another elementary question

[Lauren Leighton]

To one and all: there are THREE systems used by professionals. You may find
them all and much more in J. Thomas Shaw, Transliteration of Russian (UW
Press). I gave you a quickie version of Library of Congress and the
scientific system used by linguists and stylists. They are not
phonetic--they are established systems of transliteration. You should use
the LC system for e-mail and internet correspondence. You should not use the
old systems copied via German and French. You will probably not want to use
the scientific system because it uses a hachek for ch, sh, shch, zh et al.
You should not attempt to invent your own "Americanification" system when
you have three systems ready made by professionals. You should never use a
phonetic system.

-----Original Message-----
From: Slavic & East European Languages and Literature list
[mailto:SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU]On Behalf Of Alex
Sent: Friday, May 19, 2000 1:02 AM
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Subject: Re: another elementary question


Lauren Leighton wrote:
>
> a = a, b = b, v = v, g = g, e = e, e(io) = e, zh = zhm z = z, i = i, i
> (kratkii) = i or j, k = k l = l, m = m, n = n, o = o, p = p, r = r, s = s,
t
> = t, u = u, f = f, x = x or kh, ts = ts or c, ch = ch, hard sign = ", y =
y,
> sof sign = ', e = e, iu = iu or ju, ia = ia or ja. Piece of cake. Use
> Library of Congress system without signs. Don't use outmoded "French
> Russian" (e.g. final v = ff, zh = j, etc.

And this "system" I call "Russian-Americation". It's not a transliteration.
In reality it is a phonetic interpretation. It is acceptable for those
people
who want to read a foreign word "properly" without learning a language.
It is acceptable when you are negotiating about some business matters.
I used it myself ten years ago when there were no means of sending cyrillic
through the net and I needed to send letters to some Russian emigrants. Some
of them are still using this system to make an excuse for their poor Russian
grammar and spelling I suppose. It is very useful in this case...
I read a lot of this stuff to hate it pretty well.

I think that linguists and language tutors should use another approach.

Why? Could you read for example fluently (feeling all its beauty)
the following stuff (using your system):

                   Varkolos', hlivkije shor'ki
                   Pyrialis' po nave
                   I hlukotali zeliuki
                   Kak miumziki v move

    (it is a well known verse from a well known book)

By the way! You may use this approach to any other language including
English itself!
Vai it shud bi samsin speshil? U si? It iz possibl! End weri pretti!

And please look at this:
        To ne shtooka zabich crooka, alie shtooka tsalkem shvezha...
Funny? Isn't it? But you recognize it at once if I write
        To nie sztuka zabic kruka, ale sztuka calkiem swieza...

The real transliteration should be something like that:

                         Nawa Tanq gromko pla4et
                         Uronila v re4ku mq4ik
                         Tiwe, Tane4ka, ne pla4>
                         Ne utonet v re4ke mq4

But every language is unique and you recognize it by its special graphics!
I think that using genuine cyrillic these days is quite affordable.
No more difficult than installing Windows! Absolutely. There are problems
from time to time but Windows itself full of bugs anyway! And you don't quit
it for that reason!
Things are moving ahead. MS DOS is still more reliable than Windows. But I
suppose
most of you are using Windows now instead of pure DOS. (By the way, I'm
still using some DOS programs because they are more quick and reliable).
Look at this list's archive. There's plenty of good cyrillic. You may easily
adjust your system to read it properly.

Regards!

Farewell

Alex

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