Learn Russian

You know... I'm a native speaker too, but I've got 12... The test is not so plain and easy really. I know a great number of people who use wrong variants in everyday speech, and it's quite an often and normal practice nowadays. Besides, many rules do change with time, so I believe some variants in test are almost obsolete.

From:

There where a lot of words that I didn't understand.
but then there were some that I use, and got confused over them.
is both pEredali and peredAli right? (a said both, but when i speak I say peredAli)
what about nAchalis' and nachalIs' (I picked only the first)

From:

which words didn't you understand?

From:

number seven and number nine, but I can look them up. it would have been cheating to do it during the test!

From:

As I said, a lot of correct (according to the dictionaries) variants are so old-fashoioned that they tend to become obsolete. People rarely really use them in speech, the majotity are not at all so well-educated. I'll go and pass this test one more time to tell you some thougths about it. Although our results are equal %)

From:

About пЕредали and передАли - the 1st sounds older and is rarely used (although I know it's correct, and if there would have been only one choice - I'd've chosen this one), so I think we have an example of a literary norm in the process of changing :)

From:

belacane.livejournal.com

I think that happens in every language. People have different ways of pronouncing different words.

some that come to mind in english:

vitamins
advertisement
tomato

....etc. etc. etc.

From:

Hah. I'm native speaker, but to my shame, I got only 11 :-)

From:

hm... I get it. The test was written by a language fascist! Some people are convinced that there is only one correct way of saying everything, but if a lot of people say something in a certain way, and they are understood, and it doesn't sound wrong... then you can't really say it is wrong, can you?

From:

You got the idea :)
Literary norms change in this way)

From:

And because I'm a hacker too - there are right answers:
01. сирОты
02. началИсь
03. танцОвщица
04. бюрокрАтия
05. Общин
06. ведомостЕй
07. нАискось
08. оба варианта
09. рожЕница
10. сосредотОчение
11. гЕнезис
12. агронОмия
13. немотА
14. оба варианта
15. оптОвый
16. шпрИца
17. фенОмен
18. рефлЕксия
19. каллигрАфия
20. избалОванный

From:

thank you!
I have never heard the words 7,9 and 10 (i heard it as a verb but not as a noun). I will look them up and try to use them next time i spea to a Russian ;-)

optOvyj!?
I was sure it was Optovyj...

From:

thank you!
I have never heard the words 7,9 and 10 (i heard it as a verb but not as a noun). I will look them up and try to use them next time i spea to a Russian ;-)
7. obliquely, slantwise, aslant.
9. woman in childbirth or woman recently confined, generally used in maternity hospitals
10 synonym of concentration

optOvyj!?
I was sure it was Optovyj...

From:

Well, as we have a hacker with us, my task has become much easier %)
So:
1. Сироты - well, the word itself is archaic, although we don'd have a modern synonym, so it is used but it's a rare word. A lot of people would say сИроты, afaik. A difficult task.
2. НачалИсь is the correct answer - you see, the stress on the last sillable in these forms of verbs is an old fashion, nowadays many people say нАчались (althouth I myself really like the correct form началИсь - and use it), besides, Russian is spoken not only in the European part of Russia itself (where exists the variant of the language taken as a literary norm - exists in live speech), but in many other regions and countries as a native language, so there are regional variations (which are _regional_ norms).
3. ТанцОвщица - well, as for me танцовщИца sounds really nicer.
5. Общин - well, if we recall the Russian phrase Палата Общин, I just can't imagine other stress. In this case and number.
7. нАискось - a really beautiful and rare old word) I doubd many native speakers use it correctly)
6. ВедомостЕй - I'm really shocked. It sounds even a bit wrong to me... a bit awkward.

From:

9, 10 and 11 sound really strange to me - never heard them said like this.
I myself would say рОженица, генЕзис and сосредоточЕние - like in заключЕние, поручЕние and so on.
оптОвый is the correct literary variant but as the word is very frequently used and by not at all well-educated people (those who sell something rarely have good education - otherwise they would have found a better, more intellectual job - though there are exceptions, economic situation may vary a lot) it is usually said less nicely but more in more convenient way - Оптовый.

From:

Oh, I remembered why I liked this танцовщИца variant!
There is a bard singer from St.Petersburg Александр Розенбаум, he has a very beautiful nostalgic song Вальс Бостон, there was a line in it:
И со всей округи люди приходили к нам,
И со всех окрестных крыш слетались птицы,
ТанцовщИце золотой захлопав крыльями...
It's strange, St. Petersburg (Питер as people gently shorten it) is considered to be the cultural and educational centre of Russian nation.. Althouth poets have the right to do what they want with the language for their poetic needs including the change of stress I guess...

From:

tisoi.livejournal.com

OMG I got 11/20 by just guessing. lol

From: