(no subject)

[ilia-yasny.livejournal.com]

An interesting test for non-native Russian speakers who want to check their knowledge of Russian everyday cultural context and for the Russians who want to make fun of alternative replies :)
Test is a joke, but only by half, like every joke

Comments

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

Oh boy. The alternate versions made me literally CRY. Thanks a lot :)

[serialcondition.livejournal.com]

very amusing
thanks

[gordin.livejournal.com]

Seems to be pretty tough for people not brought up here. If not for humorous options, I would say it could be difficult even for a native Russian speaker born in the US, for example.

[b0bb.livejournal.com]

It has nothing to do with the language abilities per se.
It's all about the Russian cultural environment - proverbs, catch phrases, etc.

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

You're right - I wish we had something like that in English by the way :D

What to do among the birches?

[harmonoisit.livejournal.com]

That was cool! BTW, what was the right answer for N29 in part1? (as you can guess, I've failed that one :(().
And the first one made me recall the variant that I learned at the Dep. of Inverterbrate Zoology in my student years:
"В здоровом теле - здоровый паразит" (A healthy body contains a healthy parasite).

Re: What to do among the birches?

[ilia-yasny.livejournal.com]

I've failed the same, too. Did tou choose "нажраться"? :) But the second time I guessed - it was "стреляться".
I found the original right now: http://www.rozenbaum.ru/lyr/baum0077.php

[piege.livejournal.com]

:))) он стал для меня родным с десятой попытки.

However, it is good stimulus to re-read books of Ilf and Petrov.
кстати, "боливар не вынесет двоих" - это откуда?

[lindagraciela.livejournal.com]

O'Henry?

[khathi.livejournal.com]

Exactly. "Bolivar can't carry double" -- it's from "Roads we've taken", IIRC.

[piege.livejournal.com]

А, "Деловые люди"!

[khathi.livejournal.com]

"Дороги, которые мы выбираем", вообще-то.

[meresjeva.livejournal.com]

Any test like this in English?:)

[oryx_and_crake]

try this
http://www.okcupid.com/tests/take?testid=11648818659165032135

[b0bb.livejournal.com]

It's not "like this" at all.

[serialcondition.livejournal.com]

I don't think it would be possible to have a test like that in American English -- the culture is much too heterogenous and too short-term -- although there are a few things that reach even the most reclusive of us

[b0bb.livejournal.com]

Definitely.
When I sometimes watched "Who wants to be a millionaire", the most difficult questions for me were the cheapest ones - nursery rhymes, proverbs, stupid TV shows, etc. - which everyone who was born and raised in English-speaking world knows, even with IQ of 50.

At the same time I knew the right answers to the most of exposed 1,000,000-dollar questions.

[kehlen-crow.livejournal.com]

ha-ha :)

[onodera.livejournal.com]

Same here. I can't solve almost any word puzzles in the Daily Express except for Alphabeater, just because it doesn't have any clues. It's not that the others require encyclopedic knowledge (like the monstrous "crossword with fragments" from Russian Science and Life journal), but rather knowledge of the local culture or phonetic wordplay.
What does "sick bird of prey" mean, for example? And that was a really easy one.

[b0bb.livejournal.com]

> What does "sick bird of prey" mean, for example?

That's an illegal question!

[ladys-delight.livejournal.com]

Ааа, я валяюсь под стулом от этого теста! =))) Первую часть прошла только с четвертой попытки (родилась и всю жизнь прожила в России, хорошо училась в школе, имею высшее гуманитарное образование =)) Ладно хоть остальные части с первой попытки удались.

[sister-kari.livejournal.com]

А я в четвертой части на дяде Федоре погорела. :((
Что он неправильно делал-то? Картошку сажал или бутерброд ел?

[ladys-delight.livejournal.com]

Бутерброд ел! По его мнению, его надо есть колбасой вниз - так вкус колбасы лучше чувствуется XD

[sister-kari.livejournal.com]

Тест уморительный. Спасибо! :)))