russian here, and it's good for the learnerds of Russian to know that in Russian "Navy" is ВМФ, военно-морской флот, literally, military sea fleet.

argh

[ex-novia.livejournal.com]

maaan! while I agree it is useful to know the literary translation, I still think that regular translations clarify meanings..don't you think? was it really THAT big of a deal me commenting on how the "military sea fleet" (with all due respect to litarary translatons) can also be reaplaced by one word - "Navy"?!?

no, think about it, for a minute: wouldn't you (if you were the one learning new language) want to know both ways to translate a word? whay are there all these dictionaries then? why can't I save time to somebody, if I don't see the "second" translation there? If I were a teacher,wouldn't I give my students both meanings?

argh! Thank you,and I don't want any comments on this, please. too much already

Re: argh

[ex-novia.livejournal.com]

literal translation, of course.
sorry for misspelled words, there's no "edit" option... ah, well.

Re: argh

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

OK, the old tyrant wolk_off made someone's day again. Well, crucify me, then. Shall I bring you a hammer and some nails? ;-)

Re: argh

[ex-novia.livejournal.com]

mmmmm...HAMmer and some Snails? sure:)

[yers.livejournal.com]

Er... I know.

[halevi.livejournal.com]

No. There are no common rules for constructing abbreviations in Russian. Each abbreviation is really a new word, so it should be learned apparently.

In general, in Rissian it is more common to use complex words instead of abbreviations. First of all it is common for names of institutions. For example:

Министерство здравоохранения и социального развития => Минздравсоцразвития

There is a custom to use shortened words in speech (not in writing). For example:

Материнская плата => материнка (motherboard)
Компьютер => комп (mostly for "PC")
Персональный компьютер => персоналка (PC)

But these shortened words should be learned apparently too --- as well as abbreviations.

[mricon.livejournal.com]

Oh, come on, "PC" is totally "писюк". :)

[mithgol.livejournal.com]

Not totally. I've heard „пэцэшник“, „пэкá“ („ПК“ stands for «персональный компьютер»), and probably a few other variants I don't remember.

[mithgol.livejournal.com]

I've just remembered „пuсúшка“.

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

I usually say "комп" for "компьютер".

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Generally, Russian language doesn't avoid long words as much as English does, so the words of everyday use rarely abbreviate this short :) As it was pointed above, видеомагнитофон (note that stess marks are never used, except that in textbooks and dictionaties) became видик or видак in everyday speech; you may also hear видео (not as a name for this particular device, but rather as the description of the whole class of devices, like in "Этот фильм уже не идет в кинотеатрах, зато его можно теперь посмотреть на видео" (this film is not in the theatres already, but you can watch it on the video instead.) But if refrigerator is "fridge" in English everyday speech, it's still холодильник in Russian, be that official technical speech or everyday slang. The same with vacuum cleaners (пылесос in every type of use,) etc.

[ahitech.livejournal.com]

Exactly. Even relatively long words like синхрофазотрон (synchrophasotron) are still pronounced as is both in slang, in everyday speech and in technical literature. You won't hear abbreviations like "синхрюк".

[oryx_and_crake]

Wow, синхрюк!
It sounds lovely. I should memorise it and then advise some SF writer to use it...
:-)

[vissarion.livejournal.com]

sokr.ru (http://www.sokr.ru/?text=%E2%E8%E4%E5%EE%EC%E0%E3%ED%E8%F2%EE%F4%EE%ED&where=descriptions)

[enuckon.livejournal.com]

видеомагнитофон = ВМ (вм), В/М (в/м)
видеоплеер = ВП (вп), В/П (в/п)