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Title: Dermo!: The Real Russian Tolstoy Never Used by Edward Topol, Laura E. Wolfsonm, Kim Wilson Brandt, Laura E. Wolfson ISBN: 0452277450 Publisher: Plume Pub. Date: August, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $13.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.69
Rating: 5
Summary: Very useful resource for non-native speakers
Comment: Dermo! is not just a list of "dirty words" and their translations; it is a peek into Russians' everyday life and culture.
Organized by category [rather than alphabetically], the reader is taken through the basics of everyday slang, anatomy and physiology, and (of course) curses, oaths, and exclamations. The Russian words and phrases are in Cyrillic, with English phonetic pronunciation (helpful if you're learning "conversational" Russian and aren't up on reading it just yet). A great deal of supplemental info is included (such as history behind expressions, just *how* vulgar is a word, etc.), but not so much that it becomes tedious.
I highly recommend Dermo! to anyone who will be dealing with actual, living & breathing Russians. As a colleague who teaches Russian (and recommends this book to her students) told me, "You will never understand Russians until you learn to curse -- at least a little."
Rating: 5
Summary: A Wonderful Little Book
Comment: I really like this book in spite of it's few shortcomings. Like at least one other reviewer, I would rather not see the transliterated captions with the cartoons, and I could use stress marks on the cyrillic words, but it's still a great book! It's really entertaining and interesting. Certainly not for children, and no, I wouldn't get carried away trying to use many of these words and phrases with Russian people I didn't know very well. But hey, what a hoot around non Russian speaking people! You will have a new-found "freedom of speech".
Rating: 3
Summary: Russians misrepresented - be careful using
Comment: The author has provided most accurate translations of single words and phrases between Russian and "true" American English.
However, I can't agree with definition of this particular layer of the Russian language presented in this book as "real Russian." That's not true, I've met many folks born and raised in Russia who never ever use that "real Russian" of Mr Topol et al.
Russians who have NEVER been exposed to other "real" cultures of the world, they grow up believing that they are unique with their dirty words, there are so many jokes in Russia on that matter. However, in reality Russians in their everyday speech practice are not much different from other civilized nations; you don't hear more obscenities in the streets of Moscow than in New York or Tijuana. You can get in as much trouble in Moscow misusing these "real" words and phrases as you would here in Nevada. With these words, you can lose a contract, a friend, a date; for most educated girls from good families in Russia one single word from Mr Topol's book used at a wrong time will act as IMMEDIATE and FINAL turn off.
The Russians grow up learning by trial and error when they can use specific language and when they absolutely can not. I've heard swear masters in Russia speaking like Mother Goose when they had to.
When foreigners try to speak "real", the reaction of natives can not be predicted. You may have some hearts opened, you may get smiles and a pat on the back, but depending on your intonation and attitude your face may face one of these tight clenched well seasoned made with pride in Russia genuine and real Russian Bad Street Battle Fist(TM) flying on the collision course doing about 100 mph...
If you did not grow up in Russia playing with your real Russian classmates in the nursery school, don't even try to use Mr Topol's book recommendations at your own discretion. Quite likely you may end up making a fool from yourself.
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Title: Dictionary of Russian Pyccknn Slang: Caeht & Colloquial Expressions by Vladimir Shlyakhov, Eve Adler, Vladimir Shlykhov ISBN: 0764110195 Publisher: Barrons Educational Series Pub. Date: October, 1999 List Price(USD): $13.95 |
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Title: 501 Russian Verbs: Fully Conjugated in All the Tenses Alphabetically Arranged (501 Verbs Series) by Thomas R., Jr. Beyer ISBN: 0764113496 Publisher: Barrons Educational Series Pub. Date: 01 February, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Dictionary of Russian Obscenities by David Alan Drummond ISBN: 0933884540 Publisher: Berkeley Slavic Specialties Pub. Date: April, 1987 List Price(USD): $5.95 |
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Title: The New Penguin Russian Course by Nicholas J. Brown ISBN: 0140120416 Publisher: Penguin USA (Paper) Pub. Date: December, 1996 List Price(USD): $17.00 |
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Title: Lonely Planet Russian Phrasebook: With Two-Way Dictionary (Lonely Planet Language Survival Kit) by James Jenkin, Inna Zaitseva ISBN: 1864501065 Publisher: Lonely Planet Pub. Date: March, 2000 List Price(USD): $7.95 |
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