Helzberg Diamonds
May. 1st, 2004 01:41 pm![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
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learn_russian
I stopped into Helzberg Diamonds to get a battery for my watch last Thursday after attending a Russian language event sponsored by the Russian language teacher at Grossmont College. I was still wearing my name tag and the sales clerks wanted to know what it was. I said it was my name in the language of an important country with a flag like this, and I sketched the Russian flag. They still had no clue. I gave them the hint, "Red Star" and they guessed China.
The number 3 on the end is a cash control method to make sure the sales clerk isn't pocketing some cash.
When I told them it was in Russian they said, "Oh, we have an "I am Loved" pin you can have in Russian." Now I don't yet know enough Russian to tell if this is even in Russian (or some other Cyrillic language). So does it really say I am loved in Russian?
If you need some jewelry and want one of these pins to go with it visit your local Helzberg Diamonds store and they will be glad to fix you up. By the way, they didn't charge me for the battery even though I didn't buy anything else.
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no subject
Date: 2004-05-01 02:29 pm (UTC)*eyes pin* it looks to work in essence :) I think literally it would be love me, or I am loved (by them).. so, yes.
but then, i'm out of practice, so what can i say? :D
xox
no subject
Date: 2004-05-01 02:30 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-01 02:41 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-01 02:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-01 03:24 pm (UTC)BTW, I hope you didn't draw the Soviet red-star flag for them? The Russian flag is white-blue-and-red, if you remember. ;-)
no subject
Date: 2004-05-01 03:48 pm (UTC)There are Russians and Russians, you see. For some Russians (like me, for example) calling us Reds, associating us with red stars or any other Communist stuff is nothing more that offense (though I am sure you do not mean it.)
Please remember that Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and Russia are NOT the same.
The Russian Flag
Date: 2004-05-01 05:06 pm (UTC)I think that very few Americans would be able to see a modern Russian Flag and identify it as the Russian flag. I wouldn't have been able to until I recently started learning Russian.
So now if you need to shop in San Diego (or many other American Cities) for jewelry for someone you love you'll know where to shop. [smile]
no subject
Date: 2004-05-01 05:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-01 06:47 pm (UTC)Summer
no subject
Date: 2004-05-01 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-01 08:01 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-01 08:24 pm (UTC)Stupid or Smart?
Date: 2004-05-01 10:47 pm (UTC)They say they have over 250 stores in the United States. Click here (http://www.helzberg.com/) then click on the store locator link in the left column.
Random Thoughts
Date: 2004-05-01 11:02 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-02 01:09 am (UTC)In this case они меня любят and меня любят have quite different meanings. If who "they" are wasn't mentioned before in the conversation (i.e. you were talking about your friends) it would not sound right it you said "они меня любят". In Russian there are impersonal sentences where there is no subject at all. I.e. "Меня любят" (= Я любим, I am loved), "Счастье - это когда тебя понимают" (с) Russian movie "Доживём до понедельника", etc..
no subject
Date: 2004-05-02 01:26 am (UTC)E.g., you may omit the first person singular (я=I) freely: phrases like "Думаю, ты прав" ("I think you are right") are common. At the same time, first person plural (мы=we) is usually pronounced (however, there are exceptions).
Second person singular and plural (ты=thou, вы=you) are often omitted in questions ("Видишь это дерево?"="Do you see this tree?"). If third person plural (они=they) is omitted, it usually means passive voice (like in this case) or unknown actor ("Там стреляют"="Somebody is shooting there").
Re: The Russian Flag
Date: 2004-05-02 01:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-02 01:54 am (UTC)- Ты как здесь оказался?
- Стреляли...
(How did you happen to appear here? - [Somebody was] shooting...)
Re: Stupid or Smart?
Date: 2004-05-02 01:57 am (UTC)One more note on the passive voice
Date: 2004-05-02 02:20 am (UTC)The first one is used when the subject of action is not defined. “I am loved” is exactly the case, because it is not mentioned, loved by whom. It is translated like the active voice in 3rd person, plural, omitting the “они” pronoun. Они меня любят -> Меня любят.
The second variant is the utilization of the short verb-formed adjective (краткое отглагольное прилагательное), i.e. любимый -> любим. Я любим [кем-то].
Re: One more note on the passive voice
Date: 2004-05-02 03:16 am (UTC)Re: One more note on the passive voice
Date: 2004-05-02 07:47 am (UTC)Re: One more note on the passive voice
Date: 2004-05-02 09:42 am (UTC)- Я ранен! (I'm wounded or I'm hurt)
Or imagine the WWII fighter pilot shouting
- Я подбит! (I'm hit)
Tell me why
Date: 2004-05-02 01:22 pm (UTC)Re: Stupid or Smart?
Date: 2004-05-02 03:08 pm (UTC)These clerks were probably hired for their looks and their ability to sell jewelry. That's probably a good decision from their point of view, and I got a free battery so I'm not complaining either.
Most Americans have worlds that end at the edge of their local shopping mall. That isn't helped any by the US TV networks that don't cover much international news. For the last month or so I've been watching Russian TV, NTV America (~ HTB)and there is a huge amount of American news on Russian TV.
Some time ago five people were murdered in the small American city of Wichita, Kansas and NTV covered it. Now if five people were murdered in a similar sized Russian city, there is absolutely no way it would be covered in the United States.
Re: Tell me why
Date: 2004-05-02 07:05 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2004-05-02 07:38 pm (UTC)Re: Tell me why
Date: 2004-05-02 08:18 pm (UTC)http://www.stirlingengine.com/contact-us/
Cash Control
Date: 2004-05-02 08:34 pm (UTC)It's not a perfect method, but it beats nothing when you don't have a cash register.
When I left the language event to go get a watch battery at Helzbergs, I forgot I had the tag on. Helzbergs of course has good cash registers and doesn't need a simple cash control system like this but I'm sure that company policy is to be generous with giving out cheap things like watch batteries and instead of charging me for the battery, they tried to sell me some jewelry. Of course I probably WILL buy something from them at some point.
Re: Cash Control
Date: 2004-05-02 09:53 pm (UTC)Re: Cash Control
Date: 2004-05-03 08:01 am (UTC)Re: Cash Control
Date: 2004-05-03 09:10 pm (UTC)Well, to everything already said by others on this thread
Date: 2004-05-04 03:11 am (UTC)The funny thing is, I have a pin like that - only with an English inscription, "I'm loved". I bought it years ago at a flea market in my native city, Moscow. I supposed that this inscription had to do something with Christianity ("I'm loved [BY JESUS]"). But now I'm not so sure. Could you please explain the meaning to me? What sort of people tend to wear tsuch pins?
Thanks in advance.
Not religious
Date: 2004-05-04 08:06 am (UTC)Making an Icon
Date: 2004-05-04 08:12 am (UTC)In other words please feel free to make an icon of this picture. There is something very Russian about making an icon.
Re: Not religious
Date: 2004-05-05 01:06 am (UTC)Re: Making an Icon
Date: 2004-05-07 02:18 pm (UTC)There is something very Russian about making an icon. Heh. This made me grin. :)