Howdy

[nanki--poo.livejournal.com]

After enjoying the irony of 'Я не говорю по-русский' (is that spelling correct btw? I've been focusing on speech more than written Russian), I feel it is time to move on. How would I say 'I speak a little Russian'?

Also, thought I'd introduce myself. I joined this group a month or two ago and have been watching from the sidelines. I live in Sydney, Australia, my girlfriend and her family are all form Russia, hence the interested in the language. so, Hi!

Comments

[alon_68]

1. Я не говорю по-русски (without Й)
2. Я немного говорю по-русски

Hi

[aquamarinka.livejournal.com]

'I speak a little Russian'
Я немного говорю по-русски
(I don't speak Russian - Я не говорю по-русски)

[lilavati220.livejournal.com]

I was just having this discussion with my (Russian) boyfriend. He says:

Я немного говорю по-русски.

Which I think is interesting, because I translate that as "I don't speak much Russian", which is of course sufficient, but I was curious about what a direct translation (of the English-to-Russian) would be. At that he got a little huffy, because "You just wouldn't say it that way." Tee hee, he's cute.

[spazzling21.livejournal.com]

'Немного' means 'a little.' So that sentence directly translates to "I speak a little Russian" or "I speak 'not much' Russian." The verb is not negated by немного, so it shouldn't be translated as "I don't speak much Russian." Hope this helps...

[standigio.livejournal.com]

As a small unimportant side-note:
I believe (I could be completely wrong here) that when you talk about speaking (or reading or whatever) in other languages, you always take off the й at the end of the name of the language.

For instance:
Never: я говорю по-английский
Instead: я говорю по-английски

Just for future reference :)