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>Водка!
>Одобрлена студентами

Одобрена, maybe? You meant, "approved"? Sounds quite silly - vodka existed (and was approved by the majority of population) way before there were any students in Russia :))

>Когда люди думают о России, (особенно студенты) обычно придумывают «питки» и «водка». Но знают ли они все о водке?

1. Обычно думают, NOT придумывают (придумать means "to make up," not "to think")
2. What the Heck are "питки"???

Водка, как все знают, бесцветный алкогольный напиток. Если хотите быть настоящим русским, тогда пейте водка одна, без какого-нубудь сока (так и пьётся в восточных европейских странах).

>пейте водка одна

1. to drink something requires accusative: пить водку, not водка.
2. "пейте чистую водку", "пейте водку, не разбавляя": you cannot say what you say :)

>Происхождение слова «водка» приходит из уменьшительного слова для «вода».

You cannot say "происхождение приходит" - it means somethisg along the line of "origin arrives." Try to think Russian, not English: a Russian would go with "the word origins in..." - слово *** происходит от...

>Она содержит большую часть из этанола и воды – от 35% до 70% по объёму, и изготовлена из картофеля.

"содержит большую часть из этанола и воды" literally means "contains large part from ethanol and water." What exactly you mean?

And, BTW, it is only the cheapest and worst vodka which is made of potatoes (or beets, or even remnants of oil-extracting process in oil refinery industry.) Normally it's rye grain.

>Водка обычно дистиллирована трижды.

Alright.

>Однажды, Дмитрий Менделеев в 1865-ому году сказал, что самый идеальный процент для водки – 38%, но округил этот номер до 40, чтобы упростить расчёт налога.

1. In Russian, you cannot use "once" like that - "once" means "I don't know exactly when," so it's ether "once" or "in 1865."
2. В каком году, not в какому году ("в какому" is impossible by any means.)
3. Округлил, not округил.
4. Цифру, not номер.
And, for heaven's sake, percentage of WHAT? Don't omit содержание спирта here :)

Водка стала известной в России просто из-за погоды.

I guess it's climate, not just weather (there's a sheer distinction of those two in Russian,) and "became known" in this context just doesn't work - it's like all beverages were stored somewhere, some became known and some still sit there, unknown to masses :) A Russian would say "became spread."

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>Такой деликатной погоды (использована для вырастания винограда) никогда не бывает в стране, только возможно выращивать картофель.

O Interpreter's False Friends! Деликатный in Russian is not at all the same as "delicate" in English. Try go with "soft" or "warm."
And then, how can you USE weather to grow something? In Soviet Russia, weather uses you :)))
Try go with "needed."
Plus, I would interchange только and возможно for better word order.

>Одно хорошее качество картофеля – можно долго не портиться, и также трудно замерзать зимой.

Russians normally use "есть" constructions, something like "there is one good quality by the potatoes" :))
"можно долго не портиться" means that it's YOU who doesn't rot, not potatoes :) It must me может. Combined with "и также трудно замерзать зимой," it adds the flavor that it's YOU who doesn't freeze :)

>А если не хотите покупать водку из-за налога?

What tax? You mean, alcohol tax? There is a separate word in Russian, акциз (masculine)... but then you have to explain that most of ANY alcoholic beverage price consists of this tax.

>Вот очень лёгкое решение! Хотя изготовление самогона запрещено, люди всё равно его изготовляют. Слово «самогон» от слов «сам» и «гнать», вот в том, что аппарат для самогона делает.

Since you omit "происходит", you better put a dash before "от". And I don't understant what "вот в том" means.

>Показано тут (картина) один из более лёгких образов гнать сам спирт.

Word order is strange, and it's иллюстрация, not картина (which is not just any picture, only a drawing, a masterpiece -- or, in its other meaning, an image - as in "to give you a picture of what's going on".) And способов (ways,) not образов (images.)

>Огонь варить смесь воды, сахара и дрожж, и осадки конденсируют, и становится спиртом.

Wait a minute. Where's grammar here? Why using infinitive in the 1st case, and not using reflective form in the 2nd, while you correcly use reflective form in the 3rd?
And it's not варить since the meanings of Russian варить and English "to boil" aren't exactly the same. I would go with греть (греет - 3rd sing. present tense) or нагревать (нагревает).

>Итак водка... есть одна пословица/совет для неё. «Водка без пива – деньги на ветер»

Well... It's more or less OK -- or I'm exhausted :)))))

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Well, it's rather understandable, but somewhat clumsy Russian, so editing will surely do much good to this text. But, anyway, there is a HUGE (by the suze of Pacific ocean, I'd say) factual error. Real russian vodka is NEVER made from potato. Potato vodka is a cheap polish fake. ^_^ Russian vodka must be made from neutral grain spirits (rye is best for it, but wheat is also perfectly acceptable, oat and barley can be added also) of quadruple distillation (at least) and water only, with only very minimum of other additives. It is allowed to make moonshine out of potato, however -- it's not considered a really quality drink. So I advice a revision before any editing. ^_^

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Seconded. Actually, SOME vodka is made of potatoes (or beets, or even remnants of oil-extracting process in oil refinery industry.) But it's what people call сучок - cheap, stinky, though somewhat transparent, liquid that comes in small bottles (0.25 l) or even in plastic cups (0.1 l, so-called Russian Yoghurt.) They normally sell it in cheap "social" stores. That liquid is a quick and reliably way to get REALLY hammered; the effects said liquid produces on liver, heart, brain and other important body parts are tremendous (liver cirrhosis in a couple of years of steady consumption of said liquid being the nicest and mildest.) Grain vodka, however, is much purer and, errrr, healthier, though I would not recommend a diet based upon it to anybody anyway :)))

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mricon.livejournal.com

If I'm not imagining things, you normally use "цифра" to say "digit," and "число" to say "number." I think technically more correct is "округлил это число до 40, чтобы..."

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Actually it's called "сучок" because some cheap technical spirits, often used in production of cheap surrogate vodka, is actually made from wood -- usually through hydrolysis process. It often contains methanol as impurity, so can be really poisonous, but it doesn't stops people from making or drinking it... :(

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nadyezhda.livejournal.com

maybe he's trying to say torture or suffering and misspelled it as питки?

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Actually in colloquial speech (and even newspaper articles) words "цифра" and "число" are perfectly interchangeably. Only in most formal texts it would count as minot lexical mistake.

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vvstepa.livejournal.com

не "не водка без пива", а "пиво без водки" - деньги на ветер!
Именно водка придает осмысленность употреблению вообще-то никчемному напитку - пиву.

Correct saying is "пиво без водки - деньги на ветер". For those who still don't catch the deal - "cerveza sin tequila - pesos sobre en viento!". It's vodka that makes the sence for consuming such an useless beverage as beer.

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russian-bob.livejournal.com

As far as I know, best Russian vodka is made from wheat, not rye.
I've heart about "пшеничная водка" (wheat vodka), but "ржаная водка" (rye vodka) associates first with something Polish or Estonian.
Am I wrong?

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wolfie-18.livejournal.com

>Она содержит большую часть из этанола и воды.

I meant to say "It consists, for the most part, of ethanol and water" I thought содержать had to have an из attached.

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Yes, you're wrong. "Пшеничная" is just a one sort of vodka, called so precisely because it is made of wheat. Other sorts just don't emphasize on the original grain. Wheat is often added to the mix, but for clssical sorts the base is rye.

PS: Polish vodka ("wodka") is most often made from potato, as far as I informed.

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BTW, about distillation... If I not mistaken, the classical technology of vodka distilling is that on each stage the condensate should be collected, diluted with water up to normal drinking concentration, and distilled again. This process is known as "doubling" ("двоение") as it is both effectively doubling the number of distillations and amount of product on an intermediate stage.
This technology was widely used in a home distilleries of landlords, who had an access to large quantities of cheap grain, giving the mildest and purest spirit possible. Often additives were added on a doubling stage, giving the huge assortment of flavoured vodkas. But I don't know if it is really used now, as it's quite uneconomic way and requires big amount of grain to be used.

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Число=number only if it's something countable (as separate units.) У него было семьсот рублей в резерве, но он сократил эту цифру до 500, а двести рублей пропил (He had 700 rubles in reserve, but he rediced this amount to 500, and spend 200 for booze) - the same story. Цифра is not only "digit," but also, in some cases, "amount."

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Why, there's a lot of great Russian rye vodka currently on the market.
Wheat, seconded. Grain, anyway.

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No, you mistook it for "состоит из" (consists of.) Содержит (containts) stands by itself :)

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joliecanard.livejournal.com

I'm pretty sure he meant to say "напитки"

You meant "alcoholic drinks", right OP?

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Sorry to hurt someone's feelings, but Polish wodka, as well as Greman schnaps etc., is actually kerosene, at least taste-wise :) IMHO only Swedish Absolut vodka, some Ukrainian horylkas (Nemiroff's Medova Z Pertsem) and maybe Norwegian Aquavit stand anywhere near good grain Russian vodka.

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irvin-markoni.livejournal.com

Wow! That's was real fun, when I have read this post!!!! :))) real russian phrase...(proverb :))! Russians like to drink A LOT, so to drink just "a little bit" mean to waste money and time...

I'll never forget this question! :)) Guy, you are the BEST!!!! :))

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There is another saying about vodka:
Одна бутылка - много, две - в самый раз, три - мало :))))))

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>Да прибудет с вами сила

What you wrote meant "May the Force arrive with you."
Прибывать = to arrive.
Пребывать с к.-л. = to be with somebody (old, poetical.)

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colonelrabin.livejournal.com

The latter meaning is quite colloquial.

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ilia-yasny.livejournal.com

I know another funny Russian proverb: "Чай - не водка, много не выпьешь!" (Tea is not vodka - you can't drink a lot of it"

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alten.livejournal.com

Oops!

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wolfie-18.livejournal.com

Right. )

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Couldn't disagree. ^_^ But is it okay to count aquavit as vodka? It's usually stronger and spirits there aren't all that neutral...

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Do you see me calling Aquavit vodka here? :) Even horylka isn't vodka (technically, the one I mention is pertsovka,) but all the same it's strong and quite pure booze, unlike Kartoffelschnaps :)

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That is correct. Anyway, it exists, and is widely spread.

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One more:
Сколько водки на пьянку не неси, а все равно два раза бегать :)
My english skill doesn't allow to translate it.

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Doesn't matter how much vodka you bring to a drinking party, you will have to make a second journey (to bring more.)

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Well, the saying looks better in russian ))))

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This is only because it's only understandable for those who grew up inside Russian culture. Some things one cannot explain to foreigner, leave alone put them nicely into foreign words.

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