Ofool Russian

[John Dunn]

Anyone who can master the intricacies of English orthography should have no trouble whatsoever. . .

Actually, I tried this last year, and since with a few exceptions, such as медвед,* padonskij/afftarskij/olbanskij jazyk depends on a series of more or less automatic substitutions from standard Russian, it's not too difficult.  And, as it is an 'open' and only semi-standardised language, there is scope for student creativity (if that's what you want). If all else fails, there is for those not of a nervous disposition the  dictionary on Wikipedia:    

ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Жаргон_падонков 

The reference to English reminded me of something I should have thought of earlier.  Those subscribers to this list who are not British and of a certain age may not be aware that in the 1950s Geoffrey Willans and Ronald Searle invented a sort of English padonskij jazyk for their Molesworth books (see: 
http://www.stcustards.free-online.co.uk/)
As any fule kno, at least one Molesworthism did enter the wider language. 

John Dunn.

*Sorry, but I can't transliterate this without losing the point.

. 
-----Original Message-----
From: Valery Belyanin <vbelyanin at GMAIL.COM>
To: SEELANGS at LISTSERV.CUNY.EDU
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 13:35:21 -0500
Subject: [SEELANGS] Ofool Russian

Dear  SEELANGers,
Has anyone suggestions how to teach students this clumsy orthography of
_padonki_?
http://www.izvestia.ru/lpage/article3092421/index.html
-- 
Yours truly, Валерий Белянин / Valery Belyanin,

John Dunn
Honorary Research Fellow, SMLC (Slavonic Studies)
University of Glasgow, Scotland

Address:
Via Carolina Coronedi Berti 6
40137 Bologna
Italy
Tel.: +39 051/1889 8661
e-mail: J.Dunn at slavonic.arts.gla.ac.uk
johnanthony.dunn at fastwebnet.it

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 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/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------