In a Restaurant

[jadore-vin.livejournal.com]

Привет ребята!

Сегодна вечером я поеду в русский ресторан в Вашингтоне и я хотела бы использовать мой русский язык. У меня только одна проблема- я не владею русским языком и я не хочу смущаться. Скажите, пожалуйста, какие фразы могут оказаться полезными?*


Translation and then some:
Hey!

Tonight I'm going out to eat at a Russian place and I'd like to put my Russian to use. However, I'd rather not embarrass myself (Did I translate that incorrectly in Russian?). Does anyone have any suggestions for polite phrases or questions one would use in such a setting. Especially any phrases that aren't direct translations.

For example, "Can we split the dessert, please?" "Which appetizer do you think is the best?" etc...

*correct version

Comments

[oiseau-russe.livejournal.com]

If your spoken Russian is as your written one, everything will be ok, but if you really do not masters your Russian, how will you understend the answer ? :)

Somme corrections: в Вашингтоне, какие фразы будут/могут оказаться полезны?

My English is not good enough, so I don't know what "to split the dessert" means. The secont phaise can be "какие закуски вы посоветуете" or "что из закусок вы посоветуете"

[sofa-m.livejournal.com]

are you sure you're just going to eat at the Russian place? Usually Russian restaurants in US, especially if you're going on a Saturday night, are an all-inclusive affair with extensive dancing :) You won't be asking the waiter to split anything, all food will be family-style - pick what-you -want

find out if it's that type of place

[jadore-vin.livejournal.com]

I think everything will be ok- I just hate to make stupid mistakes.

Thank you for the corrections and suggestions, I will fix them above. :)

"To split the dessert" means to share the dessert (ice cream/cake/etc.)

[jadore-vin.livejournal.com]

There is a bar and lounge there. . .I don't know about dancing, but I'm up for it if the opportunity arises.

I just used that phrase as an example. I thought it was interesting that my Russian textbook doesn't have a lesson about ordering in a restaurant. In my French class that was Chapter 1 material. Understandably, the French are pretty particular about dining rituals. But I think Russian students could use this sort of info as well.

When I studied abroad in St. Pete my classmates and I were all pretty clueless about such things as how to ask for the check (Счёт, пожалуйста.?) and how to call over the server politely("Девушка!" seemed a very strange way to address a stranger, and how do you call over your server if he is male?).

[jadore-vin.livejournal.com]

Instrumental case always with оказаться/оказываться?

Спасибо!

[spiderhood.livejournal.com]

I'm totally confused with your question: you say that you want to use your knowledge of Russian, and then admit that you do not speak Russian, but then again, you say it in Russian. So, do you speak Russian or don't you? ;) That's the crucial point, I think.

If you do, and the above example is how you do it, in my opinion you do not need any advice. Just replace the parts you don't know with gestures and smiles, and you'll be fine--it works better than hard-studied phrases.

If you don't, my advice is then: don't try to act as if you did. Even if now we tell you that "Can we split the dessert?" is spoken as "Давай десерт пополам?", you'll be lost completely in a perfectly possible answer like "Вообще-то можно, но я ещё не выбрал(а), хотя мне советовали вот этот, а какой ты решила взять?".

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

You don't call them anything (as there is, surprisingly, no conventional way to address anybody more or less politely in modern Russian -- at least no way that would not be controversial!) -- you just say something along the line of "please be so kind as to bring us the menu/the check" - "будьте добры, принесите меню/счёт, пожалуйста".

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

+1.
After all, creative hand movements and repeated pointing to cetain lines in menu can do miracles, even if you don't speak the language at all (I tried that in rural Estonia and was perfectly OK!) :)))

[jadore-vin.livejournal.com]

I mean to say I haven't mastered Russian. In my opinion, Russian is much easier to write than speak- especially with the aid of dictionaries, online aids, my class notes, and whatnot. Especially with the advantage of not having to respond in real time.

I think when someone says "I speak X language," they mean that they are totally fluent- which is certainly not the case with me. I'm just trying really hard to move from intermediate to advanced level. I'm trying to wean myself off of having to use gestures and giggles to fill in words I don't know. "Intermediate" is a really frustrating level to be at!

[jadore-vin.livejournal.com]

Thanks, that's exactly the kind of thing I was wanting to know- phrases like "будьте добры. . ." Just little polite things students don't necessarily learn in class.

[jadore-vin.livejournal.com]

PS Thanks for the advice. Maybe I am being overly self-conscious about my Russian. Taking your language skills out of the classroom/offline can be nerveracking, that's all I'm saying. And I'll be less easily flustered if at the very least I know I'm being polite.

[defying-elphaba.livejournal.com]

Just curious, is the place you are going to called 'Russia House' by any chance?

[khathi.livejournal.com]

I tried it in Japan with the same success. Actually, in Japan you can completely successfully venture to restaurant without saying a single word, due to their penchant to pucture menus. ^_^

[khathi.livejournal.com]

I don't think that's the case. Even if you level is "моя твоя вакару нету"? as my Japanese teacher used to call it, you still speak it. BTW, giggling and gesturing to fill for unknown words is perfectly acceptable -- y'know, this method worked for millennia! ^_^

[lovimoment.livejournal.com]

Hopefully not...the food there is so-so at best...

[jadore-vin.livejournal.com]

Ohh, it was! Oh, what a night! My verdict is hit the lounge for drinks, but skip the restaurant. To make things worse my server didn't even speak Russian, but Polish! What a waste of fretting.

[lovimoment.livejournal.com]

I think their creme brulee is good, but their borsch is inarguably the worst on the planet.

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

You haven't tasted borsch at the cantine of the Soviet Ministry of Black Metals in Moscow back in 1987, then. THAT was a NIGHTMARE :))))

[lovimoment.livejournal.com]

You're right, I haven't.

But you probably didn't pay $8 for a bowl of it, either. :)

[wolk-off.livejournal.com]

No I didn't, you're right. It was 43 kopecks then, something around $0.75 in the State Bank (as there was no other bank available at that time) or $0.13 on the black market :)

[senorita-rita.livejournal.com]

только не "не хоцу", а "не хочу"

[jadore-vin.livejournal.com]

oops, spasibo