I know nothing about Russians or the language. There is no Russian line in my family tree. Mostly Irish, Scottish, and German.
But my character will know Russian. Of course, he'll be an old vampire, who has lived in the States long enough to have lost his accent, but he'll use words and phrases. The trouble is, I don't know any words or phrases in Russian!
So…time to do some research.
I started with Google Translator. Big help there – not! It translates the English into Cyrillic – major unreadable! Luckily, the program let me listen to the word.
Ugh! Aren't there any sweet sounding Russian words? When I listened to some of the translations of "sweetheart" or "dear", they didn't sound very…endearing. But I'm not giving up.
I discovered this book: "Dictionary of Russian Slang and Colloquial Expressions". Sounds interesting, if only B&N or Amazon showed some sample pages! I even checked to see if there were any copies locally. Apparently, we don't have a need for this particular Russian dictionary, since the six closest stores are out of stock. So, looks like I might try the library next. If that doesn't work, I'll just buy the darn book.
Russian! Well, I can honestly say that will be unique. At least, it is to me. I see French and Italian used in paranormal books all the time. Of course, their language sounds sexy. I sure hope I find something sexy sounding in Russian.
Actually, I'm hoping some kind of Russian insult sounds sexy. Now that would be funny!
12 comments:
Russian is very hard to learn, and translate, so I wish you luck. What about Dr. Zhivago? Wasn't he Russian? Perhaps the book will have some phrases that might help. You also might find some Russian text or dictionaries at the closest college near you. You might even be able to get a library card for a nominal fee. Or you could just browse the stacks.
Anne - I never even thought of Dr. Zhivago! Thanks for that. Looks like I'll be making a trip to the library.
Listening to Russian is like listening to rocks rumbling together deep down in the earth. Warm and strong and dark.
And if you doubt it's sexual possibilities, listen to Sean Connery in the opening scene in "The Hunt for Red October." *swoon*
Also, there a moment in "A Fish Called Wanda" where John Cleese speaks Russian and seduces Jamie Lee Curtis.
Clearly Russian is best when spoken by a man with a deep voice. :)
Maybe find some Russian language tapes? That would give you basic phrases and pronunciation, rhythm of the language, accents, etc.
Melissa - You're making me want to watch "The Hunt for Red October" again - not like I haven't watched it many times! Of course, I'll be looking for different things now! Thanks for that.
Sounds like a big but fun challenge.
Supposed to get snow this weekend :-) I hope so. That would be totally groovy.
Have a yummy weekend.
Hi Whisk - yeah it's a big challenge, but it's gotten me excited, too.
Have fun in the snow!
Don't give up Googling for translations, but change it to 'phonetic' translations.
That might help. Russians can sound sexy. It's all in the delivery. :)
Maria, I tried the phonetic search, but don't remember getting anything useful (or anything I trusted). If the library doesn't work out, I may go back to that.
I'll ask a friend who speaks Russian. :)
Glad you are excited.
Didn't get too much snow but I'm still happy to see the ground covered in white.
Happy Weekend.
Actually, the library worked out well. I got "Russian Phrases for Dummies" and ordered three more to check out - one of them "Russian Love Phrases" - oh yeah!! I think I'm going to have fun with this. If the books are useful, then I'll consider buying.
Very cool. Love when things work out like this.
So happy I found your blog.
Boogie, boogie.
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