As a Russian I would not use the word simplistic to describe English. I'd rather use the word analytical (which is also how English language is classified in linguistics). The word order in English is such that it allows to be more effective in conveying reasons and thoughts in a more structured manner. Russian language in contrast is, and I agree here with Lex, more emotional and has words that convey suffering in a more poetic and colourful way.
whats "more emotional" means? I would say russian is just more diverse and has more means to express feelings, it has a complex form of word formation which allows russians to improvise with it and be understood
@@Orlington17 maybe emotional is not the right word, idk. What I have in mind has something to do with the way definitions work in everyday language. The first thing that comes to my mind are philosophical terms like being, validity, existence, meaning etc. In Russian language these words have imprecise and almost esoteric connotations. It's not surprising though, because Russia (the 17th-19th century one) isn't famous for having academic philosophers (compared to Germany, France or England). Instead, philosophising was done in literature by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and the likes. So most words that Russians use to talk about life are infused with poetic definitions, which in turn evoke an emotional, rather than rational reflection. ps. These are my personal quasi-ethnographic observations. I am sure that anthropologists who study Russian culture and language are better qualified to make these comparisons. Anyhow, both English and Russian languages are great in their own ways imo.
Lex specified American English. As a native English speaker from outside the US, I agree it is simplistic. US English is clunky and unimaginative. The 20th century has given it a swagger and bravado that other English forms don't have, but otherwise it is archaic and borderline moronic. UK English is far closer to the sorts of things Lex is expressing here in ways that US English simply isn't.
What a silly statement. There are analytical languages that are very complex. English is a simplistic analytical language. "The word order in English is such that it allows to be more effective in...." LOL, no, it doesn't allow anything. It's constrictive in nature! The word order in English is imposed, so it doesn't allow for shit and means nothing.
Apart from my native Bulgarian, I also speak Russian, English and German. German is like it's made by an Engineer - everything has a very specific place and purpose and you shouldn't fuck up with it, lest it breaks. English is more liberal than German in that regard and it also has more words with unique meanings while German tends to form new words via suffixes and prefixes. Both languages are very practical and they both have the baggage of European science and technology which they had to accommodate in some form during the formation of Europe. Russian and Bulgarian on the other hand don't have this rationalistic baggage and although they can be used for conveying precise meanings, German and English are better for that. Russian, meanwhile does explode when one needs to express emotion, I agree with Lex, because you can improvise with words etc. to fit the exact emotional state that you're in. Bulgarian is also very good in this regard and while both languages have their own emotionality, Russian, because of its overcomplicated grammar and ability for word formation is probably better for poetry. Anyway, all these languages are very beautiful each in its own way and convey different parts of the human condition.
А ничего, что во всем мире пользуются Периодической таблицей Менделеева. Но на западе не упоминается этот факт. Там говорят просто периодическая таблица, это так коробит запад. Что химическая таблица Менделеева изобретена русским ученым. А ничего, что русские первые в космосе, это все тоже наука и научный язык. Русский язык синтетический. Он совмещает в себе как старые, древние формы, которые до сих пор используются, так и современные, новые слова. Русский язык, язык науки тоже. Возьмём например атомную энергетику. А вы знали, что в России изобрели вечную переработку ядерных отходов? Конечно нет). А уже как 2 года работает такая АЭС в России.
Some Russians don’t swear at all, some never swear in front of women and elderly people. English allows you to think in structures. It really helps your brain. It’s super useful. Russian allows you to be more creative and spontaneous.
@@juser-abuser first, you have to speak both languages to correctly compare. Second, you have to define what creativity is. The variety of Russian is mind blowing. Check the Russo-English dictionary for the word GO, for example. And I don’t even touch on the topic of stylistics.
@@mortanafidler >first, you have to speak both languages to correctly compare Sure. >Second, you have to define what creativity is. Address that to OP. >The variety of Russian is mind blowing. The variety of what? >Check the Russo-English dictionary for the word GO, for example Check the Russo-English dictionary, like any dictionary. Average Russian dictionary for example has 200 thousand words, English has 1 million words. >And I don’t even touch on the topic of stylistics. Please don't, you don't understand English stylistics at all.
As a Russian person I was expecting something weird and a little naive, but was actually super surprised by how well he explained everything regarding the langauge, it's pretty much spot on
USSR was the reason behind the great leap forward for the peasantry and proletarians. one thing i have noticed is wherever communists and socialists got organized they started to educate their people from South America to china they started teaching, and in Afghanistan the primary target of american backed mujahideen were the school teacher who were thought of as communists and killed on sight without reason or if they were actually communists or not.
And also because you don't live there. Until I moved to the US 25 years ago, I did not realize that easily half the meaning of Hollywood movies is lost in translation, both linguistic and geographic. The same is true of any country, but it's especially true of Russia, simply because there's quite a bit more "meaning" and "culture" there.
@@MrJ4ckie the most based comment in the comments section. All this "philosophical" bs Lex is trying to push is just that, it's bs. There's nothing great in russian literature except the volume. Saying this as someone who speaks Russian, has read all of those "great" writers and has a kinda soviet education.
Russian swearing is spot on. There's so much you can do with one simple stem, both positive and negative, and we have at least five of them. For instance, you can use the stem that literally means "dick" to express admiration, magnitude, disgust, embarrassment, and much much more
Maybe you are referring to the six grammatical cases in Russian (compared to only two in English). This makes Russian insanely difficult to correctly speak, even for many Russians, but on the flip side makes it incredibly precise and/or poetic. I've got a little taste of this in learning German which is a four-grammatical case system.
My whole life changed once I started reading Russian Literature. Of course, it's English translated, but there's something unexplainable in the words, the only way to know is to read it. I wish I could experience them in their true language, but I'm still grateful for the positive impact so many Russian writers have had on my life.
As a Chinese, I’m impressed by this man’s knowledge as he compares the Chinese education system as similar to Russian’s. The workload is heavy and the pace is fast. How students and teachers view and approach the material is also very different from the American way.
I was recently teaching in China and I was surprised to see the exact same time spacing of lessons as we had in Slovakia, which was also part of USSR and adapted the same teaching style. 45 minute teaching session, followed by a 10 minute break, this repeats throughout the day with the exception of the "10 A.M. break" which is 20 minutes, and also a longer break for lunch. In the Slovak language we even have a word for the "10 A.M. meal" which is normally eaten during this 20 minute break, "desiata", stemming from the word for 10, "desať" . China was a bit of a culture shock in how vastly different it was in absolutely every aspect of life. But then there's the school system which was *precisely* the exact same I grew up with in Slovakia.
Just an example. Russian name "Pavel" can be shortend as "Pasha" (friendly way), "Pashka" (a bit diminishing and derogatory but ok if a friend says it), "Pavlukha" - (same but more friendly and a bit patronizing), "Pakhan" (same but more diminishing - like a street talk version), "Pashenka" (with love and tenderness), Pashechka (even more love and tenderness), Pashul (with love but with a hint of familiness to it like a wife to husband sorta way), "Pavlushka" - (with love to a kid but a bit diminishing), "Pavlushenka" - (like a loving and caring mother to a child), "Pashulechka" (with UTTER love and tenderness like to a very much loved little baby who has just done smth very qute)...and just dont get me started on "Pashgun", "Pavlos" etc... And what do we have in English? "Paul", "Pauly" and...I dont know...may be "Paulster"? But...with all that said as a foreigner I love how English speakers find ways to make such hitting and clever jokes and sayings with English which are truly unique. A lot of times when I laugh at English jokes and asked to translate - I struggle.
That's really interesting that English doesn't have 100 versions of one name unlike Russian. I thought about it too. Apparently one name is enough to convey different feelings, and the intonation is more important than the word? Let's not forget English is more concise than Russian and it's not a bad thing...
@@victoriaseawatch5407 It seems like Russians use different variations of the same word to convey meaning and emotion while English speakers use tone, inflection, cadence, and intonation to convey different emotions and meaning using the same words. Maybe that's why I find Russian speakers so dry and unemotional. The emotion is in the words and not their voice. For instance, saying "I hate you" in English can mean several different things depending on how I say it and the circumstances in which I say it. You can do something I dislike very much and I actually hate you. You can do something for me with ease with which I was struggling with and I can say it in a joking, self deprecating, and appreciative way. I could say "I'm going to kill you". That could mean I'm actually going to do it, or that you're annoying me and you should stop what you're going, or it could be said in a joking way in response to something someone did. Each one is dependent upon tone of voice and the scenario in which it was spoken. Would Russians have 18 different variations for each scenario? If so, it seems like a very convoluted way to communicate. I prefer the more concise way that depends upon the situation and inflection.
@@oldscratch3535 Russians also say "I hate you" to express many things, not necessarily hate. I think the same goes for "I'll kill you". We're more likely to play with the suffixes of nouns and adjectives, sometimes for no good reason (many Russians themselves don't like it when somebody goes overboard using diminutive suffixes to express love or/and smallness). In English you can also say "a girl" or "a girlie" but I think it ends at that, whereas in Russian you can change the suffixes and add one to another to the point where it gets weird. I guess we just love playing with words in our own way (not to say English speaking people don't), but ultimately I don't think it makes the language 'more emotional' or people speaking it 'more emotional' (or being able to feel pain or love deeper or whatever - it's more in the response to the OP). Upd: I love how you pointed out that Russians express their emotions through the variations of the words rather than the tone, etc. You may be onto something. WIth that said, Russians can still be pretty expressive with their tone but it's harder to recognize if you're not familiar with the language closely
Russian here. I wish people were also forced to re-read the classics when they're 40 or so, with the benefit of life experience. Even if you're reading the works of Tolstoy or Dostoevsky in the language they were written, you can't absorb much of it when you're 16-17. 40's though? Those are absolutely, crushingly profound pieces of literature, worth re-reading. Nothing in the West comes even remotely close. "Brothers Karamasov" and "War and Peace" both should be mandatory if one wants to call themselves Russian.
@@anthonyperri70 Are you slow? I never said people should be forced to read the classics, it was the other guy. I merely said if you are able to read and can’t you might as well be illiterate. You have legs but if you choose to sit instead of move you might as well have none.
I can understand using English for business purposes when dealing with people outside of Russia. The use of English inside of Russia for law or business is a laughable concept.
@@kiz11ayeah well the majority of russians don't speak english, there's also not many immigrants who speak english so russians have no reason to speak english if they're in their motherland... russian is pretty much the english of slavic countries from my understanding, many people can speak/understand russian in countries other than russia (ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, moldova & more)... so yea unless you own a massive company doing international business you're probably not worried about speaking english
It was more nuanced than that. He meant in reqards to expressing yourself eloquently. English gives me a way to be very specific in what I'm talking about and Japanese is a very general language that is heavily context-dependent. All the languages are different and interesting in their own ways which will lead to strengths and weaknesses.
@@worgenzwithm14z Yeah, but just the fact that he's priviledging eloquence as a “goal” to be attained or at the very least as something desirable -because for anglo people “it makes sense” to be eloquent- IS very American. Note he could have asked which language is more poetic/beautiful/practical/interpretive but he chose the most productivity-like criterion to ask. That IS very American.
As a person who was born and raised in Moscow, but who also lived in the english-speaking west for many-many years (and I also speak French well enough just to confirm my thesis), I could say that the languages are most definitely different. And they are different in not a trivial way. There is a kind of deep matrix of core meanings (like "what life really is" kind of meanings) behind each language, and by adopting one language or another, you actually are switching between these matrices of looking at things. You can establish word translations and so on, but words don't have meanings by themselves, they are built into a surrounding predominant feeling of the world. And this unspoken, unconscious part is actually lost in translation. This is why the most talented translations are more like adaptations rather than translating the precise meaning into another language. For example, there are no equivalent words in Russian for "challenge" or "commitment", and there are no really close equivalents. It means that Russian don't have those mental constructs corresponding to the precise meaning of English words above, but there are other ideas that have slightly different connotations and meanings. It means that when you translate those words, you have to take it into account. It also means that Russians don't see the world in terms of "challenges" and "commitments", their approach is different. In this sense the Russian world is different because it projects different meanings onto things. The western school of sovietology understood this, but, one way or another, it is now lost and we appear to be lost in translation... When it comes to swearing.... I'd be more cautious and careful in my judgement. First, I wouldn't glorify swearing the Lex does. In a normal situation, swearing is inappropriate (way more than in a typical social situation in the US, it can be a sign of indecency). But at the same time, Russian swearing could very sophisticated, especially given that words in Russian could be easily modified to convey the tiniest nuances of meaning. On general, the ability to create new words on the fly to use them as tools to convey the nuances meaning is something that gives Russians ability to see what English- or French-speakers will never see. The language defines what's possible in the world. And Russians are particularly good at creating new words (and therefore things described by those words) out of thin air, as an act of fun.
@@user-cp1ku6kr6z simply because 1) it doesn't reflect the whole set of meanings of "challenge" (to challenge a status quo (to disrupt), challenging situation (a difficult situation that isn't easy to overcome), challenge (as something that involves competition), etc. and 2) "вызов" has its own set of meanings that have nothing at all to do with "challenge": "вызов такси", "вызов к начальнику", "вызов" (as in phone call). And even with the meaning it has, it's completely artificial, other than in govt. presentations and speeches, people don't talk like that. My ears are bleeding when someone says "вызов". Or you can try translating "adjustment". :-)) same story.
@@st5974 well, it's not 100% precise, but I don't think that it's lacking substantial part of its meaning I mean, harsh circumstances can "бросить вызов" to you, which is very close to be "challenging" Can someone provide any example of usage of this word that cannot be translated to russian without loosing its substance? I can think of this - you cannot translate the word "challenger" to russian gracefully, but this alone doesn't mean that russian has no concept of challenge
Languages are always more than just their "spoken" form, a language opens you up to whole new cultures and worlds, new ways to experience and share said experiences, there's even studies out there that show that the way your brain works and even your personality changes depending on which language you choose to speak, and of course. They carry the weight and history of the land and it's people with it. Fascinating stuff.
One Chinese youtuber that has a channel in Russian about Chinese culture, nuances, way of thinking and other everyday life differences between Russia and China once said, "when you learn a different language, it's like you gain a different soul. I now have two souls in me - my Chinese soul and my new Russian soul". There's definitely truth to her words. As a Russian who speaks fluent English, I often catch myself thinking in different languages depending on subject. Knowing English expanded my way of thinking. I wonder if it's too late for me to learn Chinese...
That about personality changing is true. I'm basically an american when speaking english, very polite when speaking standart german and more distanced when speaking my northern german dialekt, in stark contrass to my more warm american dialekt.
You don't need to speak a different langauge for that. It's almost funny that Lex speaks a very sterile english, and thinks it lacks poetry. The brits are way better at word play. That's more of an American thing.
That last bit Lex mentioned about how much of the culture he is losing not being able to speak that cultures language perfectly expresses the eye opening experience I had when I started to learn Spanish. If you've only spoken your native language for your entire life it's amazing how eye opening the journey of learning another language really is. It's hard to explain to someone that hasn't really dove into learning another language but the way Lex puts it hit the nail on the head for me. I highly recommend that anyone should start learning another language, particularly one from any culture you're curious about, without worrying about how "hard" or "easy" that language is perceived. Once I started, I now have constant FOMO of how much I don't understand about the way other cultures communicate and can't wait to learn more.
@@RudyBoyI agree w y’all. I think it forces you a part of your brain that is never used and causes you to start thinking actively and helps you with word selection. Language is sooo massive it’s underneath the whole worlds nose. Learning Russian has improved my English and I haven’t practiced English since high school.
I guess for people used to the order and efficiency of the so called first world it can be kinda shocking to see how chaotic and messy Latin American societies are. It's something cultural, I guess. Sometimes we're more relaxed but sometimes this disorganized lifestyle can become fatiguing. Our literature is kinda violent, but I guess not as much as Russian (after all, our history has not been an easy ride, but poverty and misery have been more important than war itself). And there's a lot of unknown literature that's only read in some countries where it was written.
When I studied Mandarin it opened me up immensely and there is way to how the language manifests itself in you. You think the language, it becomes part of your mannerisms, it comes through in many ways. I found myself when I spoke Mandarin moving like a Chinese person when gesturing, doing things in a Chinese way when practicing even though I am of European descent. It just came naturally when adding emphasis in speech. This was not some kind of pantomime or mimicry exercises. English also seems more open in its simplicity in how other cultures can transpose these things on top of it -- it is not truly odd for another culture to learn English and still manifest itself, however. Perhaps this comes from English being in itself a hybrid language.
@@loganchase-buter9972learning Russian taught me English grammar, an endeavor at which all of my teachers in grade school and high school had wholly failed.
Lex is right about education being more intense in Russia than it is in America. I'm Russian myself, I studied in US schools until the eighth grade. Funnily enough when I was in seventh grade - they put me in an advanced mathematics group in my school, where we studied algebra and what have you (we were two years ahead of the rest of the class). Then our family moved back to Russia in the late 90's, and after eighth grade in an American school I started eighth grade in a Russian school (so I lost a year, because of that I was 18 when I graduated and almost wound up in the Russian army as a conscript in result, but that's a different story). And the thing is that if I wouldn't have been assigned to that advanced group back in the States - I would've been two years behind my Russian peers in mathematics. Turns out that in Russia they begin to study mathematics at the American 9th grade level starting from seventh grade.
We in India use Soviet Physics Books by Krotov, Irodov, Landau & Lifshitz for tough practice problems for Engineering entrance exams. These are timeless classics. The Soviet physics books have a special character to them, especially the math heavy approach to explanation and problems.
@@rahulvats95 Oh my God, these textbooks influenced me so much that just the word “Landau” evokes flashbacks of post-traumatic syndrome in me. And I just studied 4 volumes out of 10! I'm still sure that I look crazy only because I know how to use the "Stationary-action principle" to derive the entire equation of mechanics and electrodynamics!
Americans tend to score below average in math, average in reading, and above average in science. These scores typically average out to the US having somewhere around the 25th strongest education system in the world. American education does seem to breed creativity, though. Americans seem to be quite creative problem solvers; and they don't lack confidence, for better or worse.
@@JorgeM270Hmm, I think there’s a difference between the American and Russian approach. The American approach is to encourage students to come up with a way to solve the problem on their own, which takes longer but cultivates creative and out-of-the-box thinking. The Russian approach is to show students a proven way to solve the problem which is quicker but more conformist. This could explain why Russians aren’t great at innovating new solutions but are great at engineering and optimizing solutions in fields which are already well-developed. As one example, during the late Cold War the USSR was lagging behind the USA in electronics/computers because the USA was busy innovating and moving that field forward while the USSR played catchup. So, American fighter planes had better radar, avionics, and longer ranged missiles. However, Soviet fighter planes had better aerodynamical properties because this was a very well-established field by that time and the Soviet engineers excelled at optimizing solutions. Since then the gaps in both capabilities have diminished a little, with modernized Russian planes getting more modern electronics and American planes incorporating more advanced aerodynamical features. Another example is space launches. America leads innovation with companies like Space-X developing new technology such as reusable rockets, but Russia again leading optimization with the Soyuz series of rockets being for decades the safest and most cost-effective way to get humans into orbit, including all ferrying of American astronauts to the ISS between 2011 and 2020.
What Lex is saying isn't just for Russian language. It's almost all Slavic languages. They are emotionally more expressive and as my first language is also Slavic language, I find myself struggling sometimes to express what I want to say in English. Some phrases just cannot be translated and words also that you want translate don't hold deeper meaning in English. Having such expressive first language where you can really and truthfully to yourself express the emotions you feel, other simpler language you find yourself struggling. Not just as romantic expressions, but as Lex said profanity also. Swearing in Slavic language is an art form to say most brutal things and still sound amusing. And insults are much more creative. Last thing, you don't know how much beautiful Russian woman is, until you hear her reading Russian poetry in Russian. Somethings you just cannot comprehend how beautiful and romantic there are.
Maybe it's more connected to a particular person's ability to express certain things in a given language? It's also such a common trope in almost all languages to say "Only in OUR language can you truly express such and such"
4:16 so f true. I remember in the 5th grade (11-12 yo) we read Turgenev's story "Mumu" and it was damn hard. To put it briefly, this is a story about an involuntary deaf-mute man, Gerasim, who is subordinate to a capricious and cruel lady who forced Gerasim to drown his only friend, the dog Mumu. We read this story in 5th grade, I remember how in class someone started sobbing when Gerasim drowned Mumu, it was very hard to read. All the literature we read is just filled with despair, war and death. This is deep literature, I like Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Pushkin, Bulgakov, Gogol and other writers, but nevertheless sometimes traumatic, especially for children.
Or remember "White Bim black ear", IIRC we read it in th 4 or 5 grade too. Personally I done read "Blockade day by day" in the 3 grade. That was... very hard book. Shame I loss it somewhere. After it I discovered for me Soviet war literature.
We're forced to read a lot of heavy literature in school but I'd say its heaviness kinda goes over your head. Like I read all these books like "Peace and War" and "Crime and Punishment" and didn't think they were anything more than just entertaining stories, probably 'cause I was too young. And I don't remember reading "Mumu" at all, I'm pretty sure we've never read it, or my brain's just blocking this memory
@@victoriaseawatch5407 Bingo! I've read "Crime and Punishment" on my own when I was 18 - not quite an adult, but definitely not a 15-year old kid. I was not terribly impressed. I re-read it in my 40's. Wow. What a different impression it leaves on you when you are a mature adult. I think making Dostoyevsky's major works mandatory school reads in 8-9 grade is a terrible waste. 90% of the message is completely lost on kids that young.
Never thought of it that way. The language carries the burdens and suffering of past. As a Spanish speaker, never agreed (and hated) the over the top romanticism and servile way to communicate. But it is instilled in our roots and heritage. Great way to convey an epiphany.
He's right. In Russia you wear emotions on your sleeve and the language is very direct. In American language, there alot of beating around the bush and hidden meanings.
Yeah, I'm an American and the beating around the bush drives me crazy. Just spit it out! I was raised in a subculture of America that's almost extinct and it was plain spoken and nobody had time to listen to blather.
In America, we like to make fun of many accents, especially other Americans accents. We learn about each other that way, but some of us don't realize it's rude to put that ridicule on people trying to learn English with an accent developed for not-english
The most hilarious time when Americans mock somebody asking to be mocked back is when they ridicule Brits for their accent. Or migrants to UK who learned to speak, you know, proper English
@@LoliLikesPedobear To me it just exposes the fake exceptionalism and ignorance of the anglosaxon folks in general. Not realizing that the person with the "accent" is the actual cosmopolitan, who is able to interact and connect with more people speaking more than one language. In most european countries you have to have two foreign languages before you can enter college. Some countries like Luxemburg or Switzerland speak up to 3-5.
But he is right about the depth of the language especially the cussing part we use it a lot as word binder, and he is right about the school education Russians don’t choose classes, classes choose us 😂
No, this is a misconception. Russian is a native language for me. Yet, every language has the complexity to reflect deep human emotion - it's a matter of which language you're most fluent in. Every language uses different tools, but in the end - all languages can be used very eloquently. It's just English is often used as an international language of commerce/culture. Therefore, people use a more basic register. But English has the full capacity to be very elevated and deeply emotional.
You are both right and wrong; all languages have the potential to convey profound emotional eloquence, yes, but at the same time, it's also a misconception that all languages are equal when it comes to the 'naturalness' and 'accessibleness' to exploit that potential.
I'm inclined to agree with your point from a year ago- I frequently hear people say their native language is the richest- however, that being said, there are objective measures available such as bodies of literature and general literacy rate which give an idea of how deeply a language permeates its own society. English is the current lingua franca, and is used all over the world in a highly transactional way, it's the language of science and commerce. Additionally, languages have features, if something has a highly inflectional morphology for example you have a lot of ways to play with and build words to refine what you're trying to say in a way that might be done with a clause in another language. You can do things with Chinese that you can't do with English (like the conciseness of their written poetry, some poems can also be read from different directions and produce new meanings, on the flipside there are about 1600 syllables in use in Chinese and way way more in English. At the end of the day there may be something deeper to what Lex is saying about Russian, but at the same time, I think it's commonly felt that one's "mother tongue" is the most expressive.
Sure, but we are talking apples to apples. Russian is far deeper when it comes tonformulating sentences, it's a richer language and you can easily feel that if you read English poerty. It's stale and clunky even at its best, there is a feeling that something is missing.
Lex is kind of missing the point of why there is a massive difference in "emotion" between English and Russian. It has nothing to do with wars and how they gave it weight. Although it sounds very romantic, it has nothing to do with it. As all Slavic languages, Russian is very grammatically complex, especially when you compare it to English ( there are even more complex slavic languages ). Also a bigger vocabulary. In combination, it allows you to construct sentences that carry much more weight. And express tiny nuances which you simply cannot do in English. You can say the sentence with same meaning in many, many different ways.
@@fergal2424 yeah, I was expecting a much more intelligent answer from him tbh, especially since that is part of his heritage as well. I hope he isn't flashing it as some "trophy" and actually speaks donkey version of it. On top of it AS IF no other country before in history, went through wars and suffering... really, really weird answer...
My Russian neighbors saved my life when I was young. Luckily for me, they didn't think I was a fool so I was treated like part of the family. Being part of a Russian family is what our Russia "experts" have never experienced or they wouldn't act so stupid. They're not the kind of people that Russians are going to take to their hearts. Being part of a Russian family is what you want from life. I learned more history from them than I ever did in school. They were all brilliant.
good reflection. Sometimes I got this insight, about how much i'm loosing because i still don't know another language. this has moved me to keep learning languages through literature.
ปีที่แล้ว +75
The first big philological and grammatical ordering of the current Russian(state) language was made by Michail Lomonosov in the 18th century, but the modern use, poetry, sounding, and words were chosen by genius poets like Pushkin at the beginning of the 19th and then many authors. I think the activity and the freedom to use a wide mix of dialects and neighboring languages at that time greatly influenced the formation of the Russian language as we know it today.
Pushkin popularized the so-called "modern" Russian language. As a child I liked to read his poems. When I was in the 4th grade, I learned half of "Eugene Onegin" by heart)
I would extend this narrative beyond the language. Russian classical music is incredibly deep and passionate. I expect the same to exist in other Russian art forms.
Yes, you will find that they are masterfully unique and renowned in the arts and similiar; film, literature, philosophy, poetry, photography, architecture, langauge. My notable recommendation to Russian culture for anyone who asks would be to watch Andrei Tarkovskys, “Andrei Rublev” (1966). Stunning achievement of russian art.
@@truetrannyanything Tchaikovsky is good imo, rimsy korsokov is well known as well although I’m not too familiar with his work tbh If you like piano, I cannot recommend rachmaninoff enough, his second piano concerto is probably the most accessible pieces of classical music around and is well loved, but I love his third one as well If you’re interested in soviet era Russian music Prokofiev and Shostakovich is good, although Prokofiev is probably not the most accessible composer for the general audience bar a few select pieces. Shostakovich 5th symphony is famous for being thought of as a protest against Soviet rule A lot of the music has really interesting stories behind them too, which help with the appreciation of it as well if you want to dive into that
I've always loved Russian classical music. Tchaikovsky to Rimsky-Korsakov to Khachaturian etc. (Spelling from memory so forgive the errors). Even my favorite classical trumpet player (for the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra) was a Ukranian/Russian - Timofei Dokshitzer.
I speak Japanese and English. I'm a half kid and grew up in both countries. Anyway, I agree with Lex on being unable to "fuck with words" in English. In Japanese, you can use more or less the exact same words, but modify the sentence or grammar in a way that conveys a lot of meaning, intent, and emotion. In English, everything mostly comes down to the words you use as well as expressions, phrases, and idioms. When speaking IRL, how you say something also plays a big role. I think English uses a lot more expressions and idioms than Japanese for this reason. English speakers often don't realize how much of what they say is not literal, but that's probably the best part of English. When using expressions, it forces you to form vivid imagery for such analogies. It also forces people to act out and/or gesture what they say a bit more. Japanese people hardly do that because you can convey a lot of that through the language alone.
Dude, I went from a public Russian school to a private expensive English school. I was cruising for like 3 years, because I've learned everything before.
For me it was the opposite. I went from a private expensive school in England to a Russian school and was crushing it because I had acquired skill sets by year 6 that don't get acquired by Russian students until university, if at all.
@@4grammaton А именно какие скиллы ты подразумеваешь? Я точно разницу в пользу русской школы заметил, в плане среднего образования. Жду ответа, мне очень интересно
@@4grammaton I'm kinda interested, too, as the two above. Cause from my experience Russian school was nothing special. Like we have kinda decent calculus and physics in Russia. Chemistry in England would be far better, I assume. But that would require of you to get Russian notation right. Same with biology. Like 9th grade US biology books are far superior to Russian ones, but you'd get stuck with translation, IMO. So what skills exactly are so much superior?
Totally correct. When I saw what us pupils are studying in math at high school - I was surprised at the incredible low level of usa schools. However the college, universities is where students can thrive because they are ( still) the best.
I learned the point that Lex is making here through comparison of my first and second language's most linguistically experimentative writers. The things someone like Clarice Lispector can do with Portuguese (or _to_ Portuguese, as some'd say) are notoriously untranslatable, and this isn't really the case with, for example, the Beat guys from the US. But, to play devil's advocate, there is indeed something to be said about the great simplicity and constraint of English. Others in the comments have mentioned how the English form allows ease of analysis and how this might have contributed to their mastery of science and technology, but you don't have to flee the poetic realm to defend English: just think of how rigorously elegant British poetry and prose has been. Shakespeare's sonnets were composed in English! What I see when I read English poetry is a great effort to say much with little, and this has value too. What I mean to say is: constraint has a wonderful effect on human creativity.
As a Russian American I do find English language a bit simplistic compared to Russian. English is easier to speak as words are shorter and it's great when it comes to writing music lyrics, but Lex's notice about "fucking with words" in Russian is so spot on, you can take p much any Russian word and change the ending of it to convey a myriad of different meanings, possibilities or your own relationship to what you are saying, It's kind of hard to explain. Also yes Russian pre-college education is no joke I still have low-key PTSD from the workload I got back in middle school and high-school. When I came to the US at the age of 18 everyone seemed so dumb (sorry for being blunt) and college math in America was what we got in grade 8th. I do feel there is more freedom here in the US though with what you can do with your life afterward (more career choices, possibilities and opportunities), and that's what matters
I started learning Russian a while ago. I don't know why really, I just think it's a cool language. If I were to go to Russia I could probably get by, but one thing I really haven't been able to wrap my head is the grammar and all the little nuances of it. But that can be said for almost any language. All of that is much harder to learn as you get older. That's why you can teach kids languages pretty easily, even multiple at the same time. One thing I disagree with Lex is that English is less emotional. At least not inherently. Maybe Modern American English is. But the English of past centuries was very poetic. When most modern Americans read old literature in English, it's poetic to the point where it can be hard for us to fully comprehend it. Maybe American English majors can comprehend it just fine, but common folk, not really.
There's no need to be focused on grammar if you're not learning a language as a linguist. I learned English as a second language after Russian and I wouldn't be able to explain a single grammatical rule. Tbf, I'm not sure if I can do it in Russian either. When you really know the language you just feel it.
Ironically, that is not something you can say about any language, Russian has quite a unique set of grammatical and phonological features, while what Lex said in the video can indeed be said about most languages (and it gets so tiring to hear from speakers of any language about how their particular language is the most expressive and untranslatable)
I’m a native English-speaker who learned Russian, and as far as emotional depth of the two languages go, I think it mostly just depends on which one you grow up in. For me, English has a much wider emotional pallet ranging from the profound to the absurd that I just don’t feel in Russian because I didn’t grow up with it building those deep, deep emotional connections. It’s funny talking with my wife or her family who are all native speakers. Sometimes I’ll stumble into some topic or trigger phrase that comes with a ton of emotional baggage I had no idea about and completely ruin dinner with the in-laws.
If you think English is more capable of expressing emotion than Russian - you dont know Russian well enough. Russian has a greater vocabulary and is far more complex. You have to "feel" the language
@@AndRei-yc3ti I think English has a wider vocabulary (because of Latin and French words) but Russian is better for creating new words and much more sophisticated in grammar
@@AndRei-yc3ti This isn't true. Regarding vocabulary, even a cursory glance at dictionaries for the two languages shows us that Russian language dictionaries typically contain about 200,000 unique entries while English dictionaries can contain up to one million depending on how comprehensive they are. There's a lot of historical and technical reasons why English has this monster vocabulary, but one of the big ones is because it has a relatively simplified grammar compared to Russian. English often has to mint completely new words with unique word stems to express something whereas Russian can just use prefixes and suffixes and such in order to mutate existing words to fit new purposes. Languages are all vehicles of expression, and if speakers of a given language aren't able to express nuanced ideas through one means (complicated grammar and case system in Russian), then they'll find another way to do it (massive vocabulary in English). The idea that a language can be intrinsically better at expression is an ethnocentric notion. It's one that I'm frankly uncomfortable with given how that kind of rhetoric has been used, both historically and today in Ukraine, to justify punishing and killing people just for speaking their native tongue instead of "The Great Russian Language."
@@BlueMorningStar after researching the topic English has about 170,000 unique words vs Russian 150,000 that is not a significant difference. And yet despite that Russian is able to express nuance and emotion far better than English can. This is why if you have a good translator, some English works often read better in Russian than English. Try reading the Count of Monte Cristo, For whom a bell tolls or even The Catcher in the Rye in both languages and tell me that it is worse in Russian. English is a far simpler language which ironically lemds itself quite well to science but makes it struggle in philosophy (for example there is an excellent translation in Russian for Aristotle eudamonia which does not translate to English). I speak both languages fluently and have from a young age, I understand the nuances of both languages and unquestionably the depth of emotional expression of which English is capable is far lower than that seen in many other languages The fact that a language can be better at expressing than another one is not an ethnicentric notion though - languages evolved in a particular historical and cultural context leading to the development of certain words. As for Ukraine, as a Ukrainian, nobody is punishing Ukrainians for "speaking their native tongue" (dont get me started on how Ukrainian isnt a native tongue for most Ukrainians and how its been pushed on the population by West Ukrainians). But thats a different matter entirely.
@BlueMorningStar Finally someone observed that from native English perspective, my native is russian and it's feels more emotional depth probably because of that nativeness effect. If try compare english and russian in terms of pros and cons from my perspective: English pronunciation is nightmare for example words like queue, thought. English have far more easy declensions than russian (often i even forget how to properly do declension in russian) One average word in english seems (not sure) have more meaning than one russian average word. I think russian cursive was made by satan...
Dostoyevsky was not a poet, he was a novelist. Pushkin is the great Russian poet. And i'm sorry, not all Russians swear. This is something that developed strictly in the 20th century in soviet communist times. Nothing to do with the hundreds of years old Russian language itself. There was no swearing in Russian literature. People who were born before the revolution and grew up outside of the soviet union and especially those who are religious use curse words extremely rarely.
French influence is huge on Russian culture. Every intelligent in Russia used to know French as a second langugage, it was mandatory. Pushkin, the father of modern Russian language, knew French and there's a myth that he made up his own death, moved to Paris, changed his identity to Alexander Dyuma and continued writing books.
Russian is very hard to learn for an English speaker. I lived in St. Petersburg 2 years and spent 5 years trying to learn the language. It has 6 cases and there are many subtle meanings to different words and expression that are hard to grasp. I finally reached a point where I could watch Russian language videos and movies and understand most of what is said but I still feel I cannot speak the language in any meaningful way. I envy Lex that he can speak both languages well.
It took me about a year and some change to be able to have a full conversation in Russian as a native English speaker so either your method was ineffective or you were inconsistent with your studies
@@2kdre493I don’t think the person above meant the ability to hold a conversation. I think he was talking about understanding all the nuances and subtleties.
In any language there's a thing called context and shared knoweledge. Sometimes you just have to live it through to understand. For example you most likely won't understand a phrase "what else do you need, dog?", it may even sound as an insult. But no russian speaking native will ever see it this way. It's a line from one of the greatest russian comedies and most likely a person you are talking to will laugh. And for me as a russian native "pulp fiction" movie is a nightmare - i understood words, not the jokes before i've read explanations.
Is anyone here familiar with both the Australian dialect and Russian? I'd love to hear thoughts on the creativity on swearing between the Australian English dialect and Russian.
It's the same for danish i feel, very good for communication, tons of "recent" wars during the middle ages, being centered in Europe, land entry to Scandinavia.
My dad is danish, and my mom is russian, so i know both languages. I completely agree. The funny thing that Denmark and Russia have in common is the sarcastic and ironic humor.
Richness of language and history does not make the contemporary culture of the nation any better. Modern Russian culture does not produce anything, ANYTHING of value. Its degeneracy upon degeneracy, copying worst of the west and making it even worse. So yeah, dont look for any wisdom, culture or depth from modern Russia, its gone for good. Saying that as a Russian.
I often think what makes Russian language and literature so deep and philosophical is a combination of those long, dark winters, when conversation and reflection can arise, and also the influence of the more mystical Orthodox Church, compared with Catholicism and Protestantism in the west.
As a linguist and writer, it is possible to match the sentiment-rich eloquent nature of Russian within English, but the requirement of language proficiency is steep. Similarily, it doesn't communicate the context as it does in Russian, rather confusing the listener.
@@sebastiansullivan4770 Yes. The Russian equivalent of "Do you really have to do that?" under emotional intention would be "Must you truly do such a brazen thing?"
@@DrakesdenChannel isn't this kind of missing the point? English isn't spoken this way regardless of emotion, yes you can phrase things as eloquently (perhaps I don't speak russian) but communication is a two party event. If the listener is expected to think you're weird for wording something eloquently then you almost as a rule can't do it because the meaning will be warped, when warping is expected to happen almost ubiquitously across contexts and environments for a given language I think you can say that it loses the ability. Written word is different and you often can but man, spoken english, at least in the Americas, has seemed to take a nose dive off a cliff in terms of acceptable articulation in the last 30 years.
@@TheInfectous Eloquence has a purpose beyond aesthetics, it conveys information precisely by increasing complexity. Slavic languages tend to infer more context from specific speech than English. Thus, the level of speech complexity infers specific meaning in daily life. "I didn't get milk." - casual "Milk I have not received." - charged. The difference is immediately understood regardless of intonation. Some of this can be found in older British English, but not much elsewhere.
imo russian really shines with its freedom to change natural word order on a whim and drop some parts of the sentence out if needed. when i think in english as a native russian speaker i have no issues in struckturing my thought process, but if i need to translate something that's already "spoken" in russian then boy, oh, boy. granted, proper writing in russian tends to adhere to strickter rules, but speaking language is much more fluid.
@@EasyGameEh ??????? OK. Now I am guessing that you spelled those words with a 'k' deliberately to strike up an argument so I retract my apology and am done speaking with you. You can communicate with youself from now. Bye.
Native speaker here. English - short, precise, simple grammar, universal, easy to learn, great for business or science, terrible for poetry or expressing feelings. Russian - longer words, much more complex (a single word can have 10+ forms that can mean very different states of this object or our attitude towards it), extremely hard to learn on a native level, great for any shades of feelings or creativity with words (including jokingly creating new words that everyone will understand or changing the word order or suffixes in order to change the meaning), clunky for business or science because the words are long, have different endings depending on the gender and the spelling is hard as it requires a lot of memorising. Not sure about the impact of the 20th century, though - there were some new words coined by the Soviet regime but the absolute majority of them come from before that time. It's hard to pinpoint the precise date of course but at least since the beginning of the 19th century the Russian language has already been this rich. Also, I wouldn't say the language is specifically tailored towards expressing pain or grief in any way - just any feeling or attitude, really.
My wife is Japanese, and we talk (in Japanese) at cross-purposes frequently: but that is not because of linguistic issues. I have no trouble communicating with Japanese men, but males and females just don't think the same.
As for swearing, it's a feature of pretty much all Slavic languages. And I think it has to do with the fact that Slavic languages have more grammatical forms (cases; masculine, feminine and neutral forms etc.).
I’ve always had the feeling that English has been simplified to a certain extent in terms of vocabulary. There are so many English words that have died out in order to streamline the language. My feeling is that this has happened because English has been adopted as a global language for better or worse.
I’d say that you’re missing a major part of the culture if you can’t speak, or at least understand the language. They are inseparable. I can speak Japanese, not perfectly of course, but I can perform any daily function in it. And there’s so much about the social structure and history that is inherently ingrained in it when I speak or read. It’s something you just have to know to be able to understand, no real substitute.
What a great point he makes at the end….how much expression are we missing out on by not having the poetic and emotional subtly unique to other languages? If we could think and speak fluently like on a poetic level in many languages, how much more fully would it color our world?
When he mentioned the rewriting from memory and you should not to make any mistake, god I so hated that tests, it always was so painful. Always was bad at it.
A few years ago, russian government wanted to introduce a law that would have prohibited the usage of profanity. The initiative fell apart because they admitted that it is not possible to give orders and control their implication without swearing in the army, police, construction, etc. It`s a joke btw. partially
Simplistic isn’t quite the right term, I’d say English is an EFFICIENT language. It’s certainly simpler, and it’s very adaptable - you can be innovative with it when you know and use it well, that’s not just a Russian thing. Vladimir Nabokov was a language genius who mastered English and brilliantly demonstrated how pliable it is. His translations in both languages settle this Russian vs English debate for me. I’ve found my favorite phrases of his in both languages, and they were equally mesmerizing. Also, English introduces MANY neologisms into Russian, and Russian readily absorbs them and tweaks ‘em in various quirky ways. I’ve done the opposite for various Russian words in English, and English speakers totally resonated with that. Just wordplay. DO IT ;) I will say, the more languages you can express in a conversation, the more fun you’ll have with random wordplay. Like, the other day it occurred to me that “hippopotame” sounds exactly like “и попа там” (…well, while playfully swinging my butt in the air like a cat, when hanging out in bed with my guy).
I studied a year of Chinese in college for my International Studies degree. The Chinese department had strict expectations they wanted us to learn not just to speak Chinese, but also to be able to read and write it. We had to practice writing chinese characters. It was totally different from a Chinese beginner course I had years ago that focused on learning to speak and understand the pinyin system. When writing chinese characters, we had to keep the lines straight even though many Chinese use quick/sloppy handwriting (I used to teach English in college in China).
I went through elementary school and 7th grade in China before coming to the U.S: I still remember the absurd amount of practices and memorization I had to do after all these years 😅
I experience this in Croatian language. It definitely allows you to express yourself in many more ways. You can also adjust the words and grammar allows you to pack in much more information without adding words.
Good to know that Russian is that "complex". I have choose Japanese as a first language to master because of my passion to the country and I had chosen Russian as the second (now I'm sure), but now I have a motive, because of my passion to languages.
You just chose two difficult languages to learn. It would be quite an impressive feat if you only master one of them and get proficient in the other. Good luck on your future endeavours!
I don't think we swear more than Americans or British. We have more words for swearing tho. Compare the famous scene from “Blood and Concrete” in original and Russian voiceover😂
Here we are. I am Slav, not a Russian but proud to say that I am filly fluent in Russian. At a time of strictly forbidden Russian culture in the Western society people are starting recognising the values of it. There will be no future for all of us if we try to discredit or erase others history, language, culture...
@@anonymm3152 русофобия не так массова, как это рассказывает роспропаганда. Массово осуждается правительство. Приедь в любую западную страну, заговори на русском и всем будет пох.
@@SensPiotr Я сам живу в западной стране, я это уже знаю. Русофобия не массова, но она есть. К сожалению, любовь к русской культуре часто интерпретируется как поддержка настоящей власти.
Funny he mentioned portuguese. I know nothing about russian language but the phonetics of it always sounded alot like portuguese to me, there are alot more sounds used in both russian and portuguese than in english
I think Russians have a lot common with Englishmen especially working class. Drink, swear a lot, wearing addidas. That's why series like Brassic adored.
That divide between Russian and English is exactly why Pushkin is considered such a literary master. But, the term ‘Revolution from above’ would be a good summary of the language, culture and history - especially the language
You can be emotional in every spoken langauge. The reason you cant be emotional in your second langauge is because you learned it, which is kind of logic process so your logic part of your brain took part while yor mother langauge you acquiered when you were small, thus the more emotional parts of your brain took part of the process.
Is there no way to assimilate the second language into emotional/nativity style? Because even though I got really close with English, Meaning: the accent of the region I'm in, some of the lingo, and some cultural cues. I cannot, for the life of me, swear, curse out somebody, or banter as easy in english without sounding awkward
@@dumbass3843 English as a global language is extremely watered down. I've met plenty of people who are completely fluent but everyone knows it's not their first language so the communication is different.
I disagree. I learned english in my late teens and became truly proficient in my early twenties- and there is no doubt in my mind that english is the best language to articulate emotions in. Keep in mind that I grew up bilingually, albanian & german, and none of those two languages measure up to english.
It’s not about being emotional in another language. Every language has tools to express them but some tools are better than others. In Russian, I don’t have to yell and repeat swearing words to express how insanely mad or happy I am, for example. You have words for that. It’s true the way you express yourself in a language is always up to you. But it’s also true that Russian swearings are unmatched. It’s basically an entire language.
весьма точно Лекс высказался, но есть пара неточностей и преувеличений в плане "давления". Для американцев это может и видится неким давлением в школах, но в целом наша школьная система допускает очень много обязательных ненужностей, что делает ее схожей больше с армией. К такому давлению ты привыкаешь и все всё прекрасно понимают, понимают, что знать всё - невозможно и относятся к неудачам снисходительно. Ты будешь учить все, даже если тебе это нахер не надо, но со временем понимаешь зачем тебе преподавали "ненужные" предметы. Угадайте с кого наша школьная система брала пример. Не будем показывать пальцем, но это Британия)) у меня была очень хорошая и дружная школа, я не хочу, чтобы граждане иных стран считали, что в России все ужасно и страшно. Только вот наши граждане сами так считают и их можно понять. Моя школа скорее исключение из правил, ибо есть тысячи школ, где учителям плевать на учеников, а ученики беспризорники, которые с малолетства ведут себя неподобающе. Достаточно посмотреть на статистику абортов среди девушек 15-17 лет, статистику смертей от отравления всякими наркотическими веществами или некачественным алкоголем. Однако, тех, чье детство было счастливым больше. По крайней мере хочется верить
It all depends on a teachers, bro. Been through Russian school and the most were kinda stuck in proving their authority. Like "ты что самый умный?", "делай как говорят!" ("are you the smartest one here?", "do as you're told!"). And it totally kills the mood to research something on your own and bring it to the teacher to discuss. Not all, but many are like that.
@@adrianalexandrov7730 согласен с тобой, есть такая хуйня к сожалению. Чист провинциальное мышление - задавить стремления ребенка, а не направить в нужное русло. Поэтому важно детям помогать, но если например родителям похуй, то тут уж никто не поможет. Так и живем)
@@planetofthegames2843 Yeah, the only caveat is that I went to school in Saint-Petersburg. Like second largest city. So it's not just some redneck stuff. And I don't really mean to shit on our public schools, I've had some good teachers as well, but this "are you the smartest one?" attitude, when you clearly point to a teacher how they're in the wrong and where they could improve... That's really infuriating. Well past this, but a lot of youth still get through it every day.
Without knowing much about Lex Friedman, I’d posit that his perspective on the differences between English and Russian speaks to his exposure to which particular sociolects in each language. If there are ten things I learned studying linguistics, one is that people tend to overestimate the differences between languages and the impacts these have.
The education system is advanced here for students in advanced placement courses and IBS programs in high schools. Students who graduate from these programs usually do well at any university.
As far as i know, russian is the only language where you can take any sentence, rearrange the words in any order and it would still be grammatically correct.
I assume you're exaggerating a bit, but being a Slovenian I understand your point. All permutations of words in a simple sentence would get you a grammatically correct word order like 90% of the time (albeit with different meanings), while the other 10% of the time you would still understand the intended meaning, but people will ask you if you're having a stroke, speaking like that.
As a Russian I would not use the word simplistic to describe English. I'd rather use the word analytical (which is also how English language is classified in linguistics). The word order in English is such that it allows to be more effective in conveying reasons and thoughts in a more structured manner. Russian language in contrast is, and I agree here with Lex, more emotional and has words that convey suffering in a more poetic and colourful way.
whats "more emotional" means? I would say russian is just more diverse and has more means to express feelings, it has a complex form of word formation which allows russians to improvise with it and be understood
@@Orlington17 maybe emotional is not the right word, idk. What I have in mind has something to do with the way definitions work in everyday language. The first thing that comes to my mind are philosophical terms like being, validity, existence, meaning etc. In Russian language these words have imprecise and almost esoteric connotations. It's not surprising though, because Russia (the 17th-19th century one) isn't famous for having academic philosophers (compared to Germany, France or England). Instead, philosophising was done in literature by Dostoevsky, Tolstoy and the likes. So most words that Russians use to talk about life are infused with poetic definitions, which in turn evoke an emotional, rather than rational reflection.
ps. These are my personal quasi-ethnographic observations. I am sure that anthropologists who study Russian culture and language are better qualified to make these comparisons. Anyhow, both English and Russian languages are great in their own ways imo.
Lex specified American English. As a native English speaker from outside the US, I agree it is simplistic. US English is clunky and unimaginative. The 20th century has given it a swagger and bravado that other English forms don't have, but otherwise it is archaic and borderline moronic.
UK English is far closer to the sorts of things Lex is expressing here in ways that US English simply isn't.
What a silly statement. There are analytical languages that are very complex. English is a simplistic analytical language.
"The word order in English is such that it allows to be more effective in...."
LOL, no, it doesn't allow anything. It's constrictive in nature! The word order in English is imposed, so it doesn't allow for shit and means nothing.
@@amjan English is excellent for expressing arguments.
Simple, basic tools work the best when it comes to productivity.
Apart from my native Bulgarian, I also speak Russian, English and German. German is like it's made by an Engineer - everything has a very specific place and purpose and you shouldn't fuck up with it, lest it breaks. English is more liberal than German in that regard and it also has more words with unique meanings while German tends to form new words via suffixes and prefixes. Both languages are very practical and they both have the baggage of European science and technology which they had to accommodate in some form during the formation of Europe. Russian and Bulgarian on the other hand don't have this rationalistic baggage and although they can be used for conveying precise meanings, German and English are better for that. Russian, meanwhile does explode when one needs to express emotion, I agree with Lex, because you can improvise with words etc. to fit the exact emotional state that you're in. Bulgarian is also very good in this regard and while both languages have their own emotionality, Russian, because of its overcomplicated grammar and ability for word formation is probably better for poetry. Anyway, all these languages are very beautiful each in its own way and convey different parts of the human condition.
all slavic languages are like that. There's nothing unique about russian language.
@@dmy_tro Bulgarian isn't, which is why the other guy has that perspective
@@dmy_tro Ofc it's ukrainian saying this.....
@@dmy_troukeville xoxol detected. Repeat even more.
А ничего, что во всем мире пользуются Периодической таблицей Менделеева. Но на западе не упоминается этот факт. Там говорят просто периодическая таблица, это так коробит запад. Что химическая таблица Менделеева изобретена русским ученым. А ничего, что русские первые в космосе, это все тоже наука и научный язык. Русский язык синтетический. Он совмещает в себе как старые, древние формы, которые до сих пор используются, так и современные, новые слова. Русский язык, язык науки тоже. Возьмём например атомную энергетику. А вы знали, что в России изобрели вечную переработку ядерных отходов? Конечно нет). А уже как 2 года работает такая АЭС в России.
Some Russians don’t swear at all, some never swear in front of women and elderly people.
English allows you to think in structures. It really helps your brain. It’s super useful.
Russian allows you to be more creative and spontaneous.
English is more creative than russian.
"Some" is the key here. An average russian swears everywhere with everyone. It's kinda considered inappropriate but nobody cares.
@@dmy_tro that’s your social circle then. Most people know how to hold their tongue.
@@juser-abuser first, you have to speak both languages to correctly compare. Second, you have to define what creativity is.
The variety of Russian is mind blowing. Check the Russo-English dictionary for the word GO, for example. And I don’t even touch on the topic of stylistics.
@@mortanafidler
>first, you have to speak both languages to correctly compare
Sure.
>Second, you have to define what creativity is.
Address that to OP.
>The variety of Russian is mind blowing.
The variety of what?
>Check the Russo-English dictionary for the word GO, for example
Check the Russo-English dictionary, like any dictionary. Average Russian dictionary for example has 200 thousand words, English has 1 million words.
>And I don’t even touch on the topic of stylistics.
Please don't, you don't understand English stylistics at all.
As a Russian person I was expecting something weird and a little naive, but was actually super surprised by how well he explained everything regarding the langauge, it's pretty much spot on
Lex is Russian.
@@amcmillion3 I know that, doesn't stop him from not sounding russian at all
USSR was the reason behind the great leap forward for the peasantry and proletarians. one thing i have noticed is wherever communists and socialists got organized they started to educate their people from South America to china they started teaching, and in Afghanistan the primary target of american backed mujahideen were the school teacher who were thought of as communists and killed on sight without reason or if they were actually communists or not.
@@diagorasofmel0sThe only difference between Mujahadeen and Communists is the group they exterminate. In fact Mao killed intellectuals en masse.
@@ButterDog42069ты просто по английски недостаточно хорошо говоришь. У него есть акцент восточноевропейский
that's an interesting point about how much of the culture are you missing if you don't know the language
And also because you don't live there. Until I moved to the US 25 years ago, I did not realize that easily half the meaning of Hollywood movies is lost in translation, both linguistic and geographic. The same is true of any country, but it's especially true of Russia, simply because there's quite a bit more "meaning" and "culture" there.
Otoh he's talking about Russian so there's nothing to miss
@@MrJ4ckie the most based comment in the comments section. All this "philosophical" bs Lex is trying to push is just that, it's bs. There's nothing great in russian literature except the volume. Saying this as someone who speaks Russian, has read all of those "great" writers and has a kinda soviet education.
@@medved3027 more "meaning" and "culture" in russia? That's the best joke I've read here so far.
I'm an accidental immigrant to Japan. Without going into detail, it is absolutely true that language is the entryway to understanding culture.
Russian swearing is spot on. There's so much you can do with one simple stem, both positive and negative, and we have at least five of them. For instance, you can use the stem that literally means "dick" to express admiration, magnitude, disgust, embarrassment, and much much more
The same thing applies to fuck in English
Maybe you are referring to the six grammatical cases in Russian (compared to only two in English). This makes Russian insanely difficult to correctly speak, even for many Russians, but on the flip side makes it incredibly precise and/or poetic. I've got a little taste of this in learning German which is a four-grammatical case system.
@@roseforeuropa I'm now actively learning Finnish, which has 15 :)
You guys are so poethic
English has the same thing with the word fuck 😂 fuck can be good bad admirable cute sad broken etc
My whole life changed once I started reading Russian Literature. Of course, it's English translated, but there's something unexplainable in the words, the only way to know is to read it. I wish I could experience them in their true language, but I'm still grateful for the positive impact so many Russian writers have had on my life.
If you could recommend one book to start with from Russian authors what would you suggest?
@@slayerhuh404 Try Crime and Punishment
Yup@@MegaMandero
@@slayerhuh404Start with 'The Cat In The Ushanka'. It's bleak and grueling but a very rewarding read 👍
@@GhastlyCretin85 lol took me a minute to get that one..
As a Chinese, I’m impressed by this man’s knowledge as he compares the Chinese education system as similar to Russian’s. The workload is heavy and the pace is fast. How students and teachers view and approach the material is also very different from the American way.
I was recently teaching in China and I was surprised to see the exact same time spacing of lessons as we had in Slovakia, which was also part of USSR and adapted the same teaching style.
45 minute teaching session, followed by a 10 minute break, this repeats throughout the day with the exception of the "10 A.M. break" which is 20 minutes, and also a longer break for lunch. In the Slovak language we even have a word for the "10 A.M. meal" which is normally eaten during this 20 minute break, "desiata", stemming from the word for 10, "desať" .
China was a bit of a culture shock in how vastly different it was in absolutely every aspect of life. But then there's the school system which was *precisely* the exact same I grew up with in Slovakia.
@@plectro3332same school day in germany
As a Russian zoomer I don't see that at all
@@marcusaurelius4941 I was lucky enough to get into a really "old-school" soviet-like school in 2010's and I've seen all of this
@@marcusaurelius4941maybe you should try zooming better
Just an example. Russian name "Pavel" can be shortend as "Pasha" (friendly way), "Pashka" (a bit diminishing and derogatory but ok if a friend says it), "Pavlukha" - (same but more friendly and a bit patronizing), "Pakhan" (same but more diminishing - like a street talk version), "Pashenka" (with love and tenderness), Pashechka (even more love and tenderness), Pashul (with love but with a hint of familiness to it like a wife to husband sorta way), "Pavlushka" - (with love to a kid but a bit diminishing), "Pavlushenka" - (like a loving and caring mother to a child), "Pashulechka" (with UTTER love and tenderness like to a very much loved little baby who has just done smth very qute)...and just dont get me started on "Pashgun", "Pavlos" etc... And what do we have in English? "Paul", "Pauly" and...I dont know...may be "Paulster"?
But...with all that said as a foreigner I love how English speakers find ways to make such hitting and clever jokes and sayings with English which are truly unique. A lot of times when I laugh at English jokes and asked to translate - I struggle.
That's really interesting that English doesn't have 100 versions of one name unlike Russian. I thought about it too. Apparently one name is enough to convey different feelings, and the intonation is more important than the word? Let's not forget English is more concise than Russian and it's not a bad thing...
@@victoriaseawatch5407 It seems like Russians use different variations of the same word to convey meaning and emotion while English speakers use tone, inflection, cadence, and intonation to convey different emotions and meaning using the same words. Maybe that's why I find Russian speakers so dry and unemotional. The emotion is in the words and not their voice.
For instance, saying "I hate you" in English can mean several different things depending on how I say it and the circumstances in which I say it. You can do something I dislike very much and I actually hate you. You can do something for me with ease with which I was struggling with and I can say it in a joking, self deprecating, and appreciative way. I could say "I'm going to kill you". That could mean I'm actually going to do it, or that you're annoying me and you should stop what you're going, or it could be said in a joking way in response to something someone did. Each one is dependent upon tone of voice and the scenario in which it was spoken.
Would Russians have 18 different variations for each scenario? If so, it seems like a very convoluted way to communicate. I prefer the more concise way that depends upon the situation and inflection.
@@oldscratch3535 Russians also say "I hate you" to express many things, not necessarily hate. I think the same goes for "I'll kill you". We're more likely to play with the suffixes of nouns and adjectives, sometimes for no good reason (many Russians themselves don't like it when somebody goes overboard using diminutive suffixes to express love or/and smallness). In English you can also say "a girl" or "a girlie" but I think it ends at that, whereas in Russian you can change the suffixes and add one to another to the point where it gets weird. I guess we just love playing with words in our own way (not to say English speaking people don't), but ultimately I don't think it makes the language 'more emotional' or people speaking it 'more emotional' (or being able to feel pain or love deeper or whatever - it's more in the response to the OP).
Upd: I love how you pointed out that Russians express their emotions through the variations of the words rather than the tone, etc. You may be onto something. WIth that said, Russians can still be pretty expressive with their tone but it's harder to recognize if you're not familiar with the language closely
That’s literally true for all Slavic languages though.
Ahmm... I'm called Paulo. In Portuguese you can also modulate it to Paulinho, Paulão, Paulito, etc.
Russian here. I wish people were also forced to re-read the classics when they're 40 or so, with the benefit of life experience. Even if you're reading the works of Tolstoy or Dostoevsky in the language they were written, you can't absorb much of it when you're 16-17. 40's though? Those are absolutely, crushingly profound pieces of literature, worth re-reading. Nothing in the West comes even remotely close. "Brothers Karamasov" and "War and Peace" both should be mandatory if one wants to call themselves Russian.
@@anthonyperri70he who is able to read but chooses not to has no advantage over the person who can’t at all
@@anthonyperri70 What’s your point?
@@anthonyperri70 Are you slow? I never said people should be forced to read the classics, it was the other guy. I merely said if you are able to read and can’t you might as well be illiterate. You have legs but if you choose to sit instead of move you might as well have none.
@@anthonyperri70 Thank you for your non-contribution.
I feel the exact same way about Nickelodeon cartoons.
Swearing in Slavic languages is on a completely different level. In English, swearing is flat, boring, and limited.
Absolutely god tier obscene lexic is the best feature of Slavic languages.
As a Russian, English is for business and law. Russian is for poetry and feelings
I can understand using English for business purposes when dealing with people outside of Russia. The use of English inside of Russia for law or business is a laughable concept.
@@kiz11ayeah well the majority of russians don't speak english, there's also not many immigrants who speak english so russians have no reason to speak english if they're in their motherland... russian is pretty much the english of slavic countries from my understanding, many people can speak/understand russian in countries other than russia (ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, moldova & more)... so yea unless you own a massive company doing international business you're probably not worried about speaking english
+rocket science a d nuclear physics
@@JohnDoe-vp9eyyou are Ukrainian, yes?
@@JohnDoe-vp9ey lol. Nabokov was a writer, not a poet.
lol, such an American question from Joe, "whose language is better?" 😀😃😄
It was more nuanced than that. He meant in reqards to expressing yourself eloquently. English gives me a way to be very specific in what I'm talking about and Japanese is a very general language that is heavily context-dependent. All the languages are different and interesting in their own ways which will lead to strengths and weaknesses.
@@worgenzwithm14z Yeah, but just the fact that he's priviledging eloquence as a “goal” to be attained or at the very least as something desirable -because for anglo people “it makes sense” to be eloquent- IS very American. Note he could have asked which language is more poetic/beautiful/practical/interpretive but he chose the most productivity-like criterion to ask. That IS very American.
I think Joe means that he wants to understand the differences between languages..
Only he didn't ask such question, fool.
Don't twist it.
And such a Russian answer from Lex: "Ours."
...
..
.
Russians are humorously arrogant while Americans are competitive
as a Belarusian, I can easily say, he spoke facts right there
I'm Support Ukraine Not Belarus And Russia , You Guys Terrorist .
@@oleksandrpylyavskyy Олександр спасибо. Скоро и мой народ «террористов» поблагодарит вас за эту полезную информацию.
@@AuthenticProducer Вы - террористы. Вы забрали жизни невинных украинцев. Вы бомбили наши города.
It's so rare that I get to see my fellow countrymen on the internet
Жыве Беларусь!
Жьіве Беларусь!
As a person who was born and raised in Moscow, but who also lived in the english-speaking west for many-many years (and I also speak French well enough just to confirm my thesis), I could say that the languages are most definitely different. And they are different in not a trivial way. There is a kind of deep matrix of core meanings (like "what life really is" kind of meanings) behind each language, and by adopting one language or another, you actually are switching between these matrices of looking at things. You can establish word translations and so on, but words don't have meanings by themselves, they are built into a surrounding predominant feeling of the world. And this unspoken, unconscious part is actually lost in translation. This is why the most talented translations are more like adaptations rather than translating the precise meaning into another language.
For example, there are no equivalent words in Russian for "challenge" or "commitment", and there are no really close equivalents. It means that Russian don't have those mental constructs corresponding to the precise meaning of English words above, but there are other ideas that have slightly different connotations and meanings. It means that when you translate those words, you have to take it into account. It also means that Russians don't see the world in terms of "challenges" and "commitments", their approach is different. In this sense the Russian world is different because it projects different meanings onto things.
The western school of sovietology understood this, but, one way or another, it is now lost and we appear to be lost in translation...
When it comes to swearing.... I'd be more cautious and careful in my judgement. First, I wouldn't glorify swearing the Lex does. In a normal situation, swearing is inappropriate (way more than in a typical social situation in the US, it can be a sign of indecency). But at the same time, Russian swearing could very sophisticated, especially given that words in Russian could be easily modified to convey the tiniest nuances of meaning. On general, the ability to create new words on the fly to use them as tools to convey the nuances meaning is something that gives Russians ability to see what English- or French-speakers will never see. The language defines what's possible in the world. And Russians are particularly good at creating new words (and therefore things described by those words) out of thin air, as an act of fun.
Why "вызов" is a bad translation for "challenge" though?
@@user-cp1ku6kr6z simply because 1) it doesn't reflect the whole set of meanings of "challenge" (to challenge a status quo (to disrupt), challenging situation (a difficult situation that isn't easy to overcome), challenge (as something that involves competition), etc. and 2) "вызов" has its own set of meanings that have nothing at all to do with "challenge": "вызов такси", "вызов к начальнику", "вызов" (as in phone call). And even with the meaning it has, it's completely artificial, other than in govt. presentations and speeches, people don't talk like that. My ears are bleeding when someone says "вызов".
Or you can try translating "adjustment". :-)) same story.
Вызов is a weaker version of challenge which is closer to calling
@@st5974 well, it's not 100% precise, but I don't think that it's lacking substantial part of its meaning
I mean, harsh circumstances can "бросить вызов" to you, which is very close to be "challenging"
Can someone provide any example of usage of this word that cannot be translated to russian without loosing its substance?
I can think of this - you cannot translate the word "challenger" to russian gracefully, but this alone doesn't mean that russian has no concept of challenge
@@st5974испытание не то ?
Languages are always more than just their "spoken" form, a language opens you up to whole new cultures and worlds, new ways to experience and share said experiences, there's even studies out there that show that the way your brain works and even your personality changes depending on which language you choose to speak, and of course. They carry the weight and history of the land and it's people with it.
Fascinating stuff.
One Chinese youtuber that has a channel in Russian about Chinese culture, nuances, way of thinking and other everyday life differences between Russia and China once said, "when you learn a different language, it's like you gain a different soul. I now have two souls in me - my Chinese soul and my new Russian soul". There's definitely truth to her words. As a Russian who speaks fluent English, I often catch myself thinking in different languages depending on subject. Knowing English expanded my way of thinking. I wonder if it's too late for me to learn Chinese...
@@kamchatmonk never too late to learn a new language i think. Its worth atleast attempting to other cultures, see the world through others eyes.
That about personality changing is true. I'm basically an american when speaking english, very polite when speaking standart german and more distanced when speaking my northern german dialekt, in stark contrass to my more warm american dialekt.
You don't need to speak a different langauge for that.
It's almost funny that Lex speaks a very sterile english, and thinks it lacks poetry. The brits are way better at word play. That's more of an American thing.
The Culture is in the language.
That last bit Lex mentioned about how much of the culture he is losing not being able to speak that cultures language perfectly expresses the eye opening experience I had when I started to learn Spanish. If you've only spoken your native language for your entire life it's amazing how eye opening the journey of learning another language really is. It's hard to explain to someone that hasn't really dove into learning another language but the way Lex puts it hit the nail on the head for me. I highly recommend that anyone should start learning another language, particularly one from any culture you're curious about, without worrying about how "hard" or "easy" that language is perceived. Once I started, I now have constant FOMO of how much I don't understand about the way other cultures communicate and can't wait to learn more.
Couldn't agree more
@@RudyBoyI agree w y’all. I think it forces you a part of your brain that is never used and causes you to start thinking actively and helps you with word selection. Language is sooo massive it’s underneath the whole worlds nose. Learning Russian has improved my English and I haven’t practiced English since high school.
I guess for people used to the order and efficiency of the so called first world it can be kinda shocking to see how chaotic and messy Latin American societies are. It's something cultural, I guess. Sometimes we're more relaxed but sometimes this disorganized lifestyle can become fatiguing. Our literature is kinda violent, but I guess not as much as Russian (after all, our history has not been an easy ride, but poverty and misery have been more important than war itself). And there's a lot of unknown literature that's only read in some countries where it was written.
When I studied Mandarin it opened me up immensely and there is way to how the language manifests itself in you. You think the language, it becomes part of your mannerisms, it comes through in many ways. I found myself when I spoke Mandarin moving like a Chinese person when gesturing, doing things in a Chinese way when practicing even though I am of European descent. It just came naturally when adding emphasis in speech. This was not some kind of pantomime or mimicry exercises.
English also seems more open in its simplicity in how other cultures can transpose these things on top of it -- it is not truly odd for another culture to learn English and still manifest itself, however. Perhaps this comes from English being in itself a hybrid language.
@@loganchase-buter9972learning Russian taught me English grammar, an endeavor at which all of my teachers in grade school and high school had wholly failed.
Lex is right about education being more intense in Russia than it is in America. I'm Russian myself, I studied in US schools until the eighth grade. Funnily enough when I was in seventh grade - they put me in an advanced mathematics group in my school, where we studied algebra and what have you (we were two years ahead of the rest of the class). Then our family moved back to Russia in the late 90's, and after eighth grade in an American school I started eighth grade in a Russian school (so I lost a year, because of that I was 18 when I graduated and almost wound up in the Russian army as a conscript in result, but that's a different story). And the thing is that if I wouldn't have been assigned to that advanced group back in the States - I would've been two years behind my Russian peers in mathematics. Turns out that in Russia they begin to study mathematics at the American 9th grade level starting from seventh grade.
We in India use Soviet Physics Books by Krotov, Irodov, Landau & Lifshitz for tough practice problems for Engineering entrance exams. These are timeless classics. The Soviet physics books have a special character to them, especially the math heavy approach to explanation and problems.
@@rahulvats95 Oh my God, these textbooks influenced me so much that just the word “Landau” evokes flashbacks of post-traumatic syndrome in me. And I just studied 4 volumes out of 10! I'm still sure that I look crazy only because I know how to use the "Stationary-action principle" to derive the entire equation of mechanics and electrodynamics!
Americans tend to score below average in math, average in reading, and above average in science. These scores typically average out to the US having somewhere around the 25th strongest education system in the world. American education does seem to breed creativity, though. Americans seem to be quite creative problem solvers; and they don't lack confidence, for better or worse.
@@JorgeM270 yes we Russians see it too, we respect Americans and american style of conversation for that and try to learn from you.
@@JorgeM270Hmm, I think there’s a difference between the American and Russian approach. The American approach is to encourage students to come up with a way to solve the problem on their own, which takes longer but cultivates creative and out-of-the-box thinking. The Russian approach is to show students a proven way to solve the problem which is quicker but more conformist.
This could explain why Russians aren’t great at innovating new solutions but are great at engineering and optimizing solutions in fields which are already well-developed.
As one example, during the late Cold War the USSR was lagging behind the USA in electronics/computers because the USA was busy innovating and moving that field forward while the USSR played catchup. So, American fighter planes had better radar, avionics, and longer ranged missiles. However, Soviet fighter planes had better aerodynamical properties because this was a very well-established field by that time and the Soviet engineers excelled at optimizing solutions. Since then the gaps in both capabilities have diminished a little, with modernized Russian planes getting more modern electronics and American planes incorporating more advanced aerodynamical features.
Another example is space launches. America leads innovation with companies like Space-X developing new technology such as reusable rockets, but Russia again leading optimization with the Soyuz series of rockets being for decades the safest and most cost-effective way to get humans into orbit, including all ferrying of American astronauts to the ISS between 2011 and 2020.
What Lex is saying isn't just for Russian language. It's almost all Slavic languages. They are emotionally more expressive and as my first language is also Slavic language, I find myself struggling sometimes to express what I want to say in English. Some phrases just cannot be translated and words also that you want translate don't hold deeper meaning in English.
Having such expressive first language where you can really and truthfully to yourself express the emotions you feel, other simpler language you find yourself struggling. Not just as romantic expressions, but as Lex said profanity also. Swearing in Slavic language is an art form to say most brutal things and still sound amusing. And insults are much more creative.
Last thing, you don't know how much beautiful Russian woman is, until you hear her reading Russian poetry in Russian. Somethings you just cannot comprehend how beautiful and romantic there are.
True. Can confirm as a Bulgarian speaker who also understands Russian very well intuitively. It's their best quality.
Maybe it's more connected to a particular person's ability to express certain things in a given language? It's also such a common trope in almost all languages to say "Only in OUR language can you truly express such and such"
@@JohnDoe-vp9ey You don't speak Russian to understand the comparison. I agree with him as someone who speaks both languages fluently.
4:16 so f true. I remember in the 5th grade (11-12 yo) we read Turgenev's story "Mumu" and it was damn hard. To put it briefly, this is a story about an involuntary deaf-mute man, Gerasim, who is subordinate to a capricious and cruel lady who forced Gerasim to drown his only friend, the dog Mumu. We read this story in 5th grade, I remember how in class someone started sobbing when Gerasim drowned Mumu, it was very hard to read. All the literature we read is just filled with despair, war and death. This is deep literature, I like Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Turgenev, Pushkin, Bulgakov, Gogol and other writers, but nevertheless sometimes traumatic, especially for children.
Or remember "White Bim black ear", IIRC we read it in th 4 or 5 grade too.
Personally I done read "Blockade day by day" in the 3 grade. That was... very hard book. Shame I loss it somewhere. After it I discovered for me Soviet war literature.
We're forced to read a lot of heavy literature in school but I'd say its heaviness kinda goes over your head. Like I read all these books like "Peace and War" and "Crime and Punishment" and didn't think they were anything more than just entertaining stories, probably 'cause I was too young. And I don't remember reading "Mumu" at all, I'm pretty sure we've never read it, or my brain's just blocking this memory
@@victoriaseawatch5407 I agree
5th grade?
Dayum.
@@victoriaseawatch5407 Bingo! I've read "Crime and Punishment" on my own when I was 18 - not quite an adult, but definitely not a 15-year old kid. I was not terribly impressed. I re-read it in my 40's. Wow. What a different impression it leaves on you when you are a mature adult. I think making Dostoyevsky's major works mandatory school reads in 8-9 grade is a terrible waste. 90% of the message is completely lost on kids that young.
So nice to see Lex open up. On his podcast he just asks the questions
Never thought of it that way. The language carries the burdens and suffering of past. As a Spanish speaker, never agreed (and hated) the over the top romanticism and servile way to communicate. But it is instilled in our roots and heritage. Great way to convey an epiphany.
Servile? How? I'd say we are quite rude 😂
lex drinking game: take a sip every time he mentions the human experience, regardless of context.
😂
And Joe mentioning "bear". You're drunk in 2 sentences 😂
@@Duke49thor elk
He's right. In Russia you wear emotions on your sleeve and the language is very direct.
In American language, there alot of beating around the bush and hidden meanings.
Yeah, I'm an American and the beating around the bush drives me crazy. Just spit it out! I was raised in a subculture of America that's almost extinct and it was plain spoken and nobody had time to listen to blather.
Lex: you read them all, you read tolstoi, dostoievski...
Joe: *silence*
No he is saying, you as in the young Russians students had to read
Reminds me on reminding my american friends not to make fun of someones accent, because this means the person speaks another language besides English.
In America, we like to make fun of many accents, especially other Americans accents. We learn about each other that way, but some of us don't realize it's rude to put that ridicule on people trying to learn English with an accent developed for not-english
The most hilarious time when Americans mock somebody asking to be mocked back is when they ridicule Brits for their accent. Or migrants to UK who learned to speak, you know, proper English
@@LoliLikesPedobear To me it just exposes the fake exceptionalism and ignorance of the anglosaxon folks in general. Not realizing that the person with the "accent" is the actual cosmopolitan, who is able to interact and connect with more people speaking more than one language. In most european countries you have to have two foreign languages before you can enter college. Some countries like Luxemburg or Switzerland speak up to 3-5.
yeah im sure people never make fun of americans when they speak other languages with an accent
People with funny accents should be mocked rigorously as should you.
His description of general fear and anxiety when going to school reminds me of band rehearsal.
The moment I heard Lex start speaking Russian. My eyes were open. I’ll never look at him the same. He’s not a nerd in a suit, he’s the rad Russian!
His accent is about the same as Habibs accent in English, let’s just say he wouldn’t cut it as a spy
But he is right about the depth of the language especially the cussing part we use it a lot as word binder, and he is right about the school education Russians don’t choose classes, classes choose us 😂
cringe
wtf
Hes actually jewish
No, this is a misconception. Russian is a native language for me. Yet, every language has the complexity to reflect deep human emotion - it's a matter of which language you're most fluent in. Every language uses different tools, but in the end - all languages can be used very eloquently.
It's just English is often used as an international language of commerce/culture. Therefore, people use a more basic register. But English has the full capacity to be very elevated and deeply emotional.
You are both right and wrong; all languages have the potential to convey profound emotional eloquence, yes, but at the same time, it's also a misconception that all languages are equal when it comes to the 'naturalness' and 'accessibleness' to exploit that potential.
Yes, somebody should've told Shakespeare that he couldn't express deep human emotion in English and should learn Russian or Spanish instead. Lol
@@victoriaseawatch5407 to be honest , i always felt shakespeare is overrated, due to english dominance i guess
I'm inclined to agree with your point from a year ago- I frequently hear people say their native language is the richest- however, that being said, there are objective measures available such as bodies of literature and general literacy rate which give an idea of how deeply a language permeates its own society. English is the current lingua franca, and is used all over the world in a highly transactional way, it's the language of science and commerce. Additionally, languages have features, if something has a highly inflectional morphology for example you have a lot of ways to play with and build words to refine what you're trying to say in a way that might be done with a clause in another language. You can do things with Chinese that you can't do with English (like the conciseness of their written poetry, some poems can also be read from different directions and produce new meanings, on the flipside there are about 1600 syllables in use in Chinese and way way more in English. At the end of the day there may be something deeper to what Lex is saying about Russian, but at the same time, I think it's commonly felt that one's "mother tongue" is the most expressive.
Sure, but we are talking apples to apples. Russian is far deeper when it comes tonformulating sentences, it's a richer language and you can easily feel that if you read English poerty. It's stale and clunky even at its best, there is a feeling that something is missing.
Lex is kind of missing the point of why there is a massive difference in "emotion" between English and Russian. It has nothing to do with wars and how they gave it weight. Although it sounds very romantic, it has nothing to do with it. As all Slavic languages, Russian is very grammatically complex, especially when you compare it to English ( there are even more complex slavic languages ). Also a bigger vocabulary. In combination, it allows you to construct sentences that carry much more weight. And express tiny nuances which you simply cannot do in English. You can say the sentence with same meaning in many, many different ways.
yeah, it was weird to hear him just throw it on the wars as if it's the only thing that's influenced slavic languages.
@@fergal2424 yeah, I was expecting a much more intelligent answer from him tbh, especially since that is part of his heritage as well. I hope he isn't flashing it as some "trophy" and actually speaks donkey version of it. On top of it AS IF no other country before in history, went through wars and suffering... really, really weird answer...
I feel like you pulled that out of your ass but Lex didn't, thereby making whatever you just said that less credible
Do you speak Russian?
You're probably both wrong just saying.
As a Russian, everything Lex said is spot on!
As a human I say Slava Ukraini!!
@@pacoperez1012 v sostave Rossii
@@pacoperez1012 lmfao
What happened to Kherson, sukas? Orcs fled like scared rats, huh?
Slava Ukraini
Russians are not hypocrites. They may seem cold but they can be the best friends ready to give their last piece of bread to you.
My Russian neighbors saved my life when I was young. Luckily for me, they didn't think I was a fool so I was treated like part of the family. Being part of a Russian family is what our Russia "experts" have never experienced or they wouldn't act so stupid. They're not the kind of people that Russians are going to take to their hearts. Being part of a Russian family is what you want from life. I learned more history from them than I ever did in school. They were all brilliant.
Lex is one of my favorite people alive right now. Such a good dude.
Russian humor is everywhere in Russian language and cursing also
Is blowing up warships and ammo depots because of cigarrettes considered Ruzzian humour?
@@pacoperez1012 you should stop watching all that propaganda. It makes you very anti-human and more hateful
@@pacoperez1012 no, but you surely would be considered a joke, witnit
If you think vulgarity and rudeness are humor, then yes, there's plenty of humor in Russia 😅
good reflection. Sometimes I got this insight, about how much i'm loosing because i still don't know another language. this has moved me to keep learning languages through literature.
The first big philological and grammatical ordering of the current Russian(state) language was made by Michail Lomonosov in the 18th century, but the modern use, poetry, sounding, and words were chosen by genius poets like Pushkin at the beginning of the 19th and then many authors. I think the activity and the freedom to use a wide mix of dialects and neighboring languages at that time greatly influenced the formation of the Russian language as we know it today.
Čau Jāni!
Pushkin popularized the so-called "modern" Russian language. As a child I liked to read his poems. When I was in the 4th grade, I learned half of "Eugene Onegin" by heart)
Салют Латышам , я сам все детство жил в Риге и Юрмале)))
Russian may be a language that is expressive in more poetic ways but English can be easily understood through tough thorough thought, though!
Just as french was once. Lingua franca changes from century to century.
English is the most easy language on the planet.
Seems like it flew under the radar, but I love what you did there xD
Indonesia is better language
@@after_midnight9592 it is not. It's the most easy language to learn for sure tho
I would extend this narrative beyond the language. Russian classical music is incredibly deep and passionate. I expect the same to exist in other Russian art forms.
Yes, you will find that they are masterfully unique and renowned in the arts and similiar; film, literature, philosophy, poetry, photography, architecture, langauge. My notable recommendation to Russian culture for anyone who asks would be to watch Andrei Tarkovskys, “Andrei Rublev” (1966). Stunning achievement of russian art.
@@truetrannyanything Tchaikovsky is good imo, rimsy korsokov is well known as well although I’m not too familiar with his work tbh
If you like piano, I cannot recommend rachmaninoff enough, his second piano concerto is probably the most accessible pieces of classical music around and is well loved, but I love his third one as well
If you’re interested in soviet era Russian music Prokofiev and Shostakovich is good, although Prokofiev is probably not the most accessible composer for the general audience bar a few select pieces.
Shostakovich 5th symphony is famous for being thought of as a protest against Soviet rule
A lot of the music has really interesting stories behind them too, which help with the appreciation of it as well if you want to dive into that
I've always loved Russian classical music. Tchaikovsky to Rimsky-Korsakov to Khachaturian etc. (Spelling from memory so forgive the errors). Even my favorite classical trumpet player (for the Bolshoi Theater Orchestra) was a Ukranian/Russian - Timofei Dokshitzer.
@@JT-rx1eo Yes! Yes!! YES!!!
Three examples: Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Rachmaninoff's Piano concerto nº3 in music, and Tarkovsky's Stalker in film.
I speak Japanese and English. I'm a half kid and grew up in both countries. Anyway, I agree with Lex on being unable to "fuck with words" in English. In Japanese, you can use more or less the exact same words, but modify the sentence or grammar in a way that conveys a lot of meaning, intent, and emotion. In English, everything mostly comes down to the words you use as well as expressions, phrases, and idioms. When speaking IRL, how you say something also plays a big role.
I think English uses a lot more expressions and idioms than Japanese for this reason. English speakers often don't realize how much of what they say is not literal, but that's probably the best part of English. When using expressions, it forces you to form vivid imagery for such analogies. It also forces people to act out and/or gesture what they say a bit more. Japanese people hardly do that because you can convey a lot of that through the language alone.
Exactly..I feel you(on the part of speaking several languages)
Dude, I went from a public Russian school to a private expensive English school. I was cruising for like 3 years, because I've learned everything before.
For me it was the opposite. I went from a private expensive school in England to a Russian school and was crushing it because I had acquired skill sets by year 6 that don't get acquired by Russian students until university, if at all.
@@4grammaton А именно какие скиллы ты подразумеваешь? Я точно разницу в пользу русской школы заметил, в плане среднего образования.
Жду ответа, мне очень интересно
@@ipredictacatastrophe4370 мне тоже интересно
@@4grammaton I'm kinda interested, too, as the two above. Cause from my experience Russian school was nothing special. Like we have kinda decent calculus and physics in Russia. Chemistry in England would be far better, I assume. But that would require of you to get Russian notation right. Same with biology. Like 9th grade US biology books are far superior to Russian ones, but you'd get stuck with translation, IMO.
So what skills exactly are so much superior?
Totally correct. When I saw what us pupils are studying in math at high school - I was surprised at the incredible low level of usa schools. However the college, universities is where students can thrive because they are ( still) the best.
I learned the point that Lex is making here through comparison of my first and second language's most linguistically experimentative writers. The things someone like Clarice Lispector can do with Portuguese (or _to_ Portuguese, as some'd say) are notoriously untranslatable, and this isn't really the case with, for example, the Beat guys from the US.
But, to play devil's advocate, there is indeed something to be said about the great simplicity and constraint of English. Others in the comments have mentioned how the English form allows ease of analysis and how this might have contributed to their mastery of science and technology, but you don't have to flee the poetic realm to defend English: just think of how rigorously elegant British poetry and prose has been. Shakespeare's sonnets were composed in English! What I see when I read English poetry is a great effort to say much with little, and this has value too.
What I mean to say is: constraint has a wonderful effect on human creativity.
Unfortunately, I still can't "feel" in English ((((( May be someday...
you might find the expression: I can only feel free within boundaries" paradox while only boundaries let us differentiate
As a Russian American I do find English language a bit simplistic compared to Russian. English is easier to speak as words are shorter and it's great when it comes to writing music lyrics, but Lex's notice about "fucking with words" in Russian is so spot on, you can take p much any Russian word and change the ending of it to convey a myriad of different meanings, possibilities or your own relationship to what you are saying, It's kind of hard to explain. Also yes Russian pre-college education is no joke I still have low-key PTSD from the workload I got back in middle school and high-school. When I came to the US at the age of 18 everyone seemed so dumb (sorry for being blunt) and college math in America was what we got in grade 8th. I do feel there is more freedom here in the US though with what you can do with your life afterward (more career choices, possibilities and opportunities), and that's what matters
I started learning Russian a while ago. I don't know why really, I just think it's a cool language. If I were to go to Russia I could probably get by, but one thing I really haven't been able to wrap my head is the grammar and all the little nuances of it. But that can be said for almost any language. All of that is much harder to learn as you get older. That's why you can teach kids languages pretty easily, even multiple at the same time.
One thing I disagree with Lex is that English is less emotional. At least not inherently. Maybe Modern American English is. But the English of past centuries was very poetic. When most modern Americans read old literature in English, it's poetic to the point where it can be hard for us to fully comprehend it. Maybe American English majors can comprehend it just fine, but common folk, not really.
There's no need to be focused on grammar if you're not learning a language as a linguist.
I learned English as a second language after Russian and I wouldn't be able to explain a single grammatical rule. Tbf, I'm not sure if I can do it in Russian either.
When you really know the language you just feel it.
That's the point, if you can not really comprehend a language in some form, that means this language is not well suited for this form.
Ironically, that is not something you can say about any language, Russian has quite a unique set of grammatical and phonological features, while what Lex said in the video can indeed be said about most languages (and it gets so tiring to hear from speakers of any language about how their particular language is the most expressive and untranslatable)
Language is the medium AND the message, so said Marshall McCluhan
Good video!
Spot on, Lex!! An accurate description and a very familiar sense of longing when you don't know more languages. How much more are we missing out...?
So Theo Von speaks in Russian English. His language is absurdity at all times and he knows exactly how to explain himself.
Lex is my favourite podcaster ATM.
I’m a native English-speaker who learned Russian, and as far as emotional depth of the two languages go, I think it mostly just depends on which one you grow up in. For me, English has a much wider emotional pallet ranging from the profound to the absurd that I just don’t feel in Russian because I didn’t grow up with it building those deep, deep emotional connections.
It’s funny talking with my wife or her family who are all native speakers. Sometimes I’ll stumble into some topic or trigger phrase that comes with a ton of emotional baggage I had no idea about and completely ruin dinner with the in-laws.
If you think English is more capable of expressing emotion than Russian - you dont know Russian well enough. Russian has a greater vocabulary and is far more complex. You have to "feel" the language
@@AndRei-yc3ti I think English has a wider vocabulary (because of Latin and French words) but Russian is better for creating new words and much more sophisticated in grammar
@@AndRei-yc3ti This isn't true. Regarding vocabulary, even a cursory glance at dictionaries for the two languages shows us that Russian language dictionaries typically contain about 200,000 unique entries while English dictionaries can contain up to one million depending on how comprehensive they are. There's a lot of historical and technical reasons why English has this monster vocabulary, but one of the big ones is because it has a relatively simplified grammar compared to Russian. English often has to mint completely new words with unique word stems to express something whereas Russian can just use prefixes and suffixes and such in order to mutate existing words to fit new purposes.
Languages are all vehicles of expression, and if speakers of a given language aren't able to express nuanced ideas through one means (complicated grammar and case system in Russian), then they'll find another way to do it (massive vocabulary in English). The idea that a language can be intrinsically better at expression is an ethnocentric notion. It's one that I'm frankly uncomfortable with given how that kind of rhetoric has been used, both historically and today in Ukraine, to justify punishing and killing people just for speaking their native tongue instead of "The Great Russian Language."
@@BlueMorningStar after researching the topic English has about 170,000 unique words vs Russian 150,000 that is not a significant difference. And yet despite that Russian is able to express nuance and emotion far better than English can. This is why if you have a good translator, some English works often read better in Russian than English. Try reading the Count of Monte Cristo, For whom a bell tolls or even The Catcher in the Rye in both languages and tell me that it is worse in Russian. English is a far simpler language which ironically lemds itself quite well to science but makes it struggle in philosophy (for example there is an excellent translation in Russian for Aristotle eudamonia which does not translate to English). I speak both languages fluently and have from a young age, I understand the nuances of both languages and unquestionably the depth of emotional expression of which English is capable is far lower than that seen in many other languages
The fact that a language can be better at expressing than another one is not an ethnicentric notion though - languages evolved in a particular historical and cultural context leading to the development of certain words. As for Ukraine, as a Ukrainian, nobody is punishing Ukrainians for "speaking their native tongue" (dont get me started on how Ukrainian isnt a native tongue for most Ukrainians and how its been pushed on the population by West Ukrainians). But thats a different matter entirely.
@BlueMorningStar Finally someone observed that from native English perspective, my native is russian and it's feels more emotional depth probably because of that nativeness effect. If try compare english and russian in terms of pros and cons from my perspective:
English pronunciation is nightmare for example words like queue, thought.
English have far more easy declensions than russian (often i even forget how to properly do declension in russian)
One average word in english seems (not sure) have more meaning than one russian average word.
I think russian cursive was made by satan...
Dostoyevsky was not a poet, he was a novelist. Pushkin is the great Russian poet. And i'm sorry, not all Russians swear. This is something that developed strictly in the 20th century in soviet communist times. Nothing to do with the hundreds of years old Russian language itself. There was no swearing in Russian literature. People who were born before the revolution and grew up outside of the soviet union and especially those who are religious use curse words extremely rarely.
french and russian are very similar for me in terms of possibility for swear, concept, poetry and much more
French influence is huge on Russian culture. Every intelligent in Russia used to know French as a second langugage, it was mandatory. Pushkin, the father of modern Russian language, knew French and there's a myth that he made up his own death, moved to Paris, changed his identity to Alexander Dyuma and continued writing books.
initially Pushkin knew French better than Russian, this blew my mind when I was 10@@EmilRadsky-ll8kx
@@guyd7924 Exactly
Russian is very hard to learn for an English speaker. I lived in St. Petersburg 2 years and spent 5 years trying to learn the language. It has 6 cases and there are many subtle meanings to different words and expression that are hard to grasp. I finally reached a point where I could watch Russian language videos and movies and understand most of what is said but I still feel I cannot speak the language in any meaningful way. I envy Lex that he can speak both languages well.
It took me about a year and some change to be able to have a full conversation in Russian as a native English speaker so either your method was ineffective or you were inconsistent with your studies
On the positive side, even if your declensions are wrong, Russians will consider it a minor miracle that you can say anything at all.
That's fun. I'm reading that on my way to Saint Petersburg 😅
@@2kdre493I don’t think the person above meant the ability to hold a conversation. I think he was talking about understanding all the nuances and subtleties.
In any language there's a thing called context and shared knoweledge. Sometimes you just have to live it through to understand. For example you most likely won't understand a phrase "what else do you need, dog?", it may even sound as an insult. But no russian speaking native will ever see it this way. It's a line from one of the greatest russian comedies and most likely a person you are talking to will laugh. And for me as a russian native "pulp fiction" movie is a nightmare - i understood words, not the jokes before i've read explanations.
my 2 favorite podcasters right here!
Is anyone here familiar with both the Australian dialect and Russian? I'd love to hear thoughts on the creativity on swearing between the Australian English dialect and Russian.
It's the same for danish i feel, very good for communication, tons of "recent" wars during the middle ages, being centered in Europe, land entry to Scandinavia.
My dad is danish, and my mom is russian, so i know both languages. I completely agree. The funny thing that Denmark and Russia have in common is the sarcastic and ironic humor.
Не только боль, но и любовь и другие светлые чувства.
Тоска. Я слышал в английском вообще нет слова с точно таким смыслом
Interesting to ask a computer scientist about linguistics. I hope Joe one day can ask a chef about cosmology.
and not only that there is poetry just in day to day conversation.
i remember the meeting Putin had with Khabib and reading the subtitles was like poetic!
It's funny to hear him talk about Russian in this way, when most of my Russian exposure is gachi music XD
My exposure has primarily been Klava Koka, Creme Soda, Grivina, and Maya Boyka.
Richness of language and history does not make the contemporary culture of the nation any better. Modern Russian culture does not produce anything, ANYTHING of value. Its degeneracy upon degeneracy, copying worst of the west and making it even worse. So yeah, dont look for any wisdom, culture or depth from modern Russia, its gone for good.
Saying that as a Russian.
I tried to learn Russian in 1991 at a nearby university. It’s very, very difficult. Different alphabet.
I often think what makes Russian language and literature so deep and philosophical is a combination of those long, dark winters, when conversation and reflection can arise, and also the influence of the more mystical Orthodox Church, compared with Catholicism and Protestantism in the west.
As a linguist and writer, it is possible to match the sentiment-rich eloquent nature of Russian within English, but the requirement of language proficiency is steep. Similarily, it doesn't communicate the context as it does in Russian, rather confusing the listener.
could you show or recommend an example?
@@sebastiansullivan4770 Yes. The Russian equivalent of "Do you really have to do that?" under emotional intention would be "Must you truly do such a brazen thing?"
@@DrakesdenChannel thank you.
@@DrakesdenChannel isn't this kind of missing the point? English isn't spoken this way regardless of emotion, yes you can phrase things as eloquently (perhaps I don't speak russian) but communication is a two party event. If the listener is expected to think you're weird for wording something eloquently then you almost as a rule can't do it because the meaning will be warped, when warping is expected to happen almost ubiquitously across contexts and environments for a given language I think you can say that it loses the ability.
Written word is different and you often can but man, spoken english, at least in the Americas, has seemed to take a nose dive off a cliff in terms of acceptable articulation in the last 30 years.
@@TheInfectous Eloquence has a purpose beyond aesthetics, it conveys information precisely by increasing complexity. Slavic languages tend to infer more context from specific speech than English. Thus, the level of speech complexity infers specific meaning in daily life. "I didn't get milk." - casual "Milk I have not received." - charged. The difference is immediately understood regardless of intonation. Some of this can be found in older British English, but not much elsewhere.
imo russian really shines with its freedom to change natural word order on a whim and drop some parts of the sentence out if needed. when i think in english as a native russian speaker i have no issues in struckturing my thought process, but if i need to translate something that's already "spoken" in russian then boy, oh, boy. granted, proper writing in russian tends to adhere to strickter rules, but speaking language is much more fluid.
structuring, stricter
@@richardswaby6339 u mab bro?
@@EasyGameEh I don't know what you mean. I was just trying to be helpful. I wasn't trying to insult you. Sorry.
@@richardswaby6339 "i don"t question your loyalty, only your judgement"
@@EasyGameEh ???????
OK. Now I am guessing that you spelled those words with a 'k' deliberately to strike up an argument so I retract my apology and am done speaking with you. You can communicate with youself from now. Bye.
Native speaker here. English - short, precise, simple grammar, universal, easy to learn, great for business or science, terrible for poetry or expressing feelings. Russian - longer words, much more complex (a single word can have 10+ forms that can mean very different states of this object or our attitude towards it), extremely hard to learn on a native level, great for any shades of feelings or creativity with words (including jokingly creating new words that everyone will understand or changing the word order or suffixes in order to change the meaning), clunky for business or science because the words are long, have different endings depending on the gender and the spelling is hard as it requires a lot of memorising.
Not sure about the impact of the 20th century, though - there were some new words coined by the Soviet regime but the absolute majority of them come from before that time. It's hard to pinpoint the precise date of course but at least since the beginning of the 19th century the Russian language has already been this rich. Also, I wouldn't say the language is specifically tailored towards expressing pain or grief in any way - just any feeling or attitude, really.
This was interesting
My wife and I come from different languages. I feel we never really connect. So language is really important.
My wife is Japanese, and we talk (in Japanese) at cross-purposes frequently: but that is not because of linguistic issues. I have no trouble communicating with Japanese men, but males and females just don't think the same.
As for swearing, it's a feature of pretty much all Slavic languages. And I think it has to do with the fact that Slavic languages have more grammatical forms (cases; masculine, feminine and neutral forms etc.).
And very rich amount of suffixes and prefixes.
If you want tell someone that he is total dickhead - you can't find better langage group for such task.
3:45 Where can I find more videos about Soviet curriculum? What were the Pioneeren reading?
I’ve always had the feeling that English has been simplified to a certain extent in terms of vocabulary. There are so many English words that have died out in order to streamline the language. My feeling is that this has happened because English has been adopted as a global language for better or worse.
Russian is more economical with its use of words. Hence, you can convey very advanced ideas with so few words (hence, poetic).
Many languages have that. German for example: Schadenfreude, Heimweh
I’d say that you’re missing a major part of the culture if you can’t speak, or at least understand the language. They are inseparable. I can speak Japanese, not perfectly of course, but I can perform any daily function in it. And there’s so much about the social structure and history that is inherently ingrained in it when I speak or read. It’s something you just have to know to be able to understand, no real substitute.
Konnichiwa 🍚
ぞうですね
いや、言葉以上文化の雰囲気と国の魂が必要だと思います。
What a great point he makes at the end….how much expression are we missing out on by not having the poetic and emotional subtly unique to other languages? If we could think and speak fluently like on a poetic level in many languages, how much more fully would it color our world?
When he mentioned the rewriting from memory and you should not to make any mistake, god I so hated that tests, it always was so painful. Always was bad at it.
A few years ago, russian government wanted to introduce a law that would have prohibited the usage of profanity. The initiative fell apart because they admitted that it is not possible to give orders and control their implication without swearing in the army, police, construction, etc. It`s a joke btw. partially
Actually this is false. Cursing in public places in illegal in Russia 😢
@@BogdanOfficalPage and nobody gives a f to enforce it
Simplistic isn’t quite the right term, I’d say English is an EFFICIENT language. It’s certainly simpler, and it’s very adaptable - you can be innovative with it when you know and use it well, that’s not just a Russian thing. Vladimir Nabokov was a language genius who mastered English and brilliantly demonstrated how pliable it is. His translations in both languages settle this Russian vs English debate for me. I’ve found my favorite phrases of his in both languages, and they were equally mesmerizing.
Also, English introduces MANY neologisms into Russian, and Russian readily absorbs them and tweaks ‘em in various quirky ways. I’ve done the opposite for various Russian words in English, and English speakers totally resonated with that. Just wordplay. DO IT ;)
I will say, the more languages you can express in a conversation, the more fun you’ll have with random wordplay. Like, the other day it occurred to me that “hippopotame” sounds exactly like “и попа там” (…well, while playfully swinging my butt in the air like a cat, when hanging out in bed with my guy).
there are other factors to consider, such as the tone, the subject in question, the educational background, etc.
I studied a year of Chinese in college for my International Studies degree. The Chinese department had strict expectations they wanted us to learn not just to speak Chinese, but also to be able to read and write it. We had to practice writing chinese characters. It was totally different from a Chinese beginner course I had years ago that focused on learning to speak and understand the pinyin system. When writing chinese characters, we had to keep the lines straight even though many Chinese use quick/sloppy handwriting (I used to teach English in college in China).
I went through elementary school and 7th grade in China before coming to the U.S: I still remember the absurd amount of practices and memorization I had to do after all these years 😅
I experience this in Croatian language.
It definitely allows you to express yourself in many more ways.
You can also adjust the words and grammar allows you to pack in much more information without adding words.
Good to know that Russian is that "complex". I have choose Japanese as a first language to master because of my passion to the country and I had chosen Russian as the second (now I'm sure), but now I have a motive, because of my passion to languages.
Good luck, because it is punishingly complex, even compared to Asian languages...
a bit weeb
You just chose two difficult languages to learn. It would be quite an impressive feat if you only master one of them and get proficient in the other. Good luck on your future endeavours!
@ Jonpo, A lot of Japanophiles have preceded weebs.
Mastering the Japanese means at least passing a JLPT N1 as a first step
Who are they talking about in the beginning?
Language is a beautiful discovery.
I don't think we swear more than Americans or British.
We have more words for swearing tho. Compare the famous scene from “Blood and Concrete” in original and Russian voiceover😂
Here we are. I am Slav, not a Russian but proud to say that I am filly fluent in Russian. At a time of strictly forbidden Russian culture in the Western society people are starting recognising the values of it. There will be no future for all of us if we try to discredit or erase others history, language, culture...
When it was forbidden? In the 60's? Выйди из своего мирка
@@SensPiotrЯ думаю что автор имел ввиду нынешняя ситуация с русофобии на западе, из-за войны.
@@anonymm3152 русофобия не так массова, как это рассказывает роспропаганда. Массово осуждается правительство. Приедь в любую западную страну, заговори на русском и всем будет пох.
@@SensPiotr Я сам живу в западной стране, я это уже знаю. Русофобия не массова, но она есть. К сожалению, любовь к русской культуре часто интерпретируется как поддержка настоящей власти.
Humor is a way to escape pain (c)
Russian has lesser number of words, but more versions of the same word, making emotions more precise, but information less precise.
Practically, a number of the versions is unlimited
@@ofacid3439 It's unlimited in Finnish, in Russian it's much harder.
Funny he mentioned portuguese. I know nothing about russian language but the phonetics of it always sounded alot like portuguese to me, there are alot more sounds used in both russian and portuguese than in english
Haha yeah, Portuguese to me sounds like a Russian speaking Spanish.
Definately. Portugese from Portugal (not Brazil)
1:14
He Must Have Never Heard Spanish Before 🤣
I think Russians have a lot common with Englishmen especially working class. Drink, swear a lot, wearing addidas. That's why series like Brassic adored.
That divide between Russian and English is exactly why Pushkin is considered such a literary master.
But, the term ‘Revolution from above’ would be a good summary of the language, culture and history - especially the language
Who is the Russian person that Lex was talking about at the beginning of the video?
Khabib
@@cornelishenk4569 ahh, thanks!
yeah/ very "russian"
Fascinating
as a russian speaker myself, i would never expect a foreigner to explain the russian language so accurate and relatable, its crazy
oh wait he's not a foreigner
Except being blinded by stereotypes and overblown out of propotion reflection of reality, bordering Zadornov
You can be emotional in every spoken langauge. The reason you cant be emotional in your second langauge is because you learned it, which is kind of logic process so your logic part of your brain took part while yor mother langauge you acquiered when you were small, thus the more emotional parts of your brain took part of the process.
Is there no way to assimilate the second language into emotional/nativity style?
Because even though I got really close with English, Meaning: the accent of the region I'm in, some of the lingo, and some cultural cues.
I cannot, for the life of me, swear, curse out somebody, or banter as easy in english without sounding awkward
I think he means that more can be put into a one word because of the huge possibilities of changing it outside of a sentence.
@@dumbass3843 English as a global language is extremely watered down.
I've met plenty of people who are completely fluent but everyone knows it's not their first language so the communication is different.
I disagree.
I learned english in my late teens and became truly proficient in my early twenties- and there is no doubt in my mind that english is the best language to articulate emotions in.
Keep in mind that I grew up bilingually, albanian & german, and none of those two languages measure up to english.
It’s not about being emotional in another language. Every language has tools to express them but some tools are better than others. In Russian, I don’t have to yell and repeat swearing words to express how insanely mad or happy I am, for example. You have words for that.
It’s true the way you express yourself in a language is always up to you. But it’s also true that Russian swearings are unmatched. It’s basically an entire language.
весьма точно Лекс высказался, но есть пара неточностей и преувеличений в плане "давления". Для американцев это может и видится неким давлением в школах, но в целом наша школьная система допускает очень много обязательных ненужностей, что делает ее схожей больше с армией. К такому давлению ты привыкаешь и все всё прекрасно понимают, понимают, что знать всё - невозможно и относятся к неудачам снисходительно. Ты будешь учить все, даже если тебе это нахер не надо, но со временем понимаешь зачем тебе преподавали "ненужные" предметы. Угадайте с кого наша школьная система брала пример. Не будем показывать пальцем, но это Британия))
у меня была очень хорошая и дружная школа, я не хочу, чтобы граждане иных стран считали, что в России все ужасно и страшно. Только вот наши граждане сами так считают и их можно понять. Моя школа скорее исключение из правил, ибо есть тысячи школ, где учителям плевать на учеников, а ученики беспризорники, которые с малолетства ведут себя неподобающе. Достаточно посмотреть на статистику абортов среди девушек 15-17 лет, статистику смертей от отравления всякими наркотическими веществами или некачественным алкоголем. Однако, тех, чье детство было счастливым больше. По крайней мере хочется верить
It all depends on a teachers, bro.
Been through Russian school and the most were kinda stuck in proving their authority. Like "ты что самый умный?", "делай как говорят!" ("are you the smartest one here?", "do as you're told!"). And it totally kills the mood to research something on your own and bring it to the teacher to discuss.
Not all, but many are like that.
@@adrianalexandrov7730 согласен с тобой, есть такая хуйня к сожалению. Чист провинциальное мышление - задавить стремления ребенка, а не направить в нужное русло. Поэтому важно детям помогать, но если например родителям похуй, то тут уж никто не поможет. Так и живем)
@@planetofthegames2843 Yeah, the only caveat is that I went to school in Saint-Petersburg. Like second largest city. So it's not just some redneck stuff.
And I don't really mean to shit on our public schools, I've had some good teachers as well, but this "are you the smartest one?" attitude, when you clearly point to a teacher how they're in the wrong and where they could improve... That's really infuriating.
Well past this, but a lot of youth still get through it every day.
Without knowing much about Lex Friedman, I’d posit that his perspective on the differences between English and Russian speaks to his exposure to which particular sociolects in each language. If there are ten things I learned studying linguistics, one is that people tend to overestimate the differences between languages and the impacts these have.
The education system is advanced here for students in advanced placement courses and IBS programs in high schools. Students who graduate from these programs usually do well at any university.
Vietnamese are really hard on handwriting too. They have beautiful handwriting
As far as i know, russian is the only language where you can take any sentence, rearrange the words in any order and it would still be grammatically correct.
Ukrainian as well.
@@xy_77 I'm pretty sure every slavic language does that. but I mostly know russian.
I assume you're exaggerating a bit, but being a Slovenian I understand your point. All permutations of words in a simple sentence would get you a grammatically correct word order like 90% of the time (albeit with different meanings), while the other 10% of the time you would still understand the intended meaning, but people will ask you if you're having a stroke, speaking like that.
@@Heldarion This is a special design feature that lets you speak the language while drunk.
@@dgurevich1 🤣👌
Lex really is a beautiful human being. Joe often talks a lot, but when he has Lex on he really listens more than usual.