The interference that a Russian speaker produces without noticing: false friends, borrowed government, calqued phrases, and the mixed speech called trasianka.
I can spot Russian interference in my own Belarusian - false friends, wrong government and calqued phrases - and correct it.
Look at these examples. Can you spot the grammar pattern?
У нас дома жыве белы трус.
We have a white rabbit at home.
Дзякую табе за дапамогу.
Thank you for your help.
Ён хварэе на ангіну ўжо тыдзень.
He has had tonsillitis for a week.
Наша школа бярэ ўдзел у конкурсе.
Our school is taking part in the competition.
Pay attention to the highlighted parts. What do they have in common?
Трасянка is mixed Belarusian-Russian speech: Belarusian phonetics on Russian vocabulary, or the reverse, in unstable proportions. The word originally meant hay mixed with straw to stretch the fodder - poor-quality feed sold as good. It is the everyday speech of a great many people and carries no moral weight in itself, but it is not a standard either, and a learner who aims at it will simply be unable to write.
The practical point for you: your default errors will be in the direction of trasianka, so knowing the common ones is most of the cure.
| Belarusian | Means | Not |
|---|---|---|
| трус | rabbit | coward |
| дыван | carpet | sofa |
| рэч | thing | speech |
| час | time | hour (that is гадзіна) |
| справа | matter, business | on the right |
| плот | fence | raft |
| краска | flower | paint |
| лічыць | to count | to treat medically |
The verb is Belarusian, the case is Russian. These are the ones that survive longest:
| Calque | Belarusian |
|---|---|
| прымаць удзел | браць удзел |
| на працягу гадзіны (слоўнікавая норма; цягам - пурыстычны выбар) | цягам гадзіны |
| у сувязі з тым, што | з-за таго, што |
| з'яўляецца дырэктарам | ёсць дырэктарам / працуе дырэктарам |
The last one is worth dwelling on: з'яўляцца in Belarusian means to appear. Using it as a copula is a direct import of Russian officialese and marks a text instantly.
Three questions catch most of it. Is this word a false friend? Does this verb take the case I gave it, or the case its Russian twin takes? Would I have said this phrase if I did not know Russian?
Apply this grammar in B2 course exercises
Practice ExercisesTypical errors: reading a false friend at face value, and giving a Belarusian verb the case its Russian twin takes.
Reading a false friend at face value
Трус is a rabbit, дыван a carpet, час time.
Using the Russian case with a Belarusian verb
Дзякую табе, хварэць на грып, смяяцца з жарту.
Using a calqued phrase
Браць удзел, ёсць дырэктарам, цягам гадзіны.
Using з'яўляцца as a copula
It means to appear; use ёсць or працуе.
У нас дома жыве белы трус.
We have a white rabbit at home.
<em>Трус</em> is a rabbit; the coward is <em>баязлівец</em>.
Дзякую табе за дапамогу.
Thank you for your help.
<em>Дзякаваць</em> takes the dative - <strong>цябе</strong> would be the Russian pattern.
Ён хварэе на ангіну ўжо тыдзень.
He has had tonsillitis for a week.
<em>Хварэць на</em> plus accusative, where Russian uses a bare instrumental.
Наша школа бярэ ўдзел у конкурсе.
Our school is taking part in the competition.
<em>Браць удзел</em>, not <strong>прымаць</strong> - a calque that is very common.
Мая сястра ёсць настаўніцай у мясцовай школе.
My sister is a teacher at the local school.
<em>Ёсць</em> with the instrumental, not the officialese <strong>з'яўляецца</strong>.
Practice in course
Apply this grammar in B2 course exercises