Orenburg state university

How to say in Russian …?

On November 13 at the «OSU Boiling Point» site OSU students majoring in Russian language and students from Transbaikal State University discussed the problem of the most popular borrowings in the modern Russian language «How to say in Russian...?»

Alla Mikhina, Associate Professor of the Foreign Language Department at Transbaikal State University started the discussion with the problem of English words penetration into the Russian culture environment. To analyze the status of the problem Alla Eduardovna offered students to interpret photos from Russian cities with outdoor advertising signs, billboards and banners.

— It is interesting for us to study how English language and culture of English-speaking countries penetrate into our everyday life, — comments Alla Mikhina.

The photos demonstrated an active process of borrowing English words into Russian reality. All the examples collected on the streets and in public places of Russian cities prove the process is becoming global. The hybrid language is in demand in Russian modern community and business, and the abundance of English words on the streets of cities just confirms this tendency.

After the discussion, the experts gave a start to the students’ hackathon. Students corrected the texts that included new borrowings. Participants tried to replace such familiar words like «life hack» or «streaming» with their Russian equivalents. The flexibility of the languages was surprising. Thus, students combined three English words from the popular slogan «Share, Stream, Store» with one Russian word — «Delis». The option turned out to be the best one, both in meaning and in direct translation.