Reasons to study Russian, or English for that matter!

[Olga Meerson]

I don't know about being a foreigner in general, but for a Russian, the difference between national and nationalist(ic) is pretty clear: natsional'nye vs. natsionalistskie. As per cultural values, this is in no way a literal translation: kul'turnye tsennosti are not natsional'noe dostoianie / predmety natsional'nogo dostoianiia. No, this is merely a symptom of people becoming ever less careful about language per se, not even a calque--a projection of something normal for their own language, upon something that becomes abnormal in the target language of translation. Vvoz i vyvoz kulturnyx tsennostej zapreshchen sounds as weird in Russian as its counterpart in English: its understanding of cultural values is rather limited. The fact that a Russian working for the airport was careless linguistically in now way should tint the precision of the great Russian language as a whole :) In Russian, properly speaking, Kul'turnye tsennosti have never been the same as material'nye tsennost
i--fortunately.
o.m.

----- Original Message -----
From: Josh Wilson <jwilson at SRAS.ORG>
Date: Sunday, February 3, 2008 2:49 pm
Subject: Re: [SEELANGS] Reasons to study Russian, or English for that matter!

> James Mallinson wrote: 
> >
> >"This Russian treasure blends ballet with more than 3,000 Russian 
> > nationalistic dances..."
> >
> >Is it just me, or is "nationalistic" a word that shouldn't be 
> attached to a
> >presentation by one of America's leading symphony orchestras?
> 
> This is most likely a case of a bad translation or simply improper 
> wordingby a non-native speaker. Most likely they simply meant 
> "national," which
> would be neutral and proper. The two words "national" and 
> "nationalistic"are similar and often confused particularly by non-
> natives. This was likely
> a mistake that no one in the process of editing the website or 
> placing the
> ad caught. 
> 
> There is another great poor translation at the SVOII airport in 
> Moscow. The
> sign plainly says, in English, that it is illegal to import or export
> "cultural values" from/to Russia. I've had more than one student 
> point out
> to me that it is so strange that Russia would be so protectionist 
> of its
> culture as to make illegal the importation of other nations' 
> values, etc. 
> 
> Of course, that's not exactly what the Russian "Kulturnye tsennosti"
> pertains to. The actual legislation refers to paintings, 
> tapestries, etc. -
> the types of physical national treasures that should be carefully 
> guarded by
> a country. 
> 
> So, this is another reason for advertising execs and PR folks to study
> English - before placing ads with potentially negative consequences 
> fortheir clients. However, it was likely an honest mistake by the 
> companyitself. 
> 
> 
> 
> Josh Wilson
> Asst. Director
> The School of Russian and Asian Studies
> Editor-in-Chief
> Vestnik, The Journal of Russian and Asian Studies
> www.sras.org
> jwilson at sras.org
> 
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----
> Use your web browser to search the archives, control your 
> subscription  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS 
> Web Interface at:
>                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
> -----
> 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 Use your web browser to search the archives, control your subscription
  options, and more.  Visit and bookmark the SEELANGS Web Interface at:
                    http://seelangs.home.comcast.net/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------