The words the British don’t have

Why have I written this article?
I don`t know how to translate these words properly.
My students come and we discuss their day and it works as a warm-up exercise. They tell me:
ПОСЛЕ КАЖДОГО ПАРАГРАФА – ПЕРЕВОД

Зачем я написал эту статью? Я не знаю, как правильно перевести эти слова. Когда приходят студенты, мы в качестве разминочного упражнения обсуждаем их день. Они говорят:


I woke up early and drank my (кефир):

They manufacture it in the UK

They manufacture this kefir in the UK


The day was hot so I was drinking (квас):

Kvass fermenting

Kvass fermenting


I had my dinner. I ate a plate of (окрошка):

with cucumbers, sausage, boiled eggs, kvass and dill.

with cucumbers, sausage, boiled eggs, kvass and dill.


and a slice of (колбаса):

Палка колбасы как будет?

Палка колбасы как будет?


and one (сосиска):

Сосиска in Russian

Сосиска in Russian


and then one (пирожок):

Пирожок. Nine pirozhoks.

Пирожок. Nine pirozhoks.

also, for the dessert, my wife brought some вареники:

Stuffed dumplings

Stuffed dumplings


It`s cold here, can I close my (форточка)?

Форточка is the little/small window in the upper part. The cat`s sitting in форточка.

Can you believe there are no photos of cats on my site?

Я рано проснулся и выпил кефира. Была жара, поэтому я пил квас. Я пообедал, съел ломтик колбасы и одну сосиску, а затем пирожок.

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And if you think that my students just tell me stories, then I have to dissappoint you! I have to work! One of my pleasant obligations is to translate all those unknown words into the English language. But, what if even British themselves haven`t ever seen all those things we have here? Of course, I find the equivalents but then it is my turn to tell my stories to my British friends. I also come to my own teacher who also adores warm-ups and I tell her my stories. You know, she gets surprised when I tell her about kvass, kefir, пирожки, качалка колбасы and форточка. The British seem to not have these words!

И, если вы думаете, что мои студенты просто рассказывают истории, то вынужден вас разочаровать! Я должен работать! Одноа из моих приятных обязанностей – это перевод всех этих неизвестных слов на английский. Но, что если даже если британцы сами никогда в совей жизни не видели все те вещи, которые у нас тут есть? Естественно, я нахожу соответствия, но вот наступает мой черёд рассказывать истории своим британским товарищам. А ещё прихожу к своей учительнице, так же обожающей разминку, и выкладываю свои истории. Знаете, она удивляется, когда я говорю про квас, кефир, пирожки, качалку/палку колбасы и форточку. Кажется, у британцев таких слов нет!

Kvass is a slavonic drink.
Kefir is what they have not even seen!
Their колбаса is different in colour and the filling is different.
They dont bake пирожки!</span>
<span style="color:#104d43;"> As to форточки I don
t even have a clue on how they air their rooms.

I`ll leave this article here for cross-cultural exchange. If you have your own words, please, add them in comments below.

Квас – славянский напиток. Кефира они никогда и не видали! Их колбаса другая на цвет и по начинке. Они не пекут пирожки! А насчёт форточек – я даже не знаю, как они проветривают комнаты.

Оставлю здесь эту статью для межкультурного обмена. Если у вас есть свои слова, добавляйте в коментариях ниже.

P.S. My British friends gave some of their equivalents.
1) Dimitri Romanov:
«Kefir. We call it yakult
Soseeska is a hotdog
Colbasa looks like salami
Peerozhock is a veggie roll
Fotorchka is called upper sash.
Kvass we call kvass. It`s a fermented alcoholic beverage generally made from rye bread. Normally we don’t use this. We have something called cider which is made from apples in this way instead.
There you go :)”

2) Thomas Sharp:
«кефир – yoghurt drink
квас – none
колбаса – cured sausage
сосиска – frankfurter
пирожок – pasty
форточка – top window, little window”.
котлета – rissoles. I think that is the closest translation. Meat one.

3) Joe Koberton:
котлета I think that is meatball. Rissoles? Hmm i have not heard that before sorry sergey.

3) Karen Ince:
«котлета – rissole
A rissole is made from minced meat – usually beef or lamb, with onion and some other ingredients such as herbs or spices. It may also have some vegetables finely chopped or minced for variety. Once the mixture is made, it is formed into flattened ovals, or ‘sausage-shaped’ pieces, which are coated in flour before being fried.
A croquette is similar, but is coated in breadcrumbs, giving a much crisper (crunchier) outside. Croquettes may be made with meat, but are often made only of potato, or potato with added ingredients (onion, cheese, herbs, spices)”

PSS One of my  students proposed ”окрошка”, ”вареники” and ”плов.” Oleg  proposed “морс, котлеты и сырники.” Also, I`m thinking about ”пельмени.”
PSSS Как по-английски консервация, закрывачка, маринады – (тут одинаково и у британцев и у USA): preserves на сайте BBC.
и на американском сайте.

Как по-английски "консервация", маринады.

Консервация/закрывачка/маринады по-английски – preserves. Так её называют и британцы и американцы.

PSSST A list of Russian dishes on Wikipedia.

12 Oct 2014

10 thoughts on “The words the British don’t have

  1. Сергей, привет.

    Очень интересная и актуальная тема. А как насчет морса, котлет и сырников?

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  2. Олег, доброго времени суток!
    Стараюсь! Но, эти блюда ещё не обсуждал с британцами. Завтра буду делать сырники и сниму видео для них, чтобы поняли, о чём я. Котлеты? У меня как раз в сковороде лежат, тоже задокументирую! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChCrSapcxe0
    А вот морс – его пока что не могу достать, надо попросить у тётушки поискать в кладовке.
    UPD: добавил в статью котлеты. Сырники доступны пока что лишь по ссылке в Википедии (в статье). Морс ещё не готов (не сготовили) 🙂

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  3. How about English food? Everyone knows we love fish and chips(!), but what about branston pickle?

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  4. Hello. Thank you for the ideas. I have talked about English food with my London friend. He called a plate with mashed potatoes and pees a ‘pie.’ I got rather surprised because it didn`t resemble a pie, the baked thing made from flower and some filling. One more example of my knowledge of the cuisine is the boiled vegetables and I got so surprised when I knew that British think it`s… normal to eat so. For us it wouldn`t work because we don`t like such a simplicity – just one carrot or beet cut on a plate.
    As to fish and chips I must say they are known by students closer to the Intermediate level. From my observations most people simply don`t know a thing about the British cuisine Well, many of us still know that the Earl of Sandwich invented sandwiches because he was too lazy to cook.
    Talking about branston pickleSpread a tablespoon of Branston pickle. – that is where I`d like to ask you a question. What is the food word which causes you most problems when you try to explain its meaning to Russians? For me it is the drink called kvass. But, yes, I looked at these pickles` recepy on the Internet and couldn`t get what it is. Either it is cucumbers with some vegetables or vegetables of all kinds stewed together.
    P.S. Our cuisins are different and we could help our readers understand what we want to say with all our foreign words.

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  5. I think i would have to go for the large sasuage, as the other things look nice but as you say maybe too exotic to start with.

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