The Foreign Language Thread!

[rock96]

Culture, huh. Russian or Kazakh?

[Rajikai]

Both... It's best to be enlighten than to be judgmental of something one does not understand... Am I right?

[rock96]

Well... Need to take some time before posting.

[Rajikai]

You could take all week to prepare, as Long as I get a lesson... If you wish for it to be so...

[ainsoph9]

Something like that. Need to learn some more languages...
BTW, guys, do you want to know something about Russian and Kazakh (I'm quite well-versed in theory than in speaking)?

Sounds cool with me.

[rock96]

Something like that. Need to learn some more languages...
BTW, guys, do you want to know something about Russian and Kazakh (I'm quite well-versed in theory than in speaking)?

Sounds cool with me.

It isn't so cool as it seems. Believe me

[Rajikai]

Sounds cool with me.

It isn't so cool as it seems. Believe me

I think he meant in the way as "Wow it's cool that your willing to teach up"

[ainsoph9]

Rajikai is correct.

[rock96]

I see. ...The answer is the same, though.

[ainsoph9]

rock96, if you have seen the newest Last Exile series, could you please tell me how good the Russian is in that series? I am curious to know if the Japanese are butchering Russian as much as they tend to butcher English.

[rock96]

I haven't yet. But I listened to their speech. ...My ears hurt. They tend to omit some sounds and their pronunciation is bad.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIvT_MpDGGA - in this case the only phrase that sounds like Russian is "Первый готов". If you want then I can explain giving pronunciation of each and every sentence.

[ainsoph9]

That would be nice. I do not know any Russian, despite liking Russian music, art, and literature. I cannot even read Cyrillic. I figured that the Russian was bad, but I did not know, seeing that one of the voice actors speaks fluent Russian, Japanese, and English and acts as a counselor for the series.

[rock96]

OK, I'll explain this way: Sentence in Russian/Pronunciation written in English/Explanation.
Let's go. But first off, I'd like to write something about Russian Alphabet since I figured that my post will be very long if I'll try to explain pronunciation without talking about Alphabet.

Spoiler! :

NB. When I'm talking about 'soft' or 'hard', I do not mean the volume of voice but the voice itself.
There are 33 letters in it. Here we go: А Б В Г Д Е Ё Ж З И Й К Л М Н О П Р С Т У Ф Х Ц Ч Ш Щ Ь Ы Ъ Э Ю Я.
А reads like 'u' in 'run'.
Б reads just like English B.
В reads like English 'v'.
Г reads like g in group.
Д reads just like English D in words.
Е reads like a in 'rat', 'bat', etc., but softer (not in terms of volume).
Ё usually isn't used in Russian community since we have Е, but remember that it reads just like 'yo'.
Ж reads like zh.
З reads like th in 'that' but slightly harder.
И reads like English letter 'e'. Or like i in 'Rin', 'Ninja', etc.
Й reads like... let's see... like 'i' in [rait]. I used transription since there's nothing I can use in English to explain it better.
К reads like English K. But it needs to be pronounced in each and every instance unlike English K.
Л reads like L.
М is the same in both languages.
Н reads like English N.
О reads like au in caught.
П reads like English P.
Р reads like R, and it needs to be pronounced in each and every instance it's used.
С reads like S, don't be mistaken.
Т is the same in both languages.
У reads like U in 'super'.
Ф reads like F.
Х reads like h in 'holster' or 'home'.
Ц - reads like ts but 'Ц's slightly harder.
Ч reads like ch. It needs to be read softly in each and every instance.
Ш reads like 'sh'.
Щ reads like soft version of Ш.
Ь just indicates that the letter before Ь is soft.
Ы reads like... very strong version of И.
Ъ indicates that the letter before Ъ remains hard.
Э reads like 'a' in 'rat'.
Ю reads like 'you'.
Я reads like 'ya'.

Now, the speech from vid in my last post. BTW, guys, if you understood how to read Russian letters then you know how to read them in Russian words.
Format: Sentence in Russian//Note.
Also, I'll write down pronunciation if it's needed but it won't be precise. I warned you.
Группа неопознанных объектов приближается к границе. Запуск подготовлен. Повторяю: всем пилотам - экстренный запуск. //NB. Double letters in Russian have a meaning only in writing rules. They are being read like single letters.
Второй готов.
Первый готов.//That sentence was read properly.
Третий готов.
Эскадрилья Адамас, к запуску готова.
Эскадрилья Адамас, разрешаю запуск.
Есть.//Don't eat sounds like that girl. This word needs to be said quickly and clearly.
Всем пилотам: запуск!
Все за мной.
Разрешаю свободно использовать все ресурсы.

Try to read it aloud one to three times. If you have a problem then write it down and I'll try to explain the problem.

[Doraneko]

I figured that the Russian was bad, but I did not know, seeing that one of the voice actors speaks fluent Russian, Japanese, and English and acts as a counselor for the series.

If you read the credits carefully Jenya (the Russian voice-actress) is instead the グラキエス語監修, not ロシア語監修. Probably the Japanese voice actors fair so badly that she refuses to acknowledge that they were speaking Russian. It may be embarrassing for her to admit that she is their Russian language consultant.

Considering that it is a non-Russia fictional world, one may say the bad "Russian" there is the nature of the language (グラキエス語) instead of a defect. Kinda like how you won't expect Singaporeans to speak like the Queen when they are chatting in Singlish.

[ainsoph9]

Also, I'll write down pronunciation if it's needed but it won't be precise. I warned you.

rock, actually, I know that this might be asking a lot, but, if you could post a video of you or someone else pronouncing the Russian alphabet slowly correctly along with the correct way to say those lines slowly, it would be extremely helpful. I kind of need to hear things instead of just seeing them to learn better.

By the way, have you heard of Origa by any chance?

If you read the credits carefully Jenya (the Russian voice-actress) is instead the グラキエス語監修, not ロシア語監修. Probably the Japanese voice actors fair so badly that she refuses to acknowledge that they were speaking Russian. It may be embarrassing for her to admit that she is their Russian language consultant.

Considering that it is a non-Russia fictional world, one may say the bad "Russian" there is the nature of the language (グラキエス語) instead of a defect. Kinda like how you won't expect Singaporeans to speak like the Queen when they are chatting in Singlish.

Cute, Doraneko. I read the credits because I was surprised how much "Russian" was included in the dialogue. The Japanese do not go to this extent very often. However, when they do, it generally has polarized results. Episode 12 probably has the most "Russian" so far of all of the episodes. Given that many, if not most, of the sounds in Russian are missing from the Japanese language, it could be much, much worse.