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Definitely, the most complicated and terrible thing for students of
foreign languages is foreign idioms. Those odd and often senseless
sequences of words that mean something for native speakers can stun any
foreigner that just knows usual meaning of words. However, when you
study language, always comes a time when you begin to understand its
logic, and later, the logic of people. Since then, even the oddest
idiom has a definite meaning for you, even if you hear it for the first
time. So why shouldn't try to understand earlier the logic of people
whose language we study? Maybe it would be a good way to speak both
conversational and literary language fluently with less efforts?
Anyway, it's worth trying.
Let's try this method on three
Russian idioms that use the same word, "kasha" (rus. "êàøà" - mush, pap
etc.). Why kasha? Just beacuse its a national Russian dish, a boiled
wheat, oat etc. We will use Latin alphabet in order to transliterate
Russian words. We will also capitalize stressed volves.
"KAh-shi nye svAh-rish"
Have
you ever cooked porridge? I bet you have. So you should know that this
is a simpliest dish one coud ever invent. Do you think you need help in
boiling this dish? Definitely not. But if you'd asked somebody to help
you with porridge, you might get into a trouble with him just because
this person is hard to deal. For example I always pour two parts of
whater to one part of rice. But having somebody to help me, I can
discover that this person pours 3 parts of whater. So while we'll have
been argued about the exact amount of water, we'll have burnt our
stew-pot. 'Oh, you are the person who can't even cook kasha with
somebody!' you might roar, 'You are totally incapable to be dealt
with!' And you'll be right, the person who argues about such simple
thing as kasha is too difficult to persuade, or to have business with.
I hope you have already got the clue: "kashi nye svarish" means "it's
impossible to deal (or have business) with somebody", while literally
it's "it's impossible to cook kasha with somebody".
"Zah-vah-rIt kAh-shuh"
Another
idiom literally means "to have cooked kasha". But what's it's real
meaning? If you looked at the porridge from another angle than just a
dish, you might realized that it's real mess. It's something without
the shape, without the quantity, it's something you may stain your
hands with. Children also dislike kasha. So anyone has a bad experience
in arguing with his/her mom that force him to it a bit more kasha.
'What a kasha have you cooked again!' you think with a sorrow and with
hope to grow up and stop eat this forever. So yes, that's right,
"zavarit kashu" means "to do something that leads to troubles", or "to
make a real mess". Although, literally it's just a phrase that
designate that somebody has cooked a meal. Funny, isn't it?
"KAh-shah v go-lo-vyE"
So
you already realize that kasha isn't only a dish, but a real mess.
Would you be happy to have it instead of your brains? I suppose you
wouldn't. "Kasha v golovye" literally means "to have kasha in your
head" (instead of your brain of course). The real meaning is simple to
understand. When you are tired, or you just desperately want to sleep,
or when you have studied the whole night a 500 pages textbook before
your tomorrow's exam, your thoughts are a real mess. So you can't
concentrate, you can't think, you can't be logical. You even might
think that your brain is looking like kasha now. So if you tell
somebody that you have a kasha in your head that will just mean that
you can't think because you are tired.
As you can see, a
simple word "kasha" with it's imaginary and subconscious meanings can
form different idioms that will have different meanings. Although, the
bottom line of all those idioms is how you imagine kasha. That's the
clue. If you can't understand what you hear form a native Russian
speaker, just try to get your own associations with words that the
senseless phrase consists of. Definitely, you will find out the meaning
quickly. But instead of waiting until somebody will name chickens
"dogs" and explain you why he did so, just try to analyze idioms the
way this article suggests. It's really funny and really helps.
About Author
Al Polonski is an administrator and chief-editor of a free online Russian language tutor, Learn Russian Easily, based on the method of extensive reading. He can be reached through the website http://learnrussian.hut1.ru
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