(no subject)

[shooktothecore.livejournal.com]

Hello everyone!

I'm posting because I'm kind of in a bind and would really appreciate the help of some of you fluent russians out there. I went on a small intensive course this summer in Odessa, and as part of my course work, I was supposed to conduct an interview with someone in Russian about fashion, and then transcribe the interview to turn in to my professor. Unfortunately, my audio track from my recorder isn't transferring properly, and I can't understand anything from the interview! Are there any ladies out there that wouldn't mind helping me out by answering a few questions in Russian via email???

Thanks so much!

Hi--kind of off-topic question about МГУ (MSU)

[anima-maxima.livejournal.com]

Hello everyone,

I have a question about international graduate students at Moscow State University--namely, how hard is it to be accepted to the University? I've been looking on the website and it's pretty sparse. I'm hoping to study political science, wherever I end up, in the fall of 2009. I'm aiming for a doctorate.

If anyone has personal experience in graduate studies at МГУ or any other Russian institution, could you please share?

Synonyms?

[david-us.livejournal.com]

I was wondering if some of you native Russian speakers could tell me if the following word pairs are completely synonomous in that any sentence construction where one is used could just as easily be used by creating a sentence using the other word - without changing the context. If the context changes, could you briefly explain in what way the words are different by creating your own example sentences highlighting this difference?

The reason I ask this: For some reason, when I attempt to speak Russian I have a strong preference for the first word in each pair. Yet, when I listen to native Russians speak (online Russian radio) I frequently hear usage of the other word.

здесь - тут  (This is the least perplexing for me as I actually do hear many native Russian speakers use здесь. The problem is that I don't think I would ever use "тут" in any other context except for an exchange where the word "там" is used. "Где Иван? Он там?"  "Нет. Он тут!" For some reason, my usage of "тут" is completely limited to that type of exchange.)

теперь - сейчас

нельзя - невозможно (I find it interesting how Russians will often create an adverb by simply negating its antonym: немедленно, for example. That is very counter intuitive to English speakers. If we mean "quickly" we don't think "not slowly". I would probably always use быстро where some may use немедленно.)

можно - возможно

учиться - заниматься

If you can think of any additional word pairs for which English speakers typically have a preference for the wrong one, I'd be interested in reading about it.

Thanks!

David Emerling
Memphis, TN