Fun

[mangiami.livejournal.com]

Hello! I saw in a recent post the use of забавно and have been wondering for a long time:
how do you express "to have fun" and truly mean it (not sarcastically)? Is there a verb that means "to have fun?" Does it depend on the situation? Is there a noun that generally means "fun?"

For some context, how would you translate the following sentences?
1. We had a lot of fun at the zoo.
2. It's fun to go boating. (I'd just like to know the structure for "it's fun to ______" )
3. Did you guys have fun? (not sarcastic - asking seriously)
4. You'll have fun!

If you've already discussed this extensively, please simply tell me when and I can look it up in the archive. Thanks!

- John

Comments

[kunaifusu.livejournal.com]

I don't think "fun" has a direct translation into Russian. In Russian you say that you like something or don't, you can say you are happy to do something or you enjoy doing something it depends on degree of your enjoyment and there is no universal way to express it. For example I'd say your sentences like this:
1. Нам очень понравилось в зоопарке.
2. Плавать на лодках - здорово.
3. Вы не скучали?
4. Тебе понравится!

[apl.livejournal.com]

1. You better say "Мы отлично провели время в зоопарке" (we had great time at the zoo). But also: "нам было весело в зоопарке".
2. Кататься на лодках - весело (здорово).

[ars-longa.livejournal.com]

I guess Russian culture is not that preoccupied with the notion of having fun. :) We rather express our enjoyment in terms of 'I like it/it's a good thing to do'. Various degrees of satisfaction with something are pretty much all based on that principle. Another way to say you had fun is to say "Я хорошо провел(а) время". It might be a bit formal, though.

[upthera44.livejournal.com]

I was thinking about this myself actually.

I'm not a native speaker, but in my experience living in Russia, it seems that весело and здорово both are close to the meaning of fun when used as adverbs / adjectives.

To the native speakers-- what about the verb весилиться? It seems like a pretty close equivalent to "to have fun". How is it used?

[upthera44.livejournal.com]

sorry -- веселиться

[aromanov.livejournal.com]

yes, it's close, but we don't use this verb usually. I agree with the meaning above, there is no direct translation, and this is what Russian language and Russians are difficult in ;) we have zillions way to show how we feel... and never show it :)

[upthera44.livejournal.com]

This seems to be another example of the Russian - American dynamic in which Russians are considered more serious, possibly more deep or substantial, and Americans more happy and arguably more superficial or stupid. I don't think there is anything inherently wrong with the idea of having fun. But on the other hand, when I stop to think about it, Americans do seem pretty stupid for talking so much about it, as if it were the primary goal in life.

[apl.livejournal.com]

fun, fun, fun (till her daddy takes the t-bird away) :)))

[apl.livejournal.com]

It's close, but it sounds too childish.

[kunaifusu.livejournal.com]

Веселиться is not quite close, it is very often used in negative context "Чего, веселишься?", "Пришел нас повеселить?" or ironically "Весело отметили, ничего не скажешь" I cannot even make an example which would both sound naturally and used this verb in straight meaning, even worse with perfective повеселиться which can mean anything from a fight to hubris. Веселиться is something from a 10 y.o.'s essay: "Мы в цирк. Нам было весело." Невесело on the other hand is normally used in its natural meaning.

You will run into the same issue with "to enjoy". You cannot really translate "enjoy your ...", наслаждайся in command voice is surely ironic or threatening "наслаждайся, пока не...", same with радуйся.

However this does not mean Russians are grim. It just happens in Russian happiness is associated with a sense of satisfaction rather than with with laughter. We would use довольный, нравится, рад and such instead of fun, enjoy, happy etc.

[khathi.livejournal.com]

Dont be so dour. ^_^ "Веселиться" is a perfectly normal Russian word, and is used quite often. There is another point, however, -- Russians usually abide by that old law by Alexei Mikhailovich: "Делу время, а потехе час" ("There's time for business and time for fun"), so fun isn't seen as a ultimate goal in life, but just as its part.

[kunaifusu.livejournal.com]

I did not say it is not used often or it's not normal, I said it is rarely used to mean "have fun".

[khathi.livejournal.com]

そのとおりだ！
It's used to say "to have fun" much more often than you said.

[kunaifusu.livejournal.com]

Then a) why did you accuse me of saying something I did not say?
b) why would not you give a few examples of "веселиться" being used by an adult and meaning "to have fun" not in a sarcastic way?

[khathi.livejournal.com]

1) I accused you of being dour, not saying anything.
2) Google is at your fingertips.

[kunaifusu.livejournal.com]

As we say in Russian "Слив засчитан", which roughly translates into "kthxbai".

[khathi.livejournal.com]

As if I care.

[racoonbear.livejournal.com]

I had similar problem several years ago talking to american girl via ICQ. I asked her how she spended her vacations and she answered "Have fun". I used different words to express the same question and got the same answer. I was really puzzled. It looked that those words explained everything. Any russian boy or girl would be more specific. For several minutes I thought that she was, possibly, mentally handicapped. But no, she was ok. It was first time when I met something called "different mentality".

[mangiami.livejournal.com]

Thank you everyone for your answers. What brought up the question for me was that right now, I'm learning French, and I like to try to form sentences in whatever second language I'm learning, but when I get tired of French, or feel especially like thinking in Russian, I find that there are things I can say in French, but not in Russian, and vice versa. In French, there's just s'amuser for "to have fun/for something to be amusing," which is an easy equivalent, and I didn't think Russian had an exact equivalent, but I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed something.

In any case, thank you for your helpful answers and all the discussion! It proved very useful (and I'll try to amend my life philosophy such that "fun" isn't the central goal... ;-) ).