# Let's begin



## Brian P

A little off topic here but this conversation reminds me of a joke I heard when I was in Russia.  Gorbachev, who was notorious for stressing the wrong syllable, met with Reagan and said  Даваем НАчать "Let's BEgin" said his interpreter.


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## DareRyan

Brian P said:
			
		

> A little off topic here but this conversation reminds me of a joke I heard when I was in Russia.  Gorbachev, who was notorious for stressing the wrong syllable, met with Reagan and said  ?????? ?????? "Let's BEgin" said his interpreter.


judging by that joke I think Gorbachev must have written my text book!


P.S. you can call me Dare like (Дажэ) [I have czech parents, Ryan's a nickname]


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## Anatoli

Brian P said:
			
		

> A little off topic here but this conversation reminds me of a joke I heard when I was in Russia.  Gorbachev, who was notorious for stressing the wrong syllable, met with Reagan and said  Даваем НАчать "Let's BEgin" said his interpreter.


*Даваем* НАчать is incorrect. "давай(те) начнём!" or simply "начнём!", "давайте начинать" is also possible.

You could say the joke differently, that's how I heard it. Gorbachev asked how to say НАчать in English and he was answered: "BEgin".


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## Jana337

Sweet.  

Is there an explanation for his erroneous accentuation? Something regional?

Jana


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## ekhlewagastiR

Anatoli said:
			
		

> *Даваем* НАчать is incorrect. "давай(те) начнём!" or simply "начнём!", "давайте начинать" is also possible.
> 
> You could say the joke differently, that's how I heard it. Gorbachev asked how to say НАчать in English and he was answered: "BEgin".


 
just "Let's begin" is "давай(те) начнём!" or simply "начнём!", as you said.
 
you can also say "приступим!"
 
you can´t just say "давайте начинать", it needs some more continuation and, I think, sounds a little bit forced.


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## ekhlewagastiR

Jana337 said:
			
		

> Sweet.
> 
> Is there an explanation for his erroneous accentuation? Something regional?
> 
> Jana


 
I don´t know but in my personal opinion these things depend on the level of culture one has


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## cyanista

Jana337 said:
			
		

> Is there an explanation for his erroneous accentuation? Something regional?



"Accentuation" is a plague for most native Russian speakers. 

I'm afraid practically no one stresses ALL words right. Myself, I am not going to say крап*и*ва or кулин*а*рия,even if it is recommended by all dictionaries. I would always say крапив*а* and кулинар*и*я. On the other hand, there are lots of commonly "misstressed" words that make me cringe, such as торт*ы* or зв*о*нит (it should be т*о*рты and звон*и*т).


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## papillon

cyanista said:
			
		

> I'm afraid practically no one stresses ALL words right. Myself, I am not going to say крап*и*ва or кулин*а*рия,even if it is recommended by all dictionaries. I would always say крапив*а* and кулинар*и*я. On the other hand, there are lots of commonly "misstressed" words that make me cringe, such as торт*ы* or зв*о*нит (it should be т*о*рты and звон*и*т).


Well, according to this I mispronounce all of these! Even the ones that make Cyanista cringe  Well, maybe I agree with you on звон*и*т, but I have NEVER heard anyone say т*о*рты. Perhaps I've been hanging out with the wrong crowd, or not buying enough pastries... To me, this just means that the dictionaries are out of touch with the way people speak.

However, Dare, I *don't* want you to get the impression that accents in Russian are not well established. Despite the examples given here, most Russian know exactly where the accents should in the vast majority of words.


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## ekhlewagastiR

Well, I`ve never (!!!) heard крапив*а* and the correct one will be крап*и*ва as cyanista says.

As for "кулинар*и*я", the both variants are accepted now although what I hear and myself say is кулинар*и*я.

Yes, I do have heard (and even say it myself) т*о*рты (торт*ы* is not correct although there is a lot of people saying so)

зв*о*нит is very vulgar, unpardonable.

there is a very good site where you can consult you doubts in Russian, even the accentuation.
the site is gramota.ru
you can rely on it


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## Anatoli

Other examples words that are pronounced by many people differently from dictionary:
прод*а*л
отд*а*л
перед*а*л
щ*а*вель

The dictionary will say:
пр*о*дал
*о*тдал
п*е*редал
щав*е*ль

But the above sound a bit awkward when following dictionaries.
I posted somewhere that Russians are sometimes too sensitive to fellow native speakers when they mispronounce words (does not apply to foreigners) because every Russian should speak one language, there are no regional variations to the *proper* Russian (unlike dialects in many languages). Other common error is non-existent "ложить". Feminine verb forms жд*а*ла, сп*а*ла (waited, slept) instead of the correct ждал*а*, спал*а*. Gorbachev was ridiculed by comedians (in a friendly way) for using them.

He also has some regional, South Russian accent (he is from Stavropol) and his choice of words and word stress is common to that region in general.

I am not bothered about т*о*рты or торт*ы*, I prefer the former but I don't cringe at the latter.
I always say звон*и*ть, звон*и*шь but you'll get sick trying to correct the ones saying it wrong, there are too many! Some will insist, it is correct!
Of course, кулинар*и*я
The word "кофе" is of course, masculine but it may become neuter one day, someone said, it's already both geneders officially. I use masculine but I agree with some who think it is unnatural for Russian to keep it masculine.


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## Anatoli

gramota.ru is cool!


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## Brian P

Thanks for the correction, Anatoli. When I was in Russia I was constantly stressing the wrong syllable, prompting one of my friends to say, "Brian, ты *ГОВ*оришь как *ГОР*бачёв!"


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## Anatoli

Brian P said:
			
		

> Thanks for the correction, Anatoli. When I was in Russia I was constantly stressing the wrong syllable, prompting one of my friends to say, "Brian, ты *ГОВ*оришь как *ГОР*бачёв!"





One of my former teachers intentionally said "М*о*лодежь, п*о*дростки..."


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## ekhlewagastiR

Brian P said:
			
		

> Thanks for the correction, Anatoli. When I was in Russia I was constantly stressing the wrong syllable, prompting one of my friends to say, "Brian, ты *ГОВ*оришь как *ГОР*бачёв!"


 
sometimes the acentuation is important for the meaning of the words:
писАть - to write, but
пИсать - to piss

so be careful with this


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## Brian P

У обоих глаголов тот же спряжения? 
 
Пиш*у* I write  П*и*шу I piss


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## ekhlewagastiR

Brian P said:
			
		

> У обоих глаголов тот же спряжениeя?
> 
> Пиш*у* I write П*и*шу I piss


 
то же спряжение - мне кажется, лучше "спрягаются одинаково?"
нет. они спрягаются по-разному:
Пиш*у* I write 
П*и*саю I piss


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