Friday, December 31, 2004. Page 8.
Calque-Free in 2005
By Michele A. BerdyNew Year's Resolutions: новогодние обещания
Russians, sensible souls that they are, do not make New Year's resolutions: Why cause misery by making a promise that you'll surely break? Since Russians don't make resolutions, there's no good word for them. The closest translation I've come up with is новогодние обещания -- New Year's promises -- or even обещания, данные самому себе -- promises to oneself -- which is at least more or less comprehensible, if still utterly inexplicable. All the same, I can't resist making an unrealistic list of good deeds for the coming year. Here are my linguistic resolutions for 2005:
1. I resolve to keep my Russian calque-free. I will never say толерантность when терпимость (tolerance) will do, or use транспарантность for прозрачность (transparency) or -- God forbid -- экзит-пол for опрос на выходе с избирательных участков (exit poll), no matter what the NTV newscasters say.
2. I resolve to keep my English calque-free. I will not be lazy and call женская консультация a women's consultation (instead of a women's health clinic) or вертикаль власти a power vertical (instead of top-down command structure).
3. I resolve to get Russian punctuation right. I acknowledge that my usual technique -- think of what you do in English and then do the exact opposite -- is childish and unprofessional. I will always remember to put punctuation marks outside the quotes («обещания»?), put commas where they belong (first task for January: figure out where they belong), and learn to use the dash followed by a comma.
4. Ditto on word order. I will put time expressions first ("I read a book yesterday" becomes Вчера я прочитала книгу) and put "new information" last (second task for January: figure out what is "new information" and "old information.")
5. I resolve to memorize a list of Russian verbs that sound like they should be reflexive but are not. I will say колесо спустило (the tire went flat) even though I think it should be колесо спустилось. I will not whine as I do this.
6. I resolve to learn which cases and prepositions verbs take and not rely on the spell-checker to save me. I will always say информировать его instead of информировать ему (to inform him).
7. I resolve to finally, once and for all, get a handle on aspect in those nasty compound verbal phrases: In what contexts should it be я не смогу это сделать or я не смогу это делать? Or maybe я не могу это сделать or even я не могу это делать? I have absolutely no idea, but by this time next year, I resolve that I will know and get it right (at least 80 percent of the time).
8. I resolve to get stress right. I will always say позвонИ" (he will call) and руководИ" (he rules) despite what my neighbors and television newsreaders say.
9. I resolve to learn, once and for all, the singular forms of nouns usually used in the plural. I will no longer say перчаток for one glove (it's перчатка) or носка for one sock (it's носок). Nor will I pretend I lost both just to avoid using the singular. I will not moan when I have to say у него двое водительских прав (he has two driver's licenses). In fact, I will never assert that God invented Russian grammar to make me personally miserable.
10. I resolve not to say как бы every three seconds. Instead of Я как бы сидела и читала книгу (I sort of sat and read a book) I will simply assert, without any parasitic ums and ahs, Я сидела и читала книгу. In this, I will not follow the lead of my Muscovite friends.
And if I don't get it right in 2005, I resolve not to despair: there's always 2006!
-- Новым годом!
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.