# Asking somebody to be one's teacher (are you willing to be my teacher?)



## gentilhom

хотете ли вы стать монм русским учителем?
Are you willing to be my Russian teacher?

I would like to know whether this is correct grammatically and also the usual way to invite a Russian to help one with language learning. (I have been Learning Russian alone for only three months!)


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## rusita preciosa

In Russian we don't say "Russian techer" meaning "teacher of Russian", so *хотите ли вы быть моим учитeлем русского языкa? *would work better (unless you are asking someone to be your teacher and specifying that the teacher should be a Russian).

*хотите ли вы стать моим учитeлем русского языка? *works too, but is is more *would you like to **become** my Russian teacher*, which sounds awkward to me, I'm not sure why. Perhaps because "to become" implies a "deeper" commitment, for example *хотите ли вы стать моим наставником? *would work better.


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## gentilhom

Thank you dear Rusita, 

I was wondering whether there was a specific way to say _to be willing to _in Russian...Isn't хотеть too strong a verb here ?


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## rusita preciosa

Not at all;  *вы хотели бы / вы не хотели бы *would work too if you want to "soften" your request (adition of "не" softens it more)


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## gentilhom

Do I have to use язык whenever I want to refer to Russian? Is it possible to just use русский?


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## rusita preciosa

gentilhom said:


> Do I have to use язык whenever I want to refer to Russian? Is it possible to just use русский?


You can, but it depends on the situation, because it makes your speech more colloquial.


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## Maroseika

gentilhom said:


> Do I have to use язык whenever I want to refer to Russian? Is it possible to just use русский?


Да будь я и негром преклонных годов,
и то, без унынья и лени,
я русский бы выучил только за то,
что им разговаривал Ленин.
(В. Маяковский)


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## gvozd

rusita preciosa said:


> ...*хотите ли вы быть моим учитлем русского языкa? ...*
> 
> *хотите ли вы стать моим учитлем русского языка? *



Учителем.


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## willem81

As for '_*Russian teacher*_', the expression *русский учитель* does exist in the classical literature:

Лишь  Райский глядит на него с умилением,  потому  только,  что  Васюков,  ни  к  чему  не внимательный, сонный, вялый, даже  у  всеми  любимого  *русского  учителя*  не выучивший никогда ни одного урока, -  каждый  день  после  обеда  брал  свою скрипку  и,  положив  на  нее  подбородок,  водил  смычком,  забывая  школу, учителей, щелчки. 

Гончаров И.А. "Обрыв"
http://az.lib.ru/g/goncharow_i_a/text_0030.shtml


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## gentilhom

Thank you for your erudite quotations.


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## gentilhom

Maroseika said:


> Да будь я и негром преклонных годов,
> и то, без унынья и лени,
> я русский бы выучил только за то,
> что им разговаривал Ленин.
> (В. Маяковский)



I would have learnt Russian because Lenin had talked to them?


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## willem81

gentilhom said:


> I would have learnt Russian because Lenin had talked to them?



No! I believe Mayakovski did it for the sake of rhyme. He meant that I would have learnt Russian because Lenin spoke it (i.e. Russian)'

He used the instrumental case here: Ленин разговаривал чем? - Им (=Русским языком )
But normally we use разговаривать по-русски or на русском языке.


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## gentilhom

I see. Thank you.


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## learnerr

willem81 said:


> No! I believe Mayakovski did it for the sake of rhyme.


Apart from bringing the name of Lenin into the rhyming position, there is also the rhythm (possibly of lesser importance here, though), the sound (the vowels "а" and "œ", as in "на нём", would sound awful here, how do you think?) and the meaning: the instrumental case, unlike the adverb or the preposition with the locative, gives to the sentence very direct meaning, which seems to be important for Mayakovsky: he is intolerant to ambages and circumlocutions in the matters of love or decision. Mayakovsky is not a caliber of poet who writes words "for the sake of rhyme", unlike many other poets. ;-)


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## willem81

learnerr said:


> Apart from bringing the name of Lenin into the rhyming position, there is also the rhythm (possibly of lesser importance here, though), the sound (the vowels "а" and "œ", as in "на нём", would sound awful here, how do you think?) and the meaning: the instrumental case, unlike the adverb or the preposition with the locative, gives to the sentence very direct meaning, which looks to be important for Mayakovsky: he is intolerant to ambages and circumlocutions in the matters of love or decision. Mayakovsky is not a caliber of poet who writes words "for the sake of rhyme", unlike many other poets. ;-)



You must be right, Mayakovsky was very likely to have a deeper considerations for using the instrumental case here. And by the way, sometimes it can be used even in the colloquial speech, like for example:
_Я же русским языком вам говорю!_


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## gentilhom

willem81 said:


> No! I believe Mayakovski did it for the sake of rhyme. He meant that I would have learnt Russian because Lenin spoke it (i.e. Russian)'
> 
> He used the instrumental case here: Ленин разговаривал чем? - Им (=Русским языком )
> But normally we use разговаривать по-русски or на русском языке.



This use of  разговаривать is new to me. I thought it meant 'to tell something'. Can I use it to ask : 'do you speak Russian ?'

Sorry, to bring down this interesting cultural discussion to the level of elementary notions, but I am a beginner, everything is new and strange to me.


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## learnerr

gentilhom said:


> I thought it meant 'to tell something'.


"Разговаривать" never means "to tell something", and it never takes the dative case. What it means is, roughly, "to have a talk": "вы разговариваете по-английски?" - "are you able to talk in English?" Not something you would ask a complete stranger, if you just want to know whether you can ask him for directions in English...
The cultural discussion was off-topic anyway.


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## franknagy

*Спасибо за стих Маяковского
НАШЕМУ ЮНОШЕСТВУ*.


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## gentilhom

learnerr said:


> "Разговаривать" never means "to tell something", and it never takes the dative case. What it means is, roughly, "to have a talk": "вы разговариваете по-английски?" - "are you able to talk in English?" Not something you would ask a complete stranger, if you just want to know whether you can ask him for directions in English...
> The cultural discussion was off-topic anyway.



вы разговариваете по-английски means can we have a talk in English?


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## learnerr

gentilhom said:


> вы разговариваете по-английски means can we have a talk in English?


Er.. No. It means "do you speak English", but it is a peculiar way to ask that.
  By the way. (The topic of "разговаривать/говорить")


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## gentilhom

Thank you, I more or less see the difference.


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