Subj : hi
To : Carol Shenkenberger
From : Nicolay Simonov
Date : Tue Jan 03 2006 11:11 pm
Hallo, Carol!
NS>> Yes, I'm receiving it. Are there any restrictions forbidding a
NS>> foreig me to write? :)
CS> Naw, they'd love to see you there!
That's good :)
CS> English is probably going to get you the most H'bang for the buck' (most
CS> value) as a second language now.
Hmm.. I don't think it will remain in this way, at least in Russia (as far as
I can judge). For example, it's very difficult even now to get a job of a guide
because all English vacancies are busy. The same situation is in the
translation business.
CS> BTW, you may not know it but your use of english is so good, it's very
CS> hard to Htell you didnt grow up speaking it.
Actually, I usually spend more than an hour writing a letter, consulting a
dictionary and asking questions to my home-mates :)
CS> Your only 'signal' is that your grammer is Hbetter and you use the '
CS> (apostrophe) in the right places where most of us on HBBSes dont act so
CS> carefully. (Dont I know is actually Don't but I'll rarely Hbother to add
CS> that ' in there).
Well most of the Russian don't care for grammar rules, too. And often you are
trying to speak right, but people are sure you are wrong. The most common
mistakes are connected with the stress. Verbs, adjectives, nouns - it's hard to
learn where it is in every word.
NS>> clocks: London, New York, Tokio.. :
CS> Humm! Must be one of the vacation spots looking for tourists. Brings
CS> good Hmoney in and also fosters well being among us all so it's a
CS> place I would like.
Indeed, not very good money, but it is the major income source.
CS> I'd like to see Red Square too, just because it's a name of a place I
CS> have Hheard of. I'd like to see that famous tomb (Stalin? Lennin?) with
CS> the man Hunder glass,
Lenin. Nowadays our goverment thinks how to deal with it. May be they'll bury
him. You'd better hurry, then ;-)
CS> and the palace of the last Tsar. I'd love to see some of the Hsiberian
CS> mammoth findings of the ancient men with their carvings. It's very
CS> Hunlikely i will ever see any of those things, but I have been to
CS> Vladivostok at Hthe least so seen a little of your land.
I too have seen just a little part of Russia. I want to live in Spain for a
while. What I know of this country attracts me. Flamenco, corrida, language.
CS> Most enjoyed thing there: These little pastry shell things with a
CS> small meat Hfilling that tasted of buttered meat. Excellent even if i
CS> forget what they Hwere called there. I learned to make something like
CS> them here in Japan with Hthe local ingredients but you just cant beat
CS> them made hot and delivered to the Hbar where you are having a beer
CS> and trying to talk with people with a Hsmattering of common language
CS> bits <g>.
CS> Least enjoyed thing: There's this 'tunnel' you have to walk through
CS> to get Hfrom the dockside to the main town and it not only smells
CS> badly of drunk guys Hpissing on the walls but had BIG rats over a foot
CS> long in the body. This is Hthe seedier portion of Vlad but to get
CS> from where we were to the 'nice side' Hyou had to transit it.
Heh.. Like triumphal archs in Ancient Rome :)
NS>> I think it's better to have more than one. Even than two..
CS> Arabic probably as it is more widely spread. For 'Chinese' you'd need
CS> to check Hwhich one of the several languages spoken there and make
CS> sure the one you were Hlearning would be 'common'. There are at least
CS> 5 'chinese' langauges and i'm Hbeing very restrictive there as i think
CS> there might be some 10 more not well Hknown outside their local area.
CS> Mandarin might be the most useful one for a Hperson outside to gain?
I found out that there was no opportunity to learn Chinese. They are just
trying to get it, the same about Spanish. So I will learn Arabic :)
My sister and I have made a plot - I will teach her to speak Arabic and she
will teach me Spanish ;)
CS> in Asiatic Japanese there really isnt such a word but rather a Hphrase
CS> that indicates 'pushing the world by with your feet' ( a centric Hattitude
CS> where you are the center and make other things move around you).
Wow.. Can it be noticed in another way? In their attitude to life?
