Jan 02 01:14:55 109 PA - The Russian Language at its Most Basic

From Chronicles

Jan 02 01:14:55 109 PA.

PAVEL'S FORGE AND MEADOW

Two days after the new year has arrived, the temperature has taken a swift dive past freezing and toward zero. The fact that the skies are clear actually makes it worse, as there's no blanket to retain heat. However, heat is something that Pavel has plenty of, not that he really seems to mind the cold. His forge is blazing with a huge fire, and he's pounding away with one of his more unusual hammers. Loud enough that it can be heard for nearly a mile. His enormous black mare is enjoying herself in the meadow which is piled almost three feet high at this point with naturally fallen snow. The blacksmith is singing along with his work. It's not in tune, but he clearly seems to be enjoying himself.

Fizzlesnoot has parked his rusty old van off along the edges of the property, this is where he usually stays. With the sound of the big man's hammers he comes trudging through the snow up to the forge. His four foot stature doesn't move through the three feet of snow so well, the horse probably noticing his approach first.

Indeed, Zoyenka happily trots over to the D-Bee. Apparently equine eyes don't have much trouble with strange beings that other sentients might consider creepy. She tries to reach down with her muzzle and do what she does to every new guest - tickle the top of Fizzlesnoot's head with her lips. After letting out a loud whinny that gets Pavel's attention, of course. The blacksmith turns to look, and spots only a foot of visitor above the snow. "Ah. Feezehlsnoot? Pavel cohm fohr hyelp!" His tools are set aside and he makes his way toward the newcomer.

Fizzlesnoot giggles happily with the large animal's nuzzling, "Hiya." he greets Zoyenka, giving a little rub on its nose while it's in reach. "Hiya Pavel!" he calls out as he heads out his way. "Thanks. This weather is ridiculous lately, I mean I like snow, but really?"

"Da! Vyery cool fohr sohm. Suit noht look fohr eynogh keep Feezehlsnooht vahrm! Pavel hyelp." Pavel's help comes in the form of finding some good places to grip his friend. However, he is polite, and asks permission before lifting. "Ees cehrry ohkey?"

Fizzlesnoot nods happily, it's much easier than walking, or trudging in this case, and he does have a winter coat, one that looks like a remnant from some winter survival kit or something. No fashion sense whatsoever. "Thanks friend." holding up his arms for a good place to hold onto under them. "It's starting to get to the point you need a plasma torch just to walk a few feet up the drive." giving a chuckle. "So what do you have on the agenda today? I'm here to help and you have to speak Russian, so I can learn. I'll try not to frustrate you too much in your work." he grins looking back over his shoulder to the big man.

"Pavel has fohr Feezelsnooht vahn szeeng, szehn cahn stahrt lehsohns," he says, carrying his charge back to the forge - Zoyenka trotting through the snow a distance behind. "Mehtahl vas geev Pavel? Dohn. Vyery strohng nov. I keep my pahrt, hav syet pahrt fohr yoo. Naheenty-eht pouvnds fohr yoo." The D-Bee is set down near a large pile of what regular mechanics would call refined steel. "Sehvahnteen pouvnds fohr me. Veel hyelp geht to vahn lehtehr, boot vahnt to shov."

Fizzlesnoot smiles at the pile of metal stacked there, "Thank you. Looks like it's much easier to carry now too." He then gives a look around the forge area, "So what do you need done first?" he asks, eager to begin, the lesson or the work, its hard to say, but he's ready to go.

"Ohnly fohr shov mehtals, Pavel szeenk. Nov? Lehsohn." This time, he just scoops up Fizzlesnoot and makes small talk as he takes him into his cavernous home. Zoyenka knows not to do more than poke her head in, offer a single whinny and depart. The D-Bee is set down and Pavel rolls his boulder of a door closed. "Pleese, mehk cohmfohrtable." It's a large natural cavern, though artificially expanded in a few places. Largely a single-room affair dominated by a circular floor plan of twenty-five foot radius with a dome-like ceiling that itself reaches roughly twenty-feet. Perhaps not surprisingly, the room is lit entirely by open flame torches and wall sconces. There are some rather odd holders of coal that glow unnaturally bright and with heat that may be uncomfortable for less hearty visitors. The floor is covered in rather gaudy rugs of maroon, purples, greens and gold thread. A few low tables have been positioned, one of them centrally where various papers and drawing implements lay out in the open. Cushions, pillows and other forms of enclosed fluff that sometimes approach mattress status fill in for seats; colored tassels are obviously a favorite bit of décor. The walls are decorated mostly by pieces of metal sculpture and embossing likely to have been made by Pavel himself. Weapons of various types sit in rests and holders fixed to the walls; swords, axes, bludgeoning instruments and a highly unusual bow that occupies a central location. In one room carved off to the side is obviously the deliberate bedroom. A huge bed, lots of pillows and gaudy colors probably indicate that the owner does a lot more than just sleep there - and does it pretty often, too. While he waits to allow the man to get comfortable, he enters the bedroom and comes out with a crystal-clean, obviously never- to rarely-used language translator in his hands.

Fizzlesnoot happily accepts the next carried venture to the man's home behind the rock. Looking around as he's set down he finds a comfortable place to have a seat and be able to pay attention to the big man. "Wow. You got a lot of stuff in here. Really nice. Not what I would expect to find under a rock." giving a bit of a chuckle. From inside his jacket, a note pad and pencil is taken out and set nearby, just in case he wants to take some notes.

"Da. Mahny szeengs ovt ohf saheeght," Pavel says, chuckling himself. Then he finds a comfortable pillow and seats himself. He makes an unhappy grunt, flips on the translator and waves it in Fizzlesnoot's direction. He starts to speak, and three seconds later, the machine starts to accurately translate. << I have to use this thing because most people find my accent difficult. If I start teaching too advanced, just tell me, and I'll go back. You speak American well, obviously. So. >> He looks around the room, and chuckles. << I've never taught this before. Okay, the American alphabet contains twenty-six letters, and they get mixed together to make different sounds. Sounds that I have difficulty saying, oftentimes. Russian has thirty-three letters, and each one has its own sound that is only very rarely mixed with another letter to make a new sound. >>

Fizzlesnoot nods as he starts to explain the basics, then in pretty good Euro he replies, "I know we can speak better this way, if you like, you can put away the technology and we can speak freely as friends should. Whaddya say?" He has a very good grasp of this language as well, his inflections are slightly off, but the words are clear and spoken with precision as if a little less natural for him. "So thirty three letters, that is probably going to make it easier in the long run. By the way, I also can speak Spanish, Gobbley, and Dragonese. I'm looking to learn Faerie speak too, so if you know anyone, or see any faeries around, let me know. Yours is unique though, not one of the big nine."

Pavel nods, thinks, then shakes the translator. << It's an interesting idea, but I'll keep using this, so that there isn't any possibility of being misunderstood in the language that I'm trying to teach. >> He makes no comment on knowing anyone else who speaks other languages, just seems to still be thinking on the task at hand. << American also has sounds that simply don't exist in Russian. For instance, the 'w.' I don't know why but people seem to think that we can't pronounce the American 'v' and have to replace it with an American 'w.' That's completely backwards. We have *LOTS* of 'v' sounds. But no 'w.' I have a brother, Vladimir and a sister Valentina. There were cities named Volgograd and Vladivostok. But I'm getting off track. *Never* use a 'w' sound. We call people who use 'w' sounds in Russian, 'mules.' On the other hand, there are American sounds that I have difficulty with - the ones created by putting letters together. Like the 'th' sound, and the 'tion' sounds. They don't exist in Russian, which is why I can be difficult to understand. >>

Fizzlesnoot nods here and there as he explains, even gets a chuckle out of the whole V thing. Resorting back to his natural American language though when he does reply, "I see, makes a lot of sense. Some of the other languages are like that as well, heck, some have sounds that the American language would just consider a grunt."

<< Yes. This is really more when you learn to read Cyrillic, but American is a constructive language - sounds from other sounds. Russian is phonetic - every sound that we want to use is already accounted for. If we need a new word, we just add letters, take them away or rearrange them. Other sounds though are variants. >> Pavel holds out a hand. << For example. The American 'x' is a hard 'h.' Our 'g' comes out as in 'guitar' but *NEVER* as in 'ginger.' We have no 'j' or soft 'g.' Naturally, you've heard that the 'r' is rolled. I'm telling you this because even though Russian is phonetic... you still have to start building your words from someplace. Basically, it's a very soft language, it's very rolling. Now German, that's a harsh language, with pointed sounds. Russian is not. >>

Fizzlesnoot is still nodding, but now picks up his notepad and starts to jot down some of the tips given to him by his instructor. "Of course." responding to the basic building block part. "I've never heard German spoken myself. Mostly just the local languages of Tolkeen."

<< I think that if you take Euro and remove the parts that sound like a person is attacking a language with an axe, that's the German part, >> Pavel says with a smirk. << I would personally suggest that you listen to my teachings. Rasputin speaks a very strange dialect, which makes his American even stranger. Anyway. A lot of this will become more important when you try to read, too. This is an example of a sound that we have, that American doesn't. Say it with me. 'iu' >> It sounds like the bastardized version if the 'i' in 'kit' with the 'u' in 'sugar' smashed together then pronounced as a single tone.

Fizzlesnoot smiles catching the relation between Euro and the German aspects of it. He follow the instruction and tries the pronunciation of the sound. Slowly as if two distinct syllables at first, listening to Pavel make the sound, then he tries again, then tries again and again, slowly merging from the two distinct syllables to a point where the two merge in the one sound. He does seem to get it after a few tries, continuing a bit till the sound is much better blended. "There, I think that was it." looking to his teacher with hopeful eyes, though they always kinda have that big hopeful look.

<< You will need to keep practicing. Children learn languages better than adults because of how their minds are growing - it's harder for people like you and I. Others are single sounds that come from 'ye' like the 'e' in 'ebony.' 'au' like 'audible' is pronounced with a very soft 'u.' You should feel the back of your tongue falling back, not rising. Then, the 't.' It's very different than the American 't,' even though it does have a similar sound. >> Pavel opens his mouth and uses it as a blackboard as he talks. << In American, your tongue hits your upper teeth to make the 't' sound. In Russian, it hits the bottom teeth. Again, a softer, more rolling sound. Try, please. >>

Fizzlesnoot jots his notes as he tries to mimic the sound he is explaining. The T takes a little getting used to, and even his best needs more practice. "That one is going to take a bit to get the hang of. The top just comes so natural." a shake of his head with another attempt that has him getting it then reverting back again. "I'll get it." he smiles.

Pavel grins. << Yes, I know. They're extremely opposite languages. It's not a Romance language, it's not a Germanic language, both of which are fairly close to American. It's Slavic, and Eastern Slavic, at that - meaning that it's the Asian Slavic, not European Slavic, like Polish. What else? There's so much. >> He chuckles, looks up at the ceiling, then continues with his technology speaking for him. << You might have noticed that I don't have much of a lilt. Some people find it boring, but it's meant to be monotone. Lilts and emphasis on syllables is meant for emotion, not speaking. >>

Fizzlesnoot nods as Pavel points out that attribute of his speech, "I have been noticing that as we've been talking. It's kind of to the point kind of tone to it. You just say it."

<< Yes, in a way. But very polite, as well. I realize that this is coming pretty fast, but I just want to catch some of the big important things, and then we can go back over them. >> Pavel stomps a single boot. << American and every other language I've ever heard spoken, including the Euro that I speak, uses a lot of extraneous words. They just take up space. No participles. It's hard for me, because I have to remember to try to *put* them into American. You need to leave them *out* of Russian. So, never try to use 'the, a, an, to,' and above all, never 'to be.' Instead of 'I am going to the store,' you would say, 'I going store.'"

Fizzlesnoot finds that a bit puzzling and notes it in his pad. "Interesting. Subject, verb, no fillers, gotcha." then looking back up from his pad, "You make it sound fluid though when it's broken down to words, it would appear choppy."

<< I can see that, yes. But the words are unnecessary. You know what I mean when I say, 'I going shopping for piece of meat from farmer up road, buy apples on way home.' I *could* say, 'I am going to be shopping for a piece of meat from a farmer up the road, buy an apple on the way home.' But those are a lot of extraneous words. As you're hearing my speech before it's translated, you can also hear that it's not just monotone, but there is very little pause between my words. Adjectives, nouns, verbs, proper nouns - it is a beautiful language, but it lives on brevity and necessity. More words are used when they're wanted and warranted, to illustrate things better. But words that are completely unnecessary? There's no reason to waste the time. >>

Fizzlesnoot nods as it begins to makes sense, "You know, extraneous words, are salesman's best friends. Will be difficult." he chuckles a bit as that was something he concentrated on to keep out all the unnecessary words Pavel was talking about. "I get it, will take practice."

The big blacksmith laughs loudly. << Yes, I can see how a salesman might need extraneous words to... stretch the truth a little? Make something bigger than it is? >> Pavel winks, perhaps also amused at how his own business model is as blunt as his language. << Yes, practice. Even when you don't know the Russian vocabulary, practice leaving it out of American. People will probably think that you're playing caveman, but hey... their loss. HA! >> Another one of his big laughs echoes through his rocky chamber. << This is something that people find very strange... we use double-negatives fairly frequently. Not in *starting* a sentence, but in answering questions. 'Is your food good?' might be answered with, 'My food is not not good.' The more pleasant things, like praise, are set aside. These simple things remain - simple. >>

Fizzlesnoot laughs with the big man, "Yes, will do that. But, salesman's use extraneous words not stretch truth, keep customer from thinking about sale. Dazzle, entertain with words, they buy." he grins. "I always fair trader, never hustle."

Pavel dips his head, acknowledging the immediate attempt. << Good, good. All vowels are soft. There is not harsh like 'a' like in 'cat.' Instead, it always comes across as the 'a' in 'father' or 'car.' There's no 'e' as pronounced in 'see.' It's soft, like the 'ay' in 'day' or sometimes even with a front sound, 'ye' depending on where it is in a word. You try. >> He falls silent, awaiting his pupil's attempts.

Fizzlesnoot makes his attempts, and these sounds are no where near as difficult as that T sound was, these are very straight forward and come quite easy as sounds go, no special forming of the tongue to make the sound. "Are there same vowels as American? What about Y? Is that vowel or consonant?"

Pavel nods. << Consonant. >> Whether he's right or not, he's sure of his answer. << There's no single 'y' in Russian. >> He rattles off sounds. << There is, 'yo,' 'ya,' and 'ye.' Three different sounds for three different letters. >>

Fizzlesnoot nods as that is explained, repeating the sounds said as he jots the notes in his little pad. "So, one letter, made three, each for different sound. Yes?"

<< Um.. no, if I understand what you're saying. They are three different letters, and three different sounds. But we're only learning the sounds right now, so that's what you should focus on, >> Pavel says with a solid nod. << Now. American, like I said, is very wasteful. Unnecessary words. It's far too flowery - it's always starting and stopping! Native speakers of American would consider my natural Russian to be run-on sentences. 'I go store buy apple from farmer up road then visit restaurant which being restored, get beer, nuts, play darts for hour then maybe think about coming home unless you have better idea for how spend day?' That's perfectly legitimate. >>

Fizzlesnoot listens to Pavel say it and then hears how the translator spits it out, it starts to become clear what he is trying to explain, "Ok, I talk that way anyway. Makes up for no extraneous words."

Pavel looks as if he's getting ready to turn off his translator. << It's difficult for non-native speakers to get used to that, even if they normally speak that way. Russians use the rhythm and very subtle tones of monotone to know when and where a statement or question ends. There's no real way to teach you that, it's just something that you'll have to learn with time. >> He spends some time assisting the other man with the pronunciation of the alphabet itself before finally switching off the translator that he happily tosses over his shoulder. "Szaht good fohr nov? Ees enough fohr Feezehlsnoot szeenk ohn? Prahcteece? Ahny qvestions, pleese cohm, Pavel veel help." As he rises and stretches, he asks if the D-Bee needs any help getting the pile of plate metal over to the van.

Fizzlesnoot nods, jotting down a few more notes just before doing the alphabet with Pavel. "I'm fine, metal not too heavy."

"Good! Yoo try tahlk laheek good Russian!" Pavel rolls his 'r' extraordinarily long. "Joost try to seh sounds, mahny taheems. 'T'... veet bohtehm teesz, noht tohp, da?" He pokes the side of his temple as he opens his front door to the elements.