Just wanted to write here about the new Russian/Ukrainian fandom drama happening right now, and the difficult questions it raises.
Recently, a new HR fanfic was published on AO3. It is about Ilya having visa problems and going to war in Ukraine because he needed money.
As you can imagine, the subject is problematic, controversial, and even painful. But the fanfic itself became popular and right now is the most liked Russian-language fanfic on AO3. And maybe it is also worth saying that it most likely became popular not because people like the fanfic itself, but because they like the idea of it. I am not Ukrainian and will not even try to pretend to understand what they are going through, but I can imagine why this work might feel healing for them, while for me it feels mostly painful. I was not able to read it in its entirety because it is too traumatic for me.
So, back to the controversy. Today, the author received a notification from AO3 saying that they had received complaints that the language of the fanfic is not Russian and therefore needed to be changed.
And that raises some important questions about censorship and about what exactly “the language” is.
The language of the fanfic does not look like Russian. It is mainly written using Ukrainian orthographic structure.
The problem is that it is not Ukrainian either. Actually, if I had to choose between Ukrainian and Russian, it is more similar to Russian lexically. It is mostly Russian written using Ukrainian rules. I initially thought of attributing it to Surzhyk (a mixed Russian-Ukrainian language), but it is mostly not that either, unless we want to count a few sporadic Ukrainian words in a mostly Russian text as a mixed language.
A lot has been said about AO3 being censorship-free. But this is a new and interesting way to censor unwanted content. If the language you are writing in cannot be clearly attributed to any particular language, does that mean it cannot exist? Who gets to decide which language each particular work should be attributed to? What percentage of another language are you allowed to have in your work and still have it be considered native?
And I do not even see what AO3 is trying to do here. Assign it the Ukrainian language when it is clearly not Ukrainian? Introduce some other language category specifically for this one work? Delete it altogether if it cannot be 100% attributed to one particular language?
So yeah, this is my anti-censorship post about a work that I was not even able to read.
Please do not censor works on AO3. That is not why it was created.
First of all, I want to apologize to everyone who likes all those Russian endearing words from TLG. This is not an attack on you or on the author in any way. I think she’s brilliant, and I understand that the books were written in English for English speakers. So it isn’t fair to expect a precise representation of a very nuanced foreign language and culture.
That said, I really want to talk about Russian endearments in general and the ones used in TLG in particular. As always, everything below is just my personal opinion and is probably totally wrong.
Generally, endearments in Russian are… complicated. First, it depends a lot on the specific people involved. Second, it’s private, much more private than in the English-speaking world. You can’t exactly observe in public how intimate partners address each other in private. So endearments tend to be a careful balancing act between showing love and being cringe. That dramatically limits the number of words that are actually, like, socially acceptable.
I remember that in the early 2000s everyone called each other Солнце (“Sun”). I also remember some people using Пупсик (“Sweetie/Cutie”), but that was legitimately cringe on the level of couples making out in front of the milk aisle in the supermarket. Maybe my deep Soviet-era trauma is speaking, but while it feels normal to call your loved one “sweetheart” in English, it doesn’t feel normal to use a lot of the possible (and frankly gross) Russian endearments. Especially in the early-to-mid 2000s, when Ilya was growing up in Russia.
So this is why “tomato” as an endearment in English seems a little bit weird, but weird in a cute way. In Russian, though, the same thing feels more like a “what is wrong with you” moment. It’s possible, sure, but it would need more explanation as to why it’s happening. And “learning Russian” is not enough.
With that in mind, let’s look at Russian endearments in TLG.
These are pretty neutral, and I can imagine a Russian person using them.
Small correction, though. As I’ve already said in Russian line-by-line analysis, we don’t really use “my” as often as English does before nouns referring to people. The neutral way of saying “my father” or “my brother” in Russian is usually just “father” and “brother.” We use "my" when we want to emphasize that the father/brother/beloved is mine for some reason.
So the neutral form of “my beloved” would just be любимый.
“My love” (моя любовь) is fine with моя. Be probably use it reversed more often (любовь моя). But both work.
Let’s start by fixing a grammatical mistake: газонокосилка is a feminine noun, so it should be моя (moya), not мой (moy). And yes, in Russian you can use a feminine noun as an endearment for a man, that part is not the problem.
The problem is that it sounds extremely cringe. And it comes out of nowhere. Why would Ilya choose that exact word?
Let me try to explain the post-Soviet reality of my childhood so you can see why this hits weird. I grew up in a small mining town built specifically for one mine. The town was basically a bunch of identical multi-apartment buildings. A lot of people had a dacha (a cottage) nearby, but mostly to grow potatoes and vegetables to feed the family. A lot of people from my generation still hate gardening, because most of our holidays/vacations were spent planting, weeding, hilling, and digging up potatoes. Even later, when food wasn’t a problem anymore, it still felt inevitable, because the older generation carried that fear of not having anything to eat.
In the 1990s we also got our own local TV station. They mostly showed the latest movies, local news, music requests, and a lot of ads. And to this day I remember one specific product being advertised: “Canada Green” lawn grass seeds. Just to remind you: this was advertised on a local station in a town with no private housing, where pretty much every available piece of land outside the town was used to grow something we could eat.
So the concept of a lawn - something you buy special grass seeds for, and then maintain with a lawnmower - was kind of mind-blowing. You can imagine it was probably the first time I even encountered a word like газонокосилка.
Ilya is from Moscow and could be considered upper-middle class, maybe even rich. But still, I really don’t think “lawnmower” would be the first complicated Russian word that came to mind if he wanted to teach Shane some Russian.
If you want my opinion on what similar difficult word Ilya would be more likely to use, it would be бетономешалка (concrete mixer).
Why? Because at the time there was a really popular song about a concrete mixer. The lyrics were basically “a concrete mixer is mixing concrete,” repeated multiple times.
Beware: the clip and music are kind of niche. Viewer discretion is advised.
Moy pomidor - Мой помидор - “my tomato”
Let me explain why this sounds strange in a different way in Russian than it does in English.
In Russian we generally don’t use fruits and vegetables as endearments. English does (like “pumpkin”), so in English you’re basically just choosing another vegetable. It’s still weird, but it doesn’t feel random.
In Russian, animals are much more plausible as endearments. Even if the animal is unusual - like wombat - it still feels like something you could choose.
But here we’re using a completely random word, and it doesn’t even have the excuse of being difficult (like “lawnmower”). There’s also no cultural reference that would justify it. The first thing I think of when I hear помидор used about a person is the villain Senior Pomidor from the Russian cartoon Chipollino. Which is an extremely weird choice for your husband, let’s be honest.
Okay. Before I get into what positive associations a tomato might have, we need to talk about Russian language rules. I know, unexpected.
Russian is very rule-oriented. If you’re a native speaker, you and everyone you know might use stress on one syllable, but if the rulebook says it belongs on another, then you are “wrong.” In high school we had tests on stress position where the best strategy was to put it somewhere unexpected, because it would probably be “correct.”
We even have whole subsets of words that people use in everyday speech but that dictionaries mark as colloquial or “incorrect.” And we have a whole subset of people who are thrilled to correct your “wrong Russian” and speak like they’re auditioning for an 18th-century literature club.
This is a very long introduction to the fact that Russian technically has two words for tomato: томат (tomat) and помидор (pomidor). Right now there’s basically a whole war among Russian food bloggers about which one should be used and when. Roughly speaking: if you want to sound smart, you should probably say томат; if you want to sound like a normal person with a life, you can use both interchangeably (or default to помидор).
My positive association is with томат. In the early 2000s we had a juice ad where kids dressed as fruits and vegetables introduce themselves. The punchline at the end is a little boy saying: “And I’m a tomato.”
But I guess for Ilya, using томат to quiz Shane’s Russian is counterproductive, because it’s basically the same word.
I’ve been thinking for a while about whether I should recommend a Russian-language fanfic here. I decided I should: https://archiveofourown.org/works/78849931
Mostly because I want to talk about a few things this fic brings up, and because I’m hoping that if someone’s interested in reading a Russian breakdown here, they might also be interested in Russian fanfics.
It’s a fic where the real-life famous interviewer Yuri Dud (Дудь) interviews Ilya.
Why it’s brilliant
1. It’s a great example of how Ilya should sound in Russian. The swearing, the rhythm, the cultural references, it all feels right. If anything, he might sound too good considering he’s supposedly lived abroad for 15+ years and even admits he’s forgetting Russian and doesn’t have many chances to speak it.
2. It explores Ilya being Russian in a realistic way without making him OOC. He references real-world problems and understands the context, but it still feels like the same character from the book/show.
3. It shows a very believable “not really into politics” Russian mindset. Not as a cartoon stereotype, but as a painfully common, believable type: unapologetically more invested in himself and his family than in any country, community, or cause. Very, very Russian way of thinking.
4. The migrant experience is so accurate. Especially the part about realizing that even if you go back, you won’t find what you think you’re missing, because everything has already changed and whatever you’re nostalgic for is basically gone.
5. It casually fixes the “Anya-the-dog” name problem. Now I’m waiting for someone to casually fix all the tomatoes and lawnmowers from TLG too.
6. It’s written in both Russian and English. Some sections are in English, some in Russian, and it’s clearly meant for people who can follow both. Although English parts aren’t that exciting, but this is the first bilingual fic I’ve read where the two languages feel natural, casual, and actually add something.
What I wanted to discuss
If you’re writing about something you don’t really know, like a Russian character, it might be better to write less rather than more. The less you state outright, the easier it is to explain away small mistakes or inconsistencies later. The show, for example, leans harder into the “Russian” part of Ilya, and that actually creates more problems. Russian fandom is still arguing about basic things like whether Ilya is rich or not. This fic fixes that issue too, by the way.
And technically, everything I’ve previously pointed out as “mistakes” in Russian language/culture here could be explained and made acceptable. You just need enough time, talent, and dedication to pull it off.
I wanted to look at how consistent Ilya’s English is in the show. If you just want the short answer, it isn’t consistent. He can sound pretty advanced, and then five seconds later he makes really silly mistakes. Some of them do not even feel typical for a Russian speaker.
Everything below is based on Episode 1. I have this idea to do the same for Episode 6 and see whether the show tries to present some kind of progress, but be aware I might never actually do it.
Also, I should say upfront that I am not especially sensitive to English mistakes. I can read almost anything in English and not cringe about grammar or style. With Russian and my other native language it is the opposite, I often cannot even finish the first chapter because the mistakes annoy me too much. So for this I asked people on Reddit to give me examples of the kinds of mistakes Ilya makes. Then I rewatched Episode 1 and tried to focus on grammar and ignore subtitles, just in case. Still, some of what I say below might be embarrassingly wrong.
And as always, no disrespect. This is just my probably very wrong opinion.
English levels and learning English
Maybe a quick note on what I mean by “level”.
We usually talk about A1-A2 (Beginner), B1-B2 (Intermediate), C1-C2 (Advanced). You can check the official descriptions here: https://rm.coe.int/CoERMPublicCommonSearchServices/DisplayDCTMContent?documentId=090000168045bb52
My very simplified take is this. At beginner levels you basically cannot talk unless you use short textbook phrases like “This is a table”, “His eyes are blue”, and “London is the capital of Great Britain”. B1-B2 is where you can understand and say everything you actually need in real life. It is also roughly the level people need for work. Advanced is more cultural than grammatical. You need to pick up nuance, references, and fancy wording that even native speakers do not use that often.
So, if I only look at level descriptions, Ilya is somewhere around B1-B2 throughout the show.
But.
How you learn English matters too. It can be structured learning at school, university, or with a private teacher. Or you can pick it up just by living in the language environment. When I was young and worked as a guide, my Italian manager spoke Russian using only infinitives for verbs and basically one form for nouns and adjectives. Russian has 3 genders and 6 cases, so it was wild to hear. He never had formal lessons, but everyone still understood him. Based on the grammar Ilya uses, he likely had some form of formal English instruction.
With structured lessons, grammar is usually taught in a progression. At A1 you do present simple, negatives, basic questions, and some articles. By B1 you are doing conditionals, present perfect, might/may/could, and so on. The exact order can vary, but the idea is still logical. You cannot really learn conditionals without knowing the main tenses.
That also means that the simple A1 stuff gets repeated again and again later, so it tends to stick. In most cases it is not very likely that someone consistently messes up A1-level grammar while also using more advanced structures perfectly.
Unless the topic is something ridiculous and out of touch with reality, like articles.
I mean, the most common mistakes still usually come from structural differences between English and Russian, especially when people translate word for word, regardless of their grammar level.
Ok, now the actual analysis. The most common patterns I noticed in Ilya’s English are:
1) He omits it/this/that, mostly around “is/was”
07:35 Is (it) everything you dreamed of?
12:52 They tell told me nothing. (It) was my idea.
15:11 Is (that) what you want?
19:18 Is (this) your first time with a man?
23:00 Okay (it/this) was fun.
26:59 I never said 40 goals. (That) is (a) lie. (A) liar told you that.
39:45 (Do) you have (a) phone? Give (it to me).
This one is the most annoying to me because it is so frequent in both the show and the books. And honestly, it does not feel like a typical Russian-speaker mistake.
In Russian we do not have a present tense of “to be”, so we omit “is”. If I show a direct translation, we basically say: The sky blue (Небо голубое), This a table (Это стол), It a lie (Это ложь). The missing piece is “is”, not “it”.
This bothered me so much that I even asked a Polish colleague whether this kind of omission was common for Polish speakers. Polish does have “to be” in present tense, and it changes depending on the subject, so I could imagine some pronouns being dropped. His take was that maybe “I” or “you” could be omitted sometimes, but “it/this/that” usually are not, because you still need to know what you are talking about. He also did not recognize this as a common Polish-speaker thing.
So, genuinely, I have no idea why Ilya talks like this.
2) He turns statements into questions by adding “yes?” at the end
07:53 Montreal is nice, yes?
This is not super common in the show, but it really bothered me in the books. It is not as outrageous as the previous one. I can imagine a Russian speaker doing it. I just do not see why it would be this consistent.
In Russian you can make a question with intonation alone, without inversion, and without tags like “isn’t it”, so adding “yes” feels unnecessary.
3) He omits do/did in questions
12:44 When (did) they tell you you do commercial with me and not just alone.
34:26 (Did) you have fun last night?
34:32 (Did you) get dinner, get drunk?
39:45 (Do) you have (a) phone? Give (it to me).
Questions are A1 grammar. Asking and answering questions is basically what you do in every English class forever, so it is weird to see this error repeat.
What makes it even stranger is that even if he despises and never uses inversion, you would expect something like “You had fun last night?” instead. But he is not doing that. He drops “did”, while still keeping the rest of the structure kind of question-like. It feels like he is deleting a chunk of a correct sentence.
4) He omits articles
01:29 See you in (the) final.
19:45 It was nothing serious and we had (the) same secret, so…
23:21 You think I am (an) asshole.
26:59 I never said 40 goals. (That) is (a) lie. (A) liar told you that.
38:55 Hollander, you’re having (a) panic attack.
These are actually realistic. Russian does not have articles, and people struggle with them even at fairly high levels.
One small thing though. Russians often try to compensate by inserting some article because we know one should be there. We just pick the wrong one. So you might hear “see you in a final” more often than “see you in final”.
Also, the inconsistency here feels real. Sometimes the article is correct, sometimes it is wrong, sometimes it is missing. For example:
01:29 See you in (the) final.
02:56 See you at the draft.
It is also kind of funny that he gets the prepositions right (in/at) but not the articles. Both are hard for Russians.
What is weird overall
So that is basically the entirety if his mistakes. Most of his mistakes are omissions. He almost never makes the kind of normal mistake where the grammar is wrong. I found only one clear example where he uses present when he should use past:
12:52 They tell told me nothing. (It) was my idea.
Everything else is generally solid: tenses, prepositions, phrasing.
What makes it even more noticeable is that some of the worst omissions come right after perfectly correct lines. For example:
39:40 Give me your phone.
39:45 (Do) you have (a) phone? Give (it to me).
First Ilya uses a completely correct phrase, with the object pronoun and possessive adjective, and then proceeds to omit half of what he needs.
Same thing here:
26:59 I never said 40 goals. (That) is (a) lie. (A) liar told you that.
Ilya correctly uses “never” with a verb (in Russian the direct translation would look like “I never didn’t say”), and then immediately switches into this strange missing-word mode.
Examples of difficult things he gets right (as a contrast)
01.21 You will not be so nice when we beat you.
This is actually the first full phrase Ilya says to Shane.
This is tricky for Russians because we tend to use future tense in both parts: “when we will beat you”. Keeping “when” clauses in present is a very common problem. And he gets it right.
08:04 We will be seeing each other a lot.
Future continuous is not the hardest thing ever, but it is still more advanced than basic question formation, and it sits right next to broken “07:53 Montreal is nice, yes?”.
17:20 I thought you might chicken out.
“Chicken out” is idiomatic, more like B2-C1 vocabulary. I know living in an English-speaking country can speed up vocabulary a lot, but it is still impressive.
He also correctly uses the modal “might” and the overall phrase pattern, even omitting the optional “that”.
20:00 And you make me curious.
What is funny here is that he did not come up with “curious” himself. Shane basically gives him the word, and then Ilya immediately uses it correctly with “make”. In Russian we would usually use a different verb, closer to “awaken” (пробуждать любопытство).
To me, the strange part is not that Ilya makes mistakes. The strange part is which mistakes he makes and how consistent they are. The article inconsistency feels realistic for a Russian speaker. The repeated omissions of “it/this/that” and “do/did”, while he still uses advanced structures and even idioms, feel less realistic. It creates this odd contrast where he sounds fluent in one line and artificially “foreign” in the next. So my best guess is that the show is not trying to depict a realistic Russian learner profile. It is trying to make his English sound obviously non-native in a very noticeable, stylized way.
Just wanted to share an opinion nobody asked for about adding Russian text to an English story, like in fanfiction.
If you’re thinking who to contact to translate a line into Russian for your Russian character, pause and ask a different question first. Does it actually make sense here?
Most of the time, it doesn’t.
Why it usually doesn’t work.
1) It pulls readers out of the story.
Why put a completely different language in the middle of an English fic? You’re not a bilingual Tolstoy, and even he made choices people still argue about. Also, most readers will not understand the Russian without a translation, so it becomes a speed bump.
2) The Russian will probably sound wrong anyway.
It often ends up looking awkward to both English speakers and Russian speakers.
Google Translate will not give you natural Russian.
A Russian friend might not either, even if they write in Russian. Translation is its own skill.
Writing something originally in Russian is very different from translating it from English. We build sentences differently, we think differently, and we have different cultural references.
If you really want something authentic, ask a native speaker to write what a Russian person would say in that situation. Do not ask for a direct word-for-word translation. If you want an actual translation, the best option is a professional translator.
3) Russian language is not the best shortcut for “this character is Russian.”
You’re writing for English readers. To many people, Cyrillic is just a bunch of unfamiliar symbols. If your goal is to show the character is Russian, small cultural details often work better, and everyone can understand them.
A simple solution.
Just write it in English.
If the character is speaking or writing in Russian, you can show it like this: use italics (or another clear formatting choice) and add a note like, “Italicized text is Russian.”
And before you go, please also stop doing this.
Don’t sprinkle random Russian words into English dialogue.
Unless it is genuinely funny and inventive swearing, it usually feels like a prop, not a real way of speaking.
And please stop with pet names like kotyonok (“kitty”). Pet names are not that common in Russian in the way fics use them, especially from men. They can sound extremely creepy if you don’t have a very specific reason for that character to speak like that. To make it believable, you would need a real explanation for why this person uses that exact pet name.
Don’t treat one random Russian person as your research tool.
Don’t ask a single stranger how it is to grow up in Russia and accept it as the truth. Do your own research. Ask multiple people and compare answers. We will absolutely tell you something biased, stereotyped, or only true for our family, and we might not even realize it.
I just wanted to highlight the stress pattern in the surname Rozanov in Russian. It actually varies from person to person. You can open several links on the name’s Wikipedia page to see this.
Probably the most famous Rozanov has the stress on the first syllable.
So if a Russian tells you that you are mispronouncing the surname by stressing the first syllable, they are just being a typical arrogant Russian.
In the show, the coach you barely even hear does pronounce it with the stress on the second syllable. But he is a Russian hockey coach, so he probably does not give a fuck.
The truth is that until we have an explicit confirmation of where the stress falls in Ilya’s surname in Russian, we can only speculate.
Russian Language Line-by-Line Analysis of Heated Rivalry (Part 8)
This is the final part of my Episode 5 Russian breakdown.
Disclaimer: I am sure everyone involved did their best, and I mean no disrespect by any of the below. The whole thing is my personal opinion and I could be totally wrong.
Talking with Sveta
21:39 Я тебя на достоин. - I don’t deserve you.
21:37 Достоин. Но ты меня не хочешь. - Yes, you do. But you don’t want me.
21:30 Ты знаешь, что я тебя люблю. - You know I love you.
Word choice: Good. I am really impressed that they did not go for the classic English structure я люблю тебя (I love you). Я тебя люблю sounds more natural here.
21:27 Я знаю. Но это не так как с Джейн, не так ли? - I know you do. But it’s not the same as it is with Jane, is it?
Word choice: It is possible in Russian, but не так ли ("is it?") sounds very high-literary, not like something people actually say to each other. It could easily be omitted.
21:19 Я тоже тебя люблю. - I love you too.
21:16 Если я тебе буду нужна, я всегда буду рядом. Никуда не уйду. - And whatever you need, I’ll be here. I’m not going anywhere.
Word choice: It feels like тебе could be omitted in я тебе буду нужна to sound more natural: Если я буду нужна, я всегда буду рядом.
21:10 Я просто надеюсь, Джейн знает, как ему повезло. - I just hope Jane knows how lucky he is.
Ok, let’s address the main issue here. Yes, Sveta refers to Джейн (Jane) in the masculine form (ему). It is very different from the feminine (ей) and cannot just be mispronounced like an English he/she mix-up. It is also pretty unclear whether Sveta says Shane or Jane.
But.
This is literally the only time in this conversation that Jane is referred to in the masculine and kind of mispronounced. For example, at 21:27 she clearly pronounces Jane and also uses the feminine form. If she were talking about a guy, the spelling would be different. Compare:
Это не так как с Джейн (it’s not the same as it is with Jane)
Это не так как с Шейном (it’s not the same as it is with Shane)
The ending of the word would be different if she meant a guy, not a girl.
The song in the background is:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=za6QQt6Xdrs
This is a Soviet song about dead soldiers.
Translation: https://ruverses.com/rasul-gamzatov/cranes/9838/
Ilya’s monologue
So the monologue below is a really good Russian. Connor also pronounces it better than ever. The problem is just that the language is pretty outdated, the tone is inconsistent, the swearing is very mild and a bit childish, and there are sporadic insertions of really colloquial words (like херня), which feel strange next to the rest of the "high literature" style. But I swear it is good.
And I also wanted to question whether this love confession was really that incomprehensible for an English speaker. I know how to say “I love you” in a lot of languages, and Russian is not that rare. He repeats Я люблю тебя (“I love you”) several times. How could Shane miss that?!
18:30 Я никогда больше сюда не вернусь. - I never want to come back here again.
Real translation: I am never coming back here again.
18:25 Я здесь все ненавижу. - I fucking hate it here.
Real translation: I hate everything here. (No swearing.)
18:21 И все меня ненавидят. - And they all fucking hate me.
18:17 Я за все плачу. - I pay for everything.
Observation: Ilya really emphasizes за все ("for everything") here.
18:15 Я слежу чтобы у всех были нормальные вещи, - I make sure everyone has clothes they like.
Real translation: I make sure everyone has decent things (not only clothes specifically).
18:11 Чтобы еда была на уровне, - I make sure the food is perfect,
Real translation: and that the food is good enough.
18:09 Чтобы отец был похоронен рядом с его родителями, - that Father is buried next to his parents.
18:03 Чтобы могила была идеально сделана. - that the tomb was perfect.
Word choice: I am not sure why сделана ("made") was added here. It sounds a bit awkward. Better, like in the English translation: Чтобы могила была идеальна.
18:00 И все, что я слышу, - это: “Мало” - And the only fucking word I ever hear is:
Real translation: And all I hear is: “Not enough.”
17:57 “Я хочу больше, Илья. Мне нужно больше, Илья. Больше, больше, больше, больше, больше, больше. - “I want more, Ilya. I need more, Ilya, more, more, more!”
17:50 Я нихрена этим людям не могу дать. - And I have nothing for these people!
17:46 Я им все отдал. - I give them everything…
Real translation: I gave them everything.
17:43 А сам чувствую себя пустым. - but I feel fucking empty.
17:40 Я им пофиг. - They don’t care.
Pronunciation: The correct sentence should be without Я: А им пофиг. I guess it was just mispronounced.
17:37 Смотрят на меня и видят либо банкомат, либо врага. - They look at me and they see a bank. Or an enemy.
17:33 Или… я не знаю кого. - Or I don’t even know what.
17:28 Мой брат, он всегда меня ненавидел. - My brother, he always hated me.
Word choice: The neutral way to say "my brother" is simply брат without мой. It is assumed you are talking about your own brother. It might be a deliberate choice if Ilya wants to highlight that the fact he is my brother is important, but personally I feel just брат is enough.
17:20 Я знаю почему, но... - And I know why, but…
17:15 Это убивает меня. - It kills me.
17:04 И меня убивает то, что он заботился о моем отце, а я нет. - And it kills me that he took care of my father and I did not.
Word choice: Not моем отце ("my father"), just отце. We know whose father you are talking about.
16:56 Но я не мог! - But I could not!
16:53 Я не был здесь. - I wasn’t here.
Word choice: Google Translate vibes. It should be inverted: Меня здесь не было.
16:49 Я все равно за все платил. - I still paid for it all.
16:45 Но он никогда меня не простит. - And he will never forgive me.
16:43 Ни за что. - For any of it.
16:41 За то что я вообще есть. - For existing.
Word choice: It was fine until this point, but the whole sequence from 16:45 to 16:41 does not quite work. While the English keeps the same logic with "for" in the second and third sentences, the Russian at 16:43 breaks that pattern. It would be better to start again with a full sentence. For example: Он ненавидит меня за сам факт моего существования (He hates me for the very fact of my existence).
16:38 И это значит, что теперь…У меня никого нет. - And it means…I have no one now.
16:28 Ну, не совсем никого, у меня есть... Светлана. - Well, not no one. I have… Svetlana.
16:16 Она меня любит. - She loves me.
16:12 И я ее люблю. - And I love her.
16:09 Но не так как… - But not like…
16:03 Черт. - Fuck me.
Real translation: Damn.
15:48 Не так как я люблю тебя. - But not like I love you.
15:43 Вот в чем вся хрень. - That’s the worst fucking part of all of this is…
15:38 Я хочу только тебя. - that all I want is you.
15:35 И всегда только тебя. - It’s always you.
15:30 Я так сильно тебя люблю и не знаю, что с этим делать. - I’m so in love with you, and I don’t know what to do about it.
Real translation: I love you so much, and I don’t know what to do about it. (So this is a full love confession.)
14:32 Я бы тоже хотел. - I wish I was too.
At the hospital
I wanted to mention again this silencing English "Sh-sh-sh" sound that, by default in Russian, should be "Ts-s-s". We are pretty exposed to English-language culture, and I guess the majority of Russians will not have any problem understanding what Ilya is doing and why. But it still makes me pause before I realise that yes, they mean a silencing sound.
Watching Scott Hunter win
03:32 Не забудь одежду для племянницы. - For your niece. Don’t forget.
Real translation: Don’t forget the clothes for your niece.
03:30 Принеси мне, пожалуйста. - Put them in the suitcase.
Real translation: Bring it to me, please.
So yes, he is packing the suitcase to go to Russia.
Russian Language Line-by-Line Analysis of Heated Rivalry (Part 7)
So let's continue with Episode 5 Russian.
Disclaimer: I am sure everyone involved did their best, and I mean no disrespect by any of the below. The whole thing is my personal opinion and I could be totally wrong.
Locker room call
28:28 Что ты хочешь? - What the fuck do you want?
Word choice: The swearing is missing in Russian. I have already mentioned that the most universal wording to show that Ilya is frustrated is Что тебе надо? (What do you need).
Ilya’s voicemail
Just wanted to talk about two things here.
Voicemail was never really popular in Russia, even for older generations. I personally do not know anybody who used it. In my entire life I have left one message on voicemail and it was work-related. So it is not surprising that Ilya says he will never check his voicemail. I am surprised he even bothers to leave this message.
Ilya pronounces his name here somewhere in the middle between English and Russian. I cannot hear the typical English "ee" sound in the middle after L, but the stress is still on the first syllable for some reason. The correct Russian way to say it is eel’-jAH (' meaning that L should be palatalized).
Ilya alone drinking vodka
Again with ice from a whiskey glass. This is not the way it is consumed in Russia. Straight from the bottle would actually be better.
At a memorial meal
A shot of vodka covered with a piece of bread is a Russian funeral custom. This shot is meant for the deceased. And by the way, this is the right glass to consume vodka.
24:53 За патриотизм и службу государству. - Untranslated (inscription) - For patriotism and service to the state.
Talking with Alexei
24:16 Хватит, блядь, меня избегать. - Stop fucking avoiding me.
24:13 Если бы только это. - If only.
Word choice: I do not fully understand what Ilya is trying to say here and it is not understandable from the English transcription for me either. But if the purpose was to say that Ilya wishes he had managed to avoid his brother and is frustrated that he did not, this is definitely the wrong choice. Something like Тебя избежишь (as if I could avoid you) would be better.
24:06 Ну? - So?
24:02 Что ну? - So what?
24:00 Убери свои руки. - Don’t fucking touch me.
Word choice: Literal translation is "Take your hands off me" and there is no swearing. Possessive adjectives are rarely used in Russian. So the more natural way using the same words is to invert them and avoid свои (your): Руки убрал!
The next point is about the sound Alexei is making when he tries to silence Ilya. He is saying "sh-sh-sh" or even "ch-ch-ch". I am not delusional enough to say that no Russian will ever use it, but it is definitely not the most common way to silence someone. In Russian it is "tss". Example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dNfgBMm9ApQ
The same applies to Ilya later in the episode when he visits Shane in the hospital. Ilya is hissing at Shane "sh-sh", he probably should "tss".
23:54 Тогда расскажи мне свой план. - Then tell me the fucking plan.
Word choice: Unfortunately, no swearing in Russian. And again a possessive adjective свой (your). Тогда выкладывай, блядь, план.
23:51 Господи. - Jesus Christ.
23:50 Я еще не знаю, Алексей. Он только что умер. Дай мне прийти в себя. - I don’t know yet, Alexei! He just died. Can I get a minute to breathe?
Word choice: Just a reminder again that he would not call his brother Alexei as "Alexei". Even if they are mortal enemies.
23:45 А я? А я что? Можно мне тоже минуту прийти в себя или нет? - And me? What about me? Do I get to breathe too?
23:39 Или это только для богатых пидоров, которые семьи свои бросают. - Or is that just something reserved for rich faggots who abandon their families?
23:35 Я бросил? - Abandoned?
23:34 На чьи деньги ты живешь, ты кусок дерьма? - Whose money do you live on, you piece of shit?
Word choice: Again, кусок дерьма (piece of shit) is an English calque mostly used in translations, not in real-life swearing.
23:31 Кто кладет еду в твой грязный рот и кокаин в твой нос. - Who puts food in your mouth and coke up your nose?
Word choice: Google Translate, plus possessive adjectives again. And грязный рот (dirty mouth) is more like an insult you would use in kindergarten than between adults. Overall it sounds more ridiculous than anything else, and more literal, as if Ilya is actually doing those things physically.
23:28 У меня ребенок! И жена там. И это я сидел с нашим отцом пять месяцев каждый божий день пока он не умер. - I have a child, Ilya! And a fucking wife! And me, I’ve spent the last five months taking care of our dying father every fucking day!
Word choice: I applaud not using "Ilya" in Russian. We really use names far less when talking to a person than is customary in English. I do not applaud the lack of swearing.
Pronunciation: Surprisingly, the actor does not sound native when saying У меня ребенок! (I have a child). Or he is too angry to pronounce it properly.
23:17 Мне показалось, что кто-то пел. - I thought I heard singing.
23:14 Отлично. - Great.
23:12 Вот теперь нам и придется слушать как твоя шлюха трындит. - Now we have to listen to this whore run her mouth.
Word choice: трындит (run her mouth) is great. But overall it sounds awkward. It would be better inverted: Теперь придется слушать, как трындит твоя шлюха.
23:08 Прекрати, Илья! Прекрати. Он этого не стоит, он ничто. - Stop, Ilya! Stop. He’s not worth it. He’s not worth anything.
22:51 Можешь забрать мою квартиру. - You can have my apartment.
22:48 И для племянницы я открою счет. Она сможет взять деньги, когда ей будет 18. - And there will be a trust for my niece. She can have it when she’s 18.
22:36 И больше никогда не обращайся ко мне. Если сделаешь это, ты обязательно пожалеешь. Понял? - And you will never, ever contact me again.
Missed translation of the second part: If you do this, you will definitely regret it. Got it?
22:33 Я использую всю свою славу, деньги и влияние, чтобы ты больше не мог появиться в этом городе. Иначе тебе разобьют морду. - If you do, I will use every piece of my fame and money and notoriety to make sure that you cannot show your face in this fucking city without someone wanting to break it open.
22:19 Так что прими то, что я предлагаю, и закрой свой грязный рот, и вали отсюда. - So take what I offer, shut your fucking mouth and walk away.
Word choice: Again kindergarten-level грязный рот (dirty mouth). It sounds juvenile and ridiculous overall. But вали отсюда (walk away / get the hell out) is pretty good.
I feel like the whole Ilya monologue at the end of this exchange should be rewritten from scratch to sound more natural. It is extremely noticeable that it is a direct translation from English.
Russian Language Line-by-Line Analysis of Heated Rivalry (Part 6)
Let’s move on to Episode 5 and the Russian in Heated Rivalry. This one is pretty heavy on Russian, so for now I’m only covering the first scene.
Disclaimer: I am sure everyone involved did their best, and I mean no disrespect by any of the below. The whole thing is my personal opinion and I could be totally wrong.
In bed with Sveta
I have a feeling that the Russian below was reviewed by someone who knows Russian hockey terminology. So I think everything hockey-related is good. Everything else is just not very consistent. I think it was translated sentence by sentence, maybe by several people, and never reviewed as a whole. As usual, the whole thing is a bit “high literature” style, with some rare hockey or otherwise good words thrown in.
46:06 Метерсон на большинство, Петров на скамейке. - Matherson on the power play while Petrov warms the bench.
46:04 Еб твою мать. - Jesus Christ.
Real translation: For fuck’s sake! (“fuck your mother” if you translate word by word), so going with “Jesus Christ” was definitely a choice. It’s nice that, for a change, the Russian is more explicit than the English translation.
46:02 С каких пор тебя волнует, что делает Колорадо? - Since when do you care what Colorado does?
Word choice: So after “For fuck’s sake!” in the previous sentence, it’s really strange to go back to bookish Russian. Волнует (care) has multiple informal synonyms with and without embedded swearing, like: колышет, ебет, парит.
Pronunciation: Just wanted to mention the really pronounced unstressed first and second syllables in Колорадо, which Ilya is pronouncing as OH, and they should be pronounced as a schwa or an AH sound, depending on the dialect.
By the way, if you’re really interested in the Moscow dialect (which Ilya probably should be speaking) and know some Russian, here are some videos to give you an idea of how it sounds. It’s a bit exaggerated, but very informative, and the author is hilarious.
45:59 С каких пор ты опять начал курить? - Since when did you start smoking again?
Word choice: Seems a bit Google-Translaty to me, but the sentence is possible in Russian. In my opinion, a better choice is: С каких пор ты опять/снова куришь?
45:55 Я не начал. Так, иногда. - I haven’t started again. Just every once in a while.
45:51 Меня волнуют вообще все хоккейные команды. Ты это прекрасно знаешь. - I care about all hockey teams, as you well know.
Pronunciation: Sveta is really mumbling the first part of the sentence here.
45:47 Конечно. - Of course.
45:46 Особенно те, которые ставят хороших русских игроков в запас, чтобы средненькие Канадцы могли тупо потратить полторы минуты в большинстве. - Especially ones that put good Russian players on the second shift of the power play so mediocre Canadian players can waste a minute and a half with the man advantage.
Real translation: Especially the ones who bench good Russian players so mediocre Canadians can just waste a minute and a half on the power play.
Word choice: Тупо (just) is a very vivid and right choice here. This word is used a lot in informal spoken language. Also, in Russian Sveta obviously doesn’t say “second shift of the power play,” but I think this is a good choice, and the same in Russian “вторая бригада большинства” is quite a mouthful.
45:38 Это Метерсон средненький? - Mediocre? Matherson?
45:37 Да. И ты можешь передать мои слова. - Yes. You can quote me.
Real translation: Yes. And you can pass my words along.
45:32 Когда увижу его на матче звезд. - When I see him at the all-star game.
45:28 Так стыдно, что он вообще там играет. - So embarrassing that he’s playing.
Word choice: Так стыдно (“so embarrassing”) is not used this way. Просто позор / жуткий кринж / неловко смотреть can be used instead, depending on the desired slang / high-literature ratio.
45:25 Зрители проголосовали. Он им нравится. - The people vote. They love him.
Real translation: The people vote. They like him.
Word choice: The word used for “people” here is Зрители. This is a more specific word meaning spectators/viewers/fans, so the next line, “The people are wrong,” feels less meaningful. So maybe it would have been better to stick to a direct translation of “people” - “народ/люди”.
45:23 Зрители ошибаются. - The people are wrong.
45:19 Ты в этом году играешь в одной команде с Холландером, да? - You’re playing on the same team as Hollander this year, right?
45:14 Он тоже средненький? - Is he also mediocre?
Word choice: “Средненький” (mediocre) is a really good choice here. This is a diminutive of средний and makes much more sense to be used in this form than in the full form. It adds extra contempt.
45:12 Нет, он крутой. Эти руки! - No, he’s amazing. Those hands.
Word choice: In Russian, the direct translation of “those hands” (эти руки) feels a bit anatomical and doesn’t mean what it’s supposed to mean in English (that Sveta is admiring those hands). So some more direct indication of her admiration is needed in Russian: какие у него руки / руки у него потрясающие.
You can still say “those hands” (эти руки), but then the intonation needs to be more obvious, like you started a sentence and stopped, stunned by the amazingness of his hands: Эти руки…
45:10 И к тому же красавчик. - And he’s gorgeous.
Real translation: And he’s gorgeous on top of that.
45:06 Если ты так считаешь. - If you say so.
Word choice: It is a more direct translation and will be understood if said. But I don’t think we usually use these exact words in this sense. The first thing that came to mind is Как скажешь. Depending on the desired tone, we can also use: ну-ну; ага, конечно.
45:00 Что? - What?
44:58 Ты ведь знаешь, что он красивый и знаешь что он хороший игрок. - You know he’s gorgeous. And you know he’s good.
Word choice: I really do not understand why the already used in this conversation красавчик (pretty boy/gorgeous guy) and крутой (amazing) are not used here as well. They fit perfectly.
44:54 Он очень хороший. - He’s very good.
Word choice: Хороший means more like “good person” (as in “saving puppies good”), not “amazing hockey player.” You can just say хорош or крут (awesome) if we’re trying to reuse what was already used.
44:50 Мне было бы интересно увидеть тебя на одной линии с ним. - I would love to see you on a line with him.
Word choice: Possible in Russian, but there are a lot of possessive pronouns for one sentence.
The first part could be more neutral without мне: Было бы интересно / было бы круто.
The second part could be clearer with one pronoun вас (you two): Было бы круто увидеть вас на одной линии.
Russian has two different “you”s (ты - you, вы - you all ) for exactly this kind of thing.
44:46 Не уверен, что он силен на фланге. - Not sure he can play wing.
Real translation: Not sure he’s strong on the wing.
44:45 Но ты силен. - But you can.
Real translation: But you are strong there.
44:40 Ты бы поставила его центровать меня? Меня? - You would have him center me? Me?
44:36 Зрителям бы понравилось. - The people would love it.
44:33 Зрители ошибаются! - The people are wrong!
44:19 Интересно сколько нарядов будет у Роуз Лэндри. Такой стильных. - I wonder how many outfits Rose Landry will bring. She has such a good style.
Word choice: Такой стильных (“such stylish”) doesn’t make any sense and doesn’t agree grammatically. Assuming we wanted to say “She has such a good style,” we can say: она такая стильная.
Hi! Just wondering, are you going to be doing analysis on the Russian in ep5? I'm learning Russian and I'm a language teacher so I find it incredibly interesting😅 Also, so far you're the only one I've found who includes the actual Russian in its entirety, instead of just the translations and some examples, so you're basically a gold mine for a language nerd such as myself lol
Hi! I am doing it! I’ll make sure it ends up long and almost unreadable. With all the Russian included and all my attempts to explain the sense of “wrongness” in each sentence 😅
Holy shit, I’m impressed!
Maybe I’m biased, but I feel like his Russian is getting better and better.
I’m going to do a word-by-word analysis to see if he’s really getting close to perfect.
But first, let’s talk about the wording. It is not bad, don’t get me wrong. These are the correct Russian words to say. It just feels a bit flat and bookish. Not creepy, for sure. More like 19th-century Tolstoy vibes.
And we are fully in love-confession territory now. I was worried he wouldn’t be able to say "in love", and instead he goes straight to "this is love"! That might be extremely painful to say for you, Ilya.
Easy "English-ish" phonetics are in [ ] (stress in CAPS, ' for palatalization), translations are in ( ).
я - [ya] - (I)
так сильно - [tak S’EEL’nuh] - (so much)
тебя - [t’eeB’A] - (you)
люблю - [l’uBL’OO] - (love)
и - [ee] - (and)
не знаю - [n’e ZNA-yoo] - (don’t know)
что - [shtoh] - (what)
с этим - [s EH-t’im] - (with it)
делать - [D’Eluht’] - (to do)
The first thing that gives away that it’s not native speech is the intonation. It feels a little too bouncy for Russian. I think that if the intonation were right, the really minor sound issues could be chalked up to this person’s individual quirks rather than immediately reading as "foreign". And in many cases during the show, his intonation was closer to natural Russian.
But I also feel that Connor is significantly better with unstressed vowels. They’re definitely less obvious than before.
So let’s look at a couple of words.
так сильно - [tak S’EEL’nuh] - (so much)
The S’ wasn’t quite there. But I know native speakers who don’t pronounce it very strongly either, so I don’t think this is a big deal.
тебя - [t’eeB’A] - (you)
Just wanted to pause here to say the unstressed ee vowel was really good, and the palatalized B’ too. If not for the jerky intonation, it would be perfect.
и - [ee] - (and)
Maybe it’s part of the larger intonation issue, but the ee was too short, so short that I missed it the first few times. It’s an important standalone word and should be a bit more pronounced.
делать - [D’Eluht’] - (to do)
To me, the D’ sounds a little "Dy"-ish - like the D is palatalized and there’s a tiny y glide after it. That may be happening because he goes a bit deeper than needed into the next vowel (E), and it’s hard to do that cleanly without inserting a slight y sound.
And that’s it! And honestly, I was probably nitpicking.
Russian Language Line-by-Line Analysis of Heated Rivalry (Part 5)
So let’s look at the Russian used in Episode 4. The big thing in this episode is that all the swearing is gone in Russian. Which is a pity, because Russian has some great swear words.
I have nothing left to say about pronunciation that I haven’t already said previously, so I didn’t.
Some unrelated rambling about t.A.T.u. first.
For me, it was basically the highlight of the whole episode. This song represents the period when we were all young and had some hope that this would not end up like this. So very, very nostalgic. I understand that everyone involved in this song’s production is a horrible person, but we did not know that in 2000 when it came out.
Disclaimer: I am sure everyone involved did their best, and I mean no disrespect by any of the below. The whole thing is my personal opinion and I could be totally wrong.
Drinking shots with Sveta
41:16 За/нa здоровье! - Not translated - Cheers
I personally hear “na zdorovie”, but “za zdorovie” makes a bit more sense.
Word choice: You are not ready for this conversation, but Russians do not actually say it when drinking. At least not Ilya’s generation. Unless they are messing with you, obviously.
When watching Shane winning the second Cup
38:40 Блядь! - Not translated - Fuck
Side remark
37:47 Those are American pill bottles. In Russia, pills come in factory packages, not repackaged for single use. But maybe Ilya has his dad see an American doctor or something.
Watching Shane doing yoga
33:49 Я готова - I’m ready
33:47 Но может ты решил, чтобы мы остались, чтобы смотреть… неважно что - Unless you’ve decided we should stay in and watch… whatever this is.
Word choice: Very awkward-sounding Russian.
1. Чтобы (in order to) is not needed here. You can just say решил остаться.
2. Смотреть (to be watching) is in the imperfect form, not quite as continuous as I translated it into English, just for you to understand my point. On average, most people will use the perfect form here - посмотреть (watch).
3. Неважно что is not used the same way as the supposed English translation “whatever it is”. Что бы это ни было is probably what they are trying to say here.
33:42 Извини. - Sorry.
33:41 Это такая скука, что я чуть не впал в кому - It’s so fucking boring I almost fell into a coma.
Word choice: Technically it is Russian. But no swear words and bookish on top of that. And “coma” feels like a very unfamiliar metaphor for a Russian speaker in this case. We are more likely to say: я чуть не сдох со скуки / я отрубаюсь / я чуть не заснул (I almost died of boredom / I’m totally zoning out / I almost fell asleep).
33:34 Зато он действительно красавчик, да? - He’s fucking hot, though.
Word choice: Not bad, although without any swearing in Russian, and bookish.
In a car with Sveta
33:26 Ты с кем-то сейчас встречаешься? - Are you seeing anyone these days?
33:22 Ревнуешь? - Are you jealous?
33:20 Нет, ты же меня знаешь. - No. I think you know me better than that.
33:16 То есть ничего серьезного? - So there’s no one serious?
Real translation: So nothing serious?
33:14 Неа. - Nope
Word choice: It was already discussed a million times, but this is really a casual “Nope” a Russian would use here.
33:10 Даже не с Джейн? - Not even Jane?
33:06 Что? - What?
33:05 Вы уже несколько лет переписываетесь, я думала может быть это что-то… серьезное. Или что-то типа того. - You’ve been texting for years. I thought maybe it was serious. Or something.
32:56 Ничего серьезного. Вообще. - It’s not serious. Or anything.
Real translation: Nothing serious. At all.
32:49 Саша передает привет. - Sasha says hi.
Tuna melt scene
24:09 Здравствуй, папа. - Hello, Father.
Word choice: And this time he does use папа (dad/daddy) when talking to him. I guess so Shane could recognize the word? Здравствуй (hello) is borderline formal, but they have a complicated relationship, it could be intentional.
24:07 Да, я получил твое сообщение. - Yes, I got your message.
24:03 Я тебе ответил, папа. Мы говорили вчера. - I did answer you, Father. We spoke yesterday.
23:58 Папа… - Father…
23:56 Папа, где Алексей? - Father, where is Alexei?
Word choice: Again, not Alexei when referring your brother to your father. It is too formal.
23:51 Мой брат Алексей. - My brother Alexei.
23:49 Он там с тобой? - Is he there with you?
Word choice: It is possible. But там (there) in Russian is used here as a filler, it could be omitted altogether.
23:49 Ты один? - Are you alone?
23:44 Полина там? - Is Polina there?
Word choice: Again, там (there) is not really used when trying to understand if a person is nearby in this sense. More natural could be Полина с тобой? / Полина (там) рядом? (Is Polina with you? / Is Polina nearby?)
23:41 Полина, она твоя жена, папа. - Polina, she is your wife (“Dad” is omitted from translation).
Word choice: It is correct Russian. But more likely than not, an average Russian will probably invert some words: Полина, жена твоя.
23:35 Папа! Хорошо, успокойся. - Father, stay calm.
Real translation: Dad! Ok, calm down.
23:31 Я позвоню Алексею. Я ему позвоню. - I will call Alexei. I will call him.
23:25 Где ты? Папа один и он психует. - Where the fuck are you? Dad is alone and he’s freaking out.
Word choice: Again, no swearing in Russian. But психует (freak out) is really good.
23:21 Я тебе плачу чтобы ты был там с ним, сволочь! - I fucking pay you to be there with him, asshole!
Word choice: In my experience сволочь is a bit too mild and bookish a swear word to be used by one brother to curse another. You need stronger words: мудак, гандон, пидорас. The last one is “faggot”, so it is obviously questionable for Ilya to use here.
Watching news about Shane and Rose
08:13 Блядь! - Not translated. - Fuck.
Let's discuss the infamous ending of Ilya's Russian monologue.
“and on top of everything, I’m pretty sure I’m in love with you and I don’t know what to do about it.”
I’m not sure you realize how actually difficult this is to translate into Russian.
Sure, we can go the infamous Google Translate route and just translate every word separately:
И ко всему прочему, я почти уверен, что влюблён в тебя, и понятия не имею, что с этим делать.
You can probably tell that it’s an insane amount of commas, but that’s not even the biggest problem here. It is painful to read, let alone say aloud.
I am not happy with the beginning. Both “и ко всему прочему” (on top of everything) and “почти уверен” (pretty sure) sound heavy, bookish, and unalive.
I was also thinking a lot about whether a 25-year-old hockey player could actually say “влюблен” (in love). Because, you know, Russians do not blush and definitely do not say those words ever. But that’s kind of the point, so we should probably force Ilya to pronounce it; let’s hope he can survive it. The alternative slang – “я на тебе двинулся/конкретно залип” – sounds ridiculous anyway.
The last part is just flat, aside from not sounding like how real people speak: понятия не имею, что с этим делать.
So let's think about what Ilya is trying to say here:
1. He has a lot of problems, and this one is just a cherry on top.
2. He is in love with Shane, but can’t sound too sure when he says it because he is a tough guy.
3. He can't see any clear resolution to this problem.
We have a lot of ways to say 1.
Вдобавок ко всему
Как будто мало всего остального
Как назло
Мало того
И на этом фоне ещё…
И вишенка на торте -
И, в придачу,
And none of them feel right. Maybe we can get away with just using “А ещё” (and also)?
2 is less tricky. We can just say “похоже” (looks like). But a more slangy version seems more to the point – “походу”.
And finally, for option 3 we have a lot of possibilities:
…вообще не знаю, как с этим быть.
…вообще не понимаю, что теперь делать.
…сам не знаю, что дальше.
Or even (with heavy slang):
…не шарю, что дальше.
But I'd stick to something in the middle: “хрен поймёшь, как с этим жить.” (I have no fucking idea how to live with that).
Eщё я походу в тебя влюблен, и хрен поймёшь, как с этим жить.
Any other suggestions from my fellow Russian speakers?
Russian Language Line-by-Line Analysis of Heated Rivalry (Part 4)
The last part of the Russian scenes in Episode 2.
I should confess that those scenes are difficult to watch as a Russian speaker. I usually either switch off the sound or skip the whole exchange.
The actor playing Sasha is unfortunately not very good at Russian, to the point of not being fully understandable. I do not think it would be fair or beneficial for anybody to point out everything mispronounced in each sentence. I will only mention something out of the ordinary.
So if I mention Sveta and Ilya more, that is not because they are bad, but because they are good, and I only have some minor things that are interesting to me to mention.
Sveta pronounces some cities and team names in English, not how they are pronounced in Russian. For a bilingual, this is normal. I will not mention it separately.
Disclaimer: I am sure everyone involved did their best, and I mean no disrespect by any of the below. The whole thing is my personal opinion and I could be totally wrong.
Bathroom threesome.
21:41 Давненько, Илья. - Long time, Ilya.
Word choice: I’ve never heard this used as a greeting. If it was ever used, it was probably before 1917.
21:36 Давненько, Саша. - Long time, Sasha.
21:28 Я думаю, ты неплохо играл. - I don’t think you played that badly.
21:26 Я бы сказал спасибо, но я знаю, что ты не смотрел ни одной игры. - I’d say thank you, but I know you didn’t watch a single fucking game.
Real translation: same, but no swearing in English.
Word choice: sounds a bit bookish, but nothing major.
Pronunciation: very unlike Connor, Ilya has a pretty thick American accent here: the intonation and most of the vowels are pure English.
21:22 Для того, кто всю жизнь был сыном тренера по хоккею, ты умудрился этого избежать. - For someone whose father has been a hockey coach your whole life, you sure have managed to avoid it.
Word choice: Google Translate. First, it is a mismatch with the previous sentence and it is not completely understandable what is meant by этого (it). The word choice, although understandable, does not seem to be something that an average Russian would say. Again, here a Russian editor who knows what they are doing is needed, not me. I’d suggest something like: Быть сыном хоккейного тренера и так умело избегать хоккея - это надо уметь.
21:16 Я иногда обращаю внимание. Когда есть, на что стоит обращать внимание. - I pay attention sometimes. When there’s something worth paying attention to.
Word choice: In my opinion, you cannot use this direct translation of "pay attention" here. In Russian it has more of a meaning “to shift attention to something, to focus”, not to casually say that he watches hockey from time to time. So something like this: Иногда все-таки посматриваю. Когда есть на что смотреть.
Pronunciation: It was particularly difficult to understand.
21:09 В любом случае это не имеет значения для тебя. - Anyway, ultimately, it doesn’t matter for you.
Word choice: Google Translate. “For you” should not be used in Russian. And “имеет значения” is not used in this sense. Better: В любом случае, это неважно.
21:08 Не имеет? Почему ты так решила? Мой отец… - It doesn’t? How do you figure that? My father…
Word choice: Google Translate. “Почему ты так решила” is too bookish. Better: Неважно? С чего ты взяла? Мой отец…
Pronunciation: Again, heavier than usual accent, mostly because of wrong intonation.
21:04 Твой отец - сволочь. Который в любом случае тебя накажет. Тебе надо перестать волноваться о том, что он думает. И плевать на эти дурацкие игры, когда у тебя есть реальный шанс на Кубок в этом году. - Your father is an asshole who would have punished you either way. You need to stop giving a fuck what he thinks. And fuck these stupid games when you have a real shot at the Cup this year.
Real translation: Your father is an asshole. He’ll punish you anyway. You need to stop worrying about what he thinks. And forget about those silly games when you have a real shot at the Cup this year. - So it is milder, without many swear words.
Word choice: bookish and unalive. And if they wanted Sveta to be more direct, Russian does have plenty of swear words.
20:51 Правда? - I do?
Word choice: I was basically yelling that the best and most natural Russian response should be Да ладно?
20:50 Да, правда. Хантер и Адмиралы не пройдут через Нью Джерси. А Нью Джерси не пройдет через Холландера и Монреаль. Я думаю, что в этом году ты сможешь победить Монреаль. - Yes, you do. Hunter and the Admirals won’t get past New Jersey. But New Jersey won’t get past Hollander and Montreal. I think this year you can take Montreal.
Pronunciation: Sveta mispronounced Адмиралы as Адмирали.
20:40 В этом году? - This year?
20:40 Да. В этом году. Потому что я думаю, что Митка травмирован. - Yes. This year, because I think Mitka is hurt.
20:32 Откуда ты все это знаешь? - How do you know all this?
20:31 Она экстрасенс. - She’s psychic.
20:29 А с травмированным вратарем далеко не уедешь. Как вы тут с командой довольно неплохо показали. - And with a hurt goalie, you can only go so far. As you and your team proved rather well here.
Word choice: I think “наглядно продемонстрировали” is better than “неплохо показали”.
Pronunciation: I could be mistaken, but it sounds like an attempt to go for a vocal fry at “командой неплохо”. It is not really used in Russian now and I hope it will not become a thing.
20:21 Туше. - Touche.
Word choice: It could be used, but it has very old-fashioned aristocracy vibes. Not sure that Ilya is from the right circles.
20:20 Это Восток, а потом ты сможешь победить, ты сможешь победить кого угодно на Западе. - And that’s the East. Then you can take anyone in the West.
Pronunciation: Very American intonation when pronouncing “на Западе” + again sounds like an attempt at vocal fry.
20:14 Чикаго - не то, что раньше. В финале скорее всего окажется Сан Франциско. И они хороши, но слишком молоды. - Chicago ain’t what they used to be. It’ll probably end up being San Francisco. They’re good but they are too young.
Word choice: The Chicago phrase sounds like an English calque. Чикаго уже не тот is enough.
20:05 Так и выиграешь Кубок Стенли на год раньше, чем я поспорила с отцом. - That’s how you end up winning the Cup one year earlier than I bet my father you would.
Real translation: NHL can sue, she actually says Stanley Cup here.
19:56 Нет, спасибо, мне пора спать. Мне завтра нужно идеально выглядеть. - No thanks. Now it’s bedtime for me. I have to look perfect tomorrow.
19:52 Ты всегда идеально выглядишь. - You always look perfect.
19:49 Верно. Но вам нужно еще наговориться. Увидимся в Бостоне, Илья. - True. But you boys also need to catch up. See you in Boston, Ilya.
19:41 Пока-пока. - Bye-bye.
Bathroom with Sasha
19:36 Ну что? Как Париж, Саша? О! Там классно. Я просто обожаю это место. - So? How’s Paris, Sasha? Oh, it’s great, thanks. I fucking love it there.
Word choice: Too many words in Я просто обожаю это место. Technically, even just Обожаю will be enough in this case.
19:22 Клубы - отвал башки. Девушки - просто прелесть. А мальчики. Ну, ты же видел французских парней? Да, Илья? - The clubs are insane. The girls are hot. And the boys. Well, you’ve seen French boys, right, Ilya?
Word choice: It sounds to me like perverted college professor talk. It is Russian, but a bit outdated and standoffish.
Pronunciation: He pronounces Ilya just right! So proud of him!
19:00 Боже, вообще ничего? - Oh my God, nothing?
Word choice: Not sure what Sasha is trying to say here. But if he is surprised by the lack of Ilya’s reaction whatsoever, he can say so: Вообще никакой реакции / ноль реакции / полный игнор?!
18:54 Ты не нюхаешь кокаин. Не шутишь. Не флиртуешь в ответ. - You don’t do coke, you don’t make jokes, you don’t flirt back…
Word choice: Again, dirty college professor vibes. Кокаин (cocaine) is the scientific name, it should be кокс (coke). Better: Ты не нюхаешь кокс, не шутишь и даже на флирт не реагируешь…
18:43 Раньше ты был (?) веселее? - You used to be fun, Ilya.
Pronunciation: Not really sure what he said in Russian.
18:20 Опасность раньше возбуждала тебя, если память мне не изменяет. - Danger used to get you going, if memory serves.
Word choice: память мне не изменяет - too bookish / outdated. Maybe если я правильно помню?
18:10 Мы уже не дети, Саша. - We’re not kids anymore, Sasha.
18:06 Да, это точно. - We’re sure not.
17:59 Прекрати. - Stop.
Word choice: Too bookish and outdated. Better: хватит / завязывай / остынь.
17:56 Ладно, поехали куда-нибудь. - OK, let’s go somewhere.
17:52 Нет. - No.
17:42 Ладно. Я найду вечеринку. - Fine, I’m gonna find a party.
Word choice: Google Translate with outdated language. Better something along the lines of: Ладно, пойду поищу какой-нибудь движ.
17:29 Пока, Илья. - Bye, Ilya.
17:25 Был рад тебя видеть. - Nice to see you, Sasha.
Pronunciation: Ilya pronounces т in видеть without the needed palatalization. So it ended up as the wrong word - видет (he sees).
Ilya winning the cup.
14:24 Для тебя, мама! - Not translated. - For you, mom!
Pronunciation: The stress in мама should be on the first syllable.
No more Russian language. Just some interesting moments.
The New Yorker exchange
9:58 Genetic
I understand that Shane probably does not know this, but in Russian “genetic” is basically the same word - Генетика / генетический. English and Russian both borrowed it from Greek. So it is not really that impressive that Ilya knows the word. “What a fucking day!” from the gym scene in Episode 1 seems more difficult to grasp as a Russian speaker.
Vodka
Russians do not drink vodka from whiskey glasses, especially not with ice.
Russian Language Line-by-Line Analysis of Heated Rivalry (Part 3)
The Russian autopsy continues. We’re now moving on to the beginning of Episode 2.
I think we’ve already got a pretty good sense of everyone’s pronunciation by now. I’m not going to point out Connor’s usual soft-consonant and unstressed-vowel issues, or any other minor pronunciation slips, unless they’re really critical.
The main problem is the Russian script anyway. When it doesn’t sound like Google Translate, it sounds like something out of a book, not real speech.
Disclaimer. I am sure everyone involved did their best, and I mean no disrespect by any of the below. The whole thing is my personal opinion and I could be totally wrong.
Press conference at the Olympics
One of the reporters (native) was asking Ilya.
28:36 Что вы чувствуете сейчас, разочарование или просто усталость? - Not translated - How do you feel right now - disappointed, or just tired?
At the figure skating competition (incoming message)
26:04 Где ты, блядь? Папа так зол на тебя! - Where the fuck are you? Dad is so fucking mad at you!
Word choice: The part about Dad being mad (так зол) sounds a bit childish, you can scold a five-year-old like this. And “at you” is excessive.
With his father
24:55 Тебе надо постричься. - You need a haircut.
24:54 Да, отец. - Yes, sir.
24:50 Министр все еще хочет с тобой встретиться сегодня вечером, невзирая ни на что. - The minister still wants to meet you tonight, despite everything.
Word choice: “Невзирая” (despite) is a bit old-fashioned and bookish, but the father is pretty old, so it could be intentional. The whole sentence sounds a bit too formal for spoken language.
24:43 Это честь для меня. - It will be my honour.
24:42 Ты должен быть поощрен честью. После вчерашнего. Ты проиграл… - You should be honoured. After yesterday. You lose to…
Word choice: “Поощрен честью” does not make much sense in Russian. And I feel like the whole sense should be the opposite. Like Ты не достоин этой чести. После вчерашнего. Ты проиграл… - You don’t deserve this honour. After yesterday. You lose to…
24:34 Латвии. - Latvia.
24:32 Латвии. - Latvia.
24:30 И он еще пьет. - And yet, he drinks.
Word choice: In Russian it just means that Ilya is drinking, without any additional meaning of disapproval from his father. I feel like I do not have enough qualification to rewrite it properly. Something along the lines of А он, видите ли, пьет, как ни в чем не бывало.
24:28 Как ты допустил до этого? - How could you let that happen?
Word choice: Incorrect preposition до. It should be Как ты это допустил?
24:28 Тебе не стыдно? - How are you not ashamed?
24:26 Мне стыдно, отец. - I’m ashamed, Father.
24:24 Но не настолько. - Not nearly enough.
Word choice: Недостаточно is closer and more natural-sounding to the meaning of the English translation.
24:23 Они не учат тебя дисциплине в этой Американской лиге. Это не игра, а халтура. - They teach you no discipline in the American league. Your play is sloppy.
Wrong word order: В этой американской лиге тебя вообще дисциплине не учат.
24:18 Настоящий позор - это не оправдывать надежды, которые ты показывал в детстве. - The real shame is squandering the promise you showed when you were young.
Word choice: Sounds like bookish Google Translate. Again, I do not have the skill to do it properly, but something along the lines of: Ты позорно губишь тот потенциал, который был у тебя в молодости.
24:12 Сейчас я играю лучше, чем когда-либо. - I am a better player now than I have ever been.
24:09 Наш вратарь травмирован. Команда не сыграна. - Our goalie is hurt. The team didn’t click.
24:06 Сыграна? Что это за американский абсурд. Что это - сыграна? Ты капитан. Ты делаешь их сыгранными. - Click? What is this American nonsense? What is clicking? You are the captain. You make them click!
23:59 Всегда ищешь кого-то виноватым. - Always looking for someone else to blame.
Word choice: Google Translate. It should be Ты всегда ищешь виноватых.
23:56 C самого детства. - Since you were a boy.
23:48 Кто это тебе завязывал? Твоя мама? Она не умеет этого делать. - Who tied it for you? Your mother? She doesn’t know how to do it properly.
Word choice: A Russian will most likely not use a possessive pronoun with мать/мама (mother). - Кто это тебе завязывал? Мать?
23:39 Нет, отец. Мама умерла. Ты не помнишь? - No, Father. Mom is dead. You remember?
23:28 Я имел в виду твоя мачеха. - I meant your stepmother.
Word choice: Grammatically correct is Я имел в виду твою мачеху. But a native could say it both ways.
23:25 Где Полина? В Москве? - And where is Polina? In Moscow?
Word choice: “And” was not translated into Russian, and I do believe it will sound more smooth with и (and) - И где Полина?
23:19 Конечно. - Of course.
23:14 Нам нужно идти. На гала-вечер. - We should go. To the gala.
Word choice: I googled and found out that the word гала-вечер (gala) does exist. But most Russians will most likely use прием. - Нам нужно идти. На прием.
23:07 Чтобы я мог встретиться с министром. - So that I can meet the minister.
23:03 Да. Готов? Пошли. - Yes. Ready? Let’s go.
At the gala
The minister at the gala is the first and so far the only person who speaks flawless Russian. His language and word choice are very natural. He also does not sound like a book. If you need to hire someone to edit all the Russian in the show, you probably need him.
22:58 Конечно, вратарь всегда самый крайний, все всегда упирается во вратаря. А Владилевич, ну, что с него… - It always comes down to goaltending and Vladilevich, well…
Real translation: Of course, the goalkeeper is always the one who gets blamed, everything always comes down to the keeper. And Vladilevich… well, what do you expect from him…
22:52 Ну он не был в форме, но… - He was not sharp, but
22:50 Кочев, Кочев пусть дома остается, ему надо отдыхать. Ему еще призы все на Америке надо зарабатывать - And Kitchov stays home to rest for American prizes.
Real translation: Kochev, Kochev should stay home, he needs to rest. He still has to earn all his prizes over in America. - So I think the surname is wrong and it was translated like the minister is not happy with Kochev, while he is, on the contrary, saying that he should stay in America to get all the prizes.
22:40 Хорош, хорош, слишком хорош для нас. - Too good for his country now.
Real translation: He’s good, he’s good - way too good for us. - Again, no real heat toward Kochev.
22:39 Да, да, ужасно. - Terrible, yes, terrible.
22:38 Но это проблема с лидерством. Это всегда проблема. Лидерство - But there was no leadership. That is always the problem. Leadership.
22:32 Может слишком самоуверен, а? Илья? Или слишком переволновался. - Too much confidence? Ilya? Or too much pressure maybe?
22:28 Наверное, слишком много разговора. - Too much talking, Mr. Minister, probably.
Word choice: It should be plural - Наверное, слишком много разговоров. - And she does not address the minister in any way.
22:25 Ты ж мой ангел. Ты тоже иногда слишком много разговариваешь, особенно когда дело касается хоккея. - But you love talking about hockey, my angel.
Real translation: My sweet angel. You also talk a bit too much sometimes, especially when it comes to hockey.
22:18 Только когда мы выигрываем, папа. - Only when we’re winning, Daddy.
22:15 Я веду Илью в бар. Ему явно нужен еще один бокал - I’m taking Ilya with me to the bar. He clearly needs another drink.
22:10 Смотри как она его за собой. А? - Always leading him around.
22:07 С самого детства. - Since they were children.
22:06 Спасибо - Thank you.
22:04 Я ангел. Было бы здорово, если бы ты это запомнил - I’m an angel. It would be great if you could remember that.
22:01 Я хочу выпить - I want to drink.
21:59 М-м-м. У меня есть что-то поинтереснее. - But I have something more fun in mind.
Russian Language Line-by-Line Analysis of Heated Rivalry (Part 2)
So this is the rest of the Russian scenes in Episode 1. The timecode this time is the time from the start, not to the end, because reasons.
I also realized that I called Ilya’s brother Andrei in the previous post on two occasions, like in the books. Sorry. My bet is that the name was changed because Alexei is easier to pronounce for a foreigner.
Also, sorry to everyone who likes Ilya’s Russian accent on the show. I do understand why but cannot relate. I am discussing (mostly whining about) it on occasion.
In bed with Shane
25:06 Неужели? - Not translated - Really?
Just an unrelated whine about the fake “Russian” accent: I really do not get it, especially in this particular case. Ilya pronounces Неужели in flawless, perfect Russian with all the right open vowels, and then immediately after he goes deeper to pronounce the next English phrase from the bottom of his mouth to fake his “Russian” accent? This transition literally looks painful for his throat.
In bed watching Shane’s interview
30:38 Мистер Холландер… Как это, быть идеальным? Просто отлично. Спасибо, что спросили. Ещё на французском - Mr. Hollander… How does it feel to be perfect? Fucking perfect. Thanks for asking. In fucking French.
Word choice: It should be “Каково это”, not “Как это”. And “Ещё и по-французски”, not “Ещё на французском”. The addition of “и” seems minor, but it is really important here, without it the phrase does not make much sense. Also, it is possible that a native will say “на французском”, not “по-французски”, but the last one is technically the right form.
Pronunciation: The intonation is just right. Same problem with soft sounds and unstressed vowels (see Part 1). But he pronounces the perfect Щ!
Just an unrelated whine about the fake “Russian” accent (2): This is the first time Ilya is going deeper while speaking Russian because he is technically mocking Shane. Who the fuck is he supposedly mocking when he is speaking English all the other time?
Second call with Alexei
30:50 Двадцать тысяч баксов? - Twenty thousand dollars?
Word choice: Thank you to whoever made this choice.
Pronunciation: Again, intonation is just right. Very slight mistakes in the same areas.
30:53 Да, двадцать тысяч баксов. Черт возьми. Я рад что у тебя все со слухом в порядке - Yes, twenty thousand dollars. I’m glad your hearing is OK.
Word choice: So we have a curse here that was not translated - Черт возьми (Damnation).
You will not understand the reference, but I will show you this picture anyway.
This is D’Artagnan, from the Soviet adaptation of The Three Musketeers. He is famous for always being right, for being a Soviet version of Chuck Norris, and for his tendency to use outdated and bizarre curse words in his day-to-day life.
So unless you want to make a really funny point or make a 16th-century adaptation, please do not use Черт возьми (Damnation). Even my grandpa didn’t use it anymore.
In all seriousness, I occasionally see черт partially used in messages or in speech, but always without возьми and almost always with some funny changes to the word itself: тчорт, for example.
Pronunciation: He suddenly sounds foreign to me. He literally can’t pronounce Ч (tch) in черт and mispronounces “у тебя” as “ты”. Just randomly used a completely different word.
30:56 Для чего на этот раз? - For what this time?
30:58 Чтоб трахнуть тебя. - For fuck you.
Real translation: To fuck you.
Word choice: Even from the English translation I did not really understand what they are supposedly talking about. That escalated quickly. What is Alexei’s problem here? What is he so upset about, and why does he choose to fuck his brother this tactic to ask for money?
31:01 Это, блядь, в последний раз. - This is the last fucking time.
Pronunciation: English accent is particularly heavy here. Maybe because he actually closes his vowels more. The sound is not as open as it is supposed to be.
31:02 Да-да-да. Хорошо-хорошо. - Yeah, fine.
31:04 Но я сегодня не отправлю - And I’m not sending it tonight!
Pronunciation: The same sudden English accent with closed vowels.
31:05 Почему нет, блядь - Why the fuck not?
31:06 Здесь, здесь уже полночь, Алексей! - It’s. It’s midnight here, Alexei.
Word choice: Alexei sounds so foreign (see Part 1) he might as well use his full name. Alexei Grigorievich.
31:09 Ой, у тебя все всегда какие-то тупые отговорки, Илья. - You always have some bullshit excuse, Ilya.
Word choice: Good Russian. But in my opinion отговорки is a bit too formal a word. I’d use отмазки. It is basically the same, just informal. And notice that Ilya is OK to use here, because this is the name with no automatic diminutive (see Part 1).
31:14 Как папа? - How’s Dad?
31:19 Твою мать, какая фигня с папой? Папа в порядке, Илья. Мы тут и без тебя проживем. Иди ты нахер, Илья. - What the fuck is up with you and Dad? Jesus fucking Christ! He is fine! We can all live without you. Go fuck yourself, Ilya.
Word choice: “Какая фигня с папой?” does not sound natural. In my opinion, it’s better to use something like “Что, блядь, у вас с отцом?”. Ilya is used twice here, which does sound forced in Russian. But overall it is good.
31:25 Вчера по телефону он попросил меня принести домой немного хлеба - On the phone yesterday he asked me to bring home some bread.
Word choice: Google Translate. Literally word-for-word translation.
The most obvious mistake is to say “немного хлеба” - “some bread”. In Russian we just say “хлеба” - “bread”.
“Принести” - “bring” is also not a good choice. It is used if you have something and want to bring it somewhere. In case you ask a person to buy some bread on his way home, you should use “зайти”.
“Попросил по телефону” - “asked by the phone” is also not naturally used in this particular sense.
So the final correct Russian is: “Когда я звонил ему вчера, он попросил зайти за хлебом”.
31:33 Ну он тупой. - Well, he is stupid.
31:38 Спокойной ночи, Алексей. - Good night, Alexei.
31:40 Утром - первым делом, Илья - First thing in the morning, Ilya.
Side remark: The way names are used in each sentence gives me corporate job vibes. I totally can believe that in a moment they will start some heavy small talk about used vacation days and the weather.
During the competition
33:57 Давай! - Come on!
Word choice: Давай is not used after you have already accomplished something. This is a call for action. So he most likely should use either some swear words or Да! - Yes!
At home with Svetlana
So let’s stop here and say that Svetlana is canonically bilingual and as such can make as many mistakes in as many languages as she wants and still stay fully true to herself. But I will highlight all of her mistakes in Russian anyway, because I do not have anything better to do this Saturday evening.
42:22 Господи - Jesus Christ
Pronunciation: Connor absolutely nailed it. Just a little tiny suggestion not to pronounce the second O as O, but as a schwa, if he wants Moscow or classic pronunciation.
42:23 Сюрприз! - Surprise!
42:23 Светлана - Svetlana!
Word choice: Sveta, not Svetlana (see Part 1). Unless he is trying to scold her.
42:26 Я думал ты вернулась в Москву. Что ты здесь делаешь? - I thought you were back in Russia. What the fuck are you doing here?
Real translation: I thought you’d gone back to Moscow. What are you doing here?
Pronunciation: There’s a lot of English spasmodic intonation going on. In Russian it should be pronounced more flatly.
42:29 Ну я вообще-то старалась для тебя, но я уже об этом жалею. - Being nice, but I really regret it.
Word choice: Wrong word order and a few unnecessary words. Better choice with the same words: Ну я вообще-то для тебя старалась, но уже жалею.
Pronunciation: Sveta is a native, but she is mumbling here “старалась для тебя”.
42:33 Да, это в твоем духе - Sounds like you.
Word choice: The best.
42:33 Иди к черту, Илья - Go fuck yourself, Ilya.
Word choice: I believe Sveta is not so timid and should use real swear words here. Like “Иди на хер/хуй”.
42:38 Прости, я тебя не ожидал - Sorry, I didn’t expect you.
Word choice: Oжидал is a bit too poetic for this setting. Just normal ждал is better.
42:41 Как ты узнала, что… - How did you know.
42:41 Что твою игру отменили? Об этом было объявлено, козел. - That your game was cancelled? It was announced, asshole.
Word choice: Об этом было объявлено sounds like an official document. But technically it looks Russian.
Pronunciation: The wrong stress - объЯвлено, not объявленО.
42:46 Ты меня не достоин, мне пора. - You don’t deserve me. I should go.
42:53 Ладно, теперь я действительно ухожу, ты кусок дерьма. Развлекайся с… Джейн - OK, now I’m really leaving, you piece of shit. Have fun with Jane.
Word choice: кусок дерьма is the calque of piece of shit. It is used, but mostly as a translation in English movies.
Pronunciation: Again, Sveta is mumbling, especially in действительно.
On the roof with Shane
45:52 Господи - Not translated - Jesus Christ
Pronunciation: I am really happy with it. Especially considering that he proceeded to shout in English without going into all the depths of this supposedly “Russian” accent as usual.
