Language is a very dialectical thing. Its development is the result of two opposing trends. They are, on one hand, acquiring and adapting ever-changing reality and, on the other hand, remaining unchanged. Both trends are equally strong and equally important. Because language is flexible and productive, we can invent not only new things, but also their names. We discover the world around us and rearrange our environment, we make simple ideas more and more complex. Yet language serves our needs with amazing efficiency. To be capable of describing reality adequately, language needs changes. However, if it could change limitlessly and freely, we wouldn’t understand each other. Language is a convention between people about words and rules. Why is a cat “a cat”? Only because all English speaking people agree to label this animal with that word. If one part of a society changes rules too frequently, it will no longer share the same conventions with the rest of society, so a Babylon-2 disaster will come about in short time. Keeping the balance between the two needs -- the need for changes and the need for immutability -- is what any (spoken) language manages very, very well.
Some changes are really useful, like, say, adapting new words from other languages (these days, mostly from English) along with new things, like “Internet”. But some changes really upset me. Let me give you an example from a very interesting article of my colleague Irina Levontina. There is a word “накануне” (na-ka-noon-eh) that means a night/day before some event. There is another word, “вчера” (fche-rah), that means yesterday. The first word has one remarkable nuance -- it should be used only when you mention some event. In the sentence “I hadn’t napped the night before the exam” it would be proper to say “накануне” (the night before the exam). What I hear on TV is that journalists use this word instead of “yesterday” without referring to any specific event. They probably think that it sounds more official, but, in fact, they are using this word incorrectly. “The thunderstorm that hit Moscow the night before can come again today” they say. The night before what? Why not just say “yesterday”? It seams that a lot of Russian speakers do not see the difference between the two words any more. It is a slight and subtle mutation, but there are a lot of them in modern Russian.
Why am I talking about all this stuff here? Because I’m trying to find a right answer to the question: when learning a foreign language, should a student learn a classic (stable) version of the language and be able to read books in this language or should (s)he try to speak on one language with the street? What language would you prefer to learn - the one of Dostoyevsky and Tolstoy or the one your Russian friend is speaking?
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10 comments:
I actually want to learn Russian so I can be able to read Dostoevsky's novels. I don't have much friends from Russia so I'm okay with sounding like an old-fashioned Russian if I try to engage the locals in a conversation. But that's just me.
Depends on your goals.
Just the other day (накануне) one of my Russian friends I don't see very often noticed that I talk with an accent now. MY Russian mutates too it seems.
George, could you please tell me what changes in Russian did you notice during your last voyage?
I haven't noticed anything specific. Just weird word usage here and there. (Like накануне, I guess.) But I haven't watched any TV or listened to any radio.
This is a thought-provoking question you ask here.
Learning and using the Russian that was spoken two centuries ago will make you sound old-fashioned, yet using conversational, informal Russian - especially in writing - may set you back, in particular in more formal situations.
It's probably best to learn a combination of the two.
My study of Russian is relatively new, but coming from my years of Japanese study I found that the stable version was a good base to start with, but taking time to learn and understand the current context and use of the language (through listening to people, watching tv shows and films, reading modern literature) made it easier for me to converse with people on a more personal level. The basics will get you around, and you'll be understood, but the conversational form will help you make friends. Learning both and understanding the difference (ie - when to use them) is what is important I think.
I think the language's changing because of the lifestyle. With all the technolody things we tend to use as fewer words as possible to transmit the message. Though it doesn't explain the wrong use of "накануне". My Russian has always been a problem to me (though I AM Russian). I never learned any grammar rules at school and even if I did, I used to forget them right the next day I was asked. But still as I read a lot, I could write the words properly just intuitively. I think reading literature, especially classic one, will always help in improving a language, even your mother one. And I should admit as I don't read books in Russian as much as I did a couple of years ago, I notice that sometimes it's hard for me to formulate my thoughts in Russian and that I find it easier to say someting in English instead. Though funny and embarrassing sometimes!
I've lived in Tula, Russia for 3 years now but I haven't improved Russian very well. Can you tell me how to pronounce and speak Russian properly so that people can understand what I say?
I study language in Tula State University ( Тулский Государственный Университет) English-Russian-German.
I really want to improve my Russian, as a resolution for this new year 2012. I've been trying but haven't reach any improvement. I would really appreciate if you can help me.
Thank you.
Tran, the only way to learn any language is to speak it. This is like dancing or driving a car. The more you practice, the better it gets. To improve your pronunciation you would probably need an accent coach. Unfortunately, I'm not very good in pronunciation things, but you can try to find a teacher at www.italki.com who could help you with your pronunciation. Good luck!
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