The Russian Lessons Continue

The pace of my baby/pigeon Russian lessons has slowed because we've pretty much got the basics covered (i.e. bottle, milk, sleep, awake, feed, what time, finish, how many...). However, here and there I still get a few new words in.

I find that my brain still does not retain much and I still feel so frustrated at not being able to have detailed conversations with the nanny. Or with anyone for that matter. Once again, reminded of how lucky I am that the nanny is SO patient with me, because we really do end up "saying" quite a bit to each other each week.

January 11

• turtle -- черепаха ("cheddy-PA-ha"); I love this one. :)

a picture is worth a thousand words

• dancing -- танцы ("tahn-tzay"); to explain what I do at my weekly Zumba classes

February 28

• bib -- фартук ("FAR-took"); this apparently really means "apron," but R always calls the bib a fartook so...fartook it is! This is another one of my favorites. :)

fartook :)

March 6 - this turned out to be the day of body parts!

• ear/ears -- ухо / ушки ("OOSHay"/ "OOSHkey")

• nose -- нос ("nauss"); wow, how easy-peasy!

• cheek/cheeks -- щека / щеки ("SHAYka" / "shaykey")

March 19

• slippery -- скользкий ("skolskey"); it snowed (late MARCH!) so the sidewalks were slippery. And we tried to talk about it.

• to cry -- плакать ("plakat")

• he cried -- он плакал ("ohn plakal")

Can't believe it took this long for us to need the word for "cry."

March 27

• take a walk -- погулять ("pagoo-LAI-yet"); for my Siena.

• feel happy -- хорошее настроение ("haROshay nastraiYEN-eh"); when I put this into Google Translate it came back with "good mood" so that was interesting.

• holiday -- праздник ("prads-zNEEK") or выходной день ("veeHAUD-noy deeyen" which is actually "day off").

• class/lesson -- урок ("oo-ROCK") or занятие ("zan-YAT-yee-eh")

March 28

• refrigerator -- холодильник ("hollow-DEE-nick")

• Monday -- понедельник ("pahn-ee-DEL-nick") strangely and confusingly similar to the word for fridge when a Russian-speaker says it.

• week -- неделя ("neh-DEL-yah")

Pigeon Russian 101

Our good friends M and C left Moscow in July and we 'inherited' their very experienced Russian nanny/housekeeper, R. Makes things easy when you have a personal recommendation from people you trust!

The only issue is: R NO SPEAKA DA ENGLISH.

Really none. Even though she's worked for at least two other expat American families. I think she's just decided she's not going to spend time learning much more beyond a few basic words for housekeeping and nannying purposes (e.g. "washing machine"). Suffice it to say most of the day, she and I look like Marcel Marceau. I'm sure Siena gets a big kick out of it all. 

On the plus side, it's really upped MY game on learning some new Russian [baby-related] vocabulary. 

So here's a chronological breakdown of how our "lessons" have been so far. I feel like I'm two years old with this stuff. So frustrating. 

November 29 (this was a big day)

pacifier: соска -- "SAUS-kah." Also can mean nipple I just learned. 

pacifier (slang): пустышка -- "poo-STEESH-kah."

hands: рукы -- "rooh-key"

I go: я уеду -- "ya oo-YEH-due."

December 4

I'm finished: я закончил -- "ya za-KAN-cheel"

December 5

asleep: уснул -- "oosnohl"

awake: проснуться -- "prahs-NOOT-seeyah"

December 6 (another big day)

to warm/heat up: греть -- "grayht"

to smile: улыбаться -- "oo-leh-BY-yetza"

to laugh: смеяться -- "smay-YAH-tzeh"

December 11

burn (n): спирт -- "speert"

first aid: первая помощь -- "pyair-vie-yeh pamohsh"

[I burned my hand the other day with hot water, so nothing to do with the baby!]

December 12

to like: нравиться -- "nrah-VEET-see-yah"

It's just SO hard. Often we end up at the computer together with Google Translate as our interpreter. Thank goodness for the Internet!! 

And thank goodness R is pretty much THE most patient woman in the world. She just keeps saying what she needs or means a bunch of times and then waits as the wheels in my brain start slowly revving up into gear. Eventually we work it out...