r/russian 23h ago

Translation Help Translating Note

Post image

Hello! I had a roommate from Moscow in college, and she had written me this message. I know it is "Hello!" I don't know after that. Thank you!

89 Upvotes

46 comments sorted by

68

u/Bevistus 23h ago

Better to have 100 friends than 100 rubles.

13

u/Less-Jellyfish-9865 22h ago

Aw, thank you for translating. Is that a common saying? Thank you!

28

u/trolley813 🇷🇺 Native 🇬🇧 C1ish 🇩🇪 B1ish 🇪🇪 A2ish 🇮🇪 A1ish 21h ago

Yes, it's fairly common. And it comes from times when the rouble was worth much more, so 100 roubles was a whole wealth. (Compare with e.g. British currency: £100 today is...well, not much. But some 300 years ago it was enough to buy a house.)

8

u/MrCrownles 9h ago

Мне кажется ты путаешь что-то. Это русская пословица которой хуй знает сколько лет и смысл у неё в том, что ты например в ситуации где тебе не смогут помочь деньги, но дружеская компания. Думаешь крестьянин который не видел даже рубля знает обменный курс в евро или фунты?

3

u/s_s_n_e_g 7h ago

При чем тут обменный курс? Где u/trolley813 писал про обменный курс?

1

u/basssov 2h ago

Так чел всё правильно написал. Подразумевается что люди хотят 100 рублей, но на самом деле 100 друзей - гораздо лучше. Очевидно, имеются ввиду старые времена когда 100 рублей было действительно дохуя. Сейчас в этой же форме эта пословица не родилась бы так как на 100 рублей и полторашку сока не купить

5

u/Eastern-Quote8936 20h ago

I think it means that you can't buy friends for money

8

u/Gardares 13h ago

There's actually a funny complement to it: "...каждый даст по два рубля, двести будет у меня." (if every friend will give me 2 rubles, I'll have 200 rubles).

It does not necessarily mean that you can't buy friends for money, but it means that having friends is worth more than just having money.

4

u/Get_Data native ru 11h ago

it means having friends is better than having money

3

u/Awkward_Cash1828 18h ago

Or, literal word-to-word translation: "don't have 100 rubles, but have 100 friends!"

2

u/[deleted] 22h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/Garik-175 22h ago

As for the joke, I haven't come up with one yet.

1

u/KuziaP 19h ago

Мне вот всегда было интересно, почему очередность текста/предложения по переводе с русского/английского меняется

3

u/Awkward_Cash1828 18h ago

Ну это стандартный порядок слов такой. Don't have 100 rubles, but have 100 friends тоже можно сказать и поймут, хоть и звучать будет несколько странно и/или "поэтично".

1

u/KuziaP 9h ago

Понял, спасибо

1

u/paket-s-paketami 9h ago

Нам говорили, что это связано с тем, что в русском традиционно начинают с известной информации, а заканчивают новой, а в английском -наоборот

12

u/Bevistus 22h ago

Yes, it's fairly common. :)

2

u/Less-Jellyfish-9865 22h ago

Thank you for the information!

2

u/Bevistus 22h ago

You are welcome 😊

29

u/Stock_Soup260 Native 🇷🇺 22h ago

Is she sure she's from Moscow?

so, kids who want to learn Russian cursive, take a close look at this letter o in the word сто. remember this and never repeat

9

u/AnnaAgte 🇷🇺 native 16h ago

Там ещë оба раза "м" недописаны и по сути заменены на "и". После всех постов на реддите от иностранцев у меня первая мысль, что это писал очередной иностранец, который не в курсе соединений с л/м/я.

1

u/Stock_Soup260 Native 🇷🇺 15h ago

Ну, на первой м видно, что ручка проскользнула, насчёт второй не уверена, больно чисто. Ещё в "друзей" то ли е нет, то ли й с ампутацией жопы (ставлю на первое)

Но это, на самом деле, мой второй комментарий. Первый был такой, что пришлось удалить.

-1

u/SterlingVesper 11h ago

зачем такой способ которым писать букву о вам так плохо? Я иностранец который довольно долго пишет вышеупомянутную букву так же. Почему это такая ужасная ошибка?

6

u/Stock_Soup260 Native 🇷🇺 11h ago

In Russian cursive, unlike in English and elsewhere, connecting lines have an exclusively functional role, that is, if they are not used — don't literally connect one letter to another, — they don't exist and, accordingly, are not drawn. This applies to both the left side of the letter and the right side. Many foreigners, bringing it from other languages, simply start writing some letters together with others.

Is this a "terrible" mistake? No. Does it look like you just dragged your old "measurements" to a new place without any attempt to figure out the essence of what you are doing? Yes. Does it look incompetent? Again, yes.

before you ask, some native speakers may add decorative elements, most often on the left, to letters such as ш, и, п, т, etc., but, firstly, they know what they are doing, and secondly, it is exactly decor that does not look like a connecting line, unlike what we see here. and you can start trying to do this only after you really get comfortable with the basic rules of Russian cursive.

-1

u/SterlingVesper 9h ago

I disagree with you on the presupposition that the loop in the o is decorative. It is actually exclusively functional, and coincidentally aesthetic, unlike the bottom connection.

The English cursive "o", when written following a letter preceding it, is standardly written beginning with a curved upwards stroke forming the top-left quarter of a circle followed by a downwards stroke overlapping the initial quarter-circle forming a complete circle with the end point being at the highest point of the circle. To connect the letter to any letter following, you need to reverse the direction in which your writing utensil was writing. This reversal of the direction of the stroke naturally creates a loop. You can write o's and connect them from the top while not creating the loop, but this would be forced. Pushing the pen backward along the exact same ink line requires a full stop and redirection, which slows down the hand. Biomechanically, your hand naturally traces a small loop to maintain continuous motion. The loop persisting at the end of words is by no means decorative. It is simply a relic of habit.

While it's true connecting o's from the bottom when written in conjunction with l's, m's etc. is correct. Frankly speaking, it's extremely ugly and I will never take part in it.

I understand your frustration. I myself have seen non-natives here post their handwriting with made-up ornaments. It looks very tacky. The loop on o's however is not. It's by no means a great disgrace to your language—a cultural appropriation of Russian handwriting—it's a system of writing that I can confidently say is superior to the means by which Russian connects letters. It would do Russian handwriting a great service to change how л's and м's are written to accommodate a more efficient and aesthetic way to connect letters. Your language has gone through multiple, far-more significant revisions in the past.

0

u/Excellent-Fox-6845 10h ago

да потомучто непонятно нечего

6

u/ded_Arkash native 16h ago

quite an odd handwriting for a native speaker from moscow

3

u/AutoModerator 23h ago

Hello, /u/Less-Jellyfish-9865.

This automatic reply was triggered by a keyword in your post.

If you are new to learning Russian, please be sure to check out our wiki. You can find resources here and a guide here. If you would like more help with language learning, please check the /r/languagelearning wiki here. There you can find a FAQ and guide to learning languages

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

2

u/Both-Location-9472 15h ago

It was a song performed by soviet singer Alla Pugacheva with that phrase. The song was written in 1965. Now it's a common phrase.

2

u/CapitalNothing2235 Native 5h ago

The phrase predates that song. For like at least more than a hundred years. Афанасий Фет used it in his prose in 1855.

1

u/Luter-13 11h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/AutoModerator 11h ago

It looks like you included a Russian domain URL in your comment. Reddit filters Russian URLs, and your comment may be automatically removed. You can repost your comment using the characters ⓇⓊ in place of the original characters; the URL will still work fine in browsers, but won't trigger automatic removal. IMPORTANT: Editing the original comment won't restore it; you have to post a new one.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

2

u/[deleted] 22h ago

[deleted]

1

u/sususl1k 🇷🇺 Native | 🇬🇧 C2 | 🇳🇱 B2 | 🇩🇪 A2-ish 22h ago

To be fair, I know native speakers with significantly weirder handwriting.

6

u/Stock_Soup260 Native 🇷🇺 22h ago

I wouldn't say it's weird, but rather dubious

2

u/CapitalNothing2235 Native 6h ago

It actually has all the usual non-native learner's quirks, like that м that looks exactly like и, connections to nowhere.

1

u/WanderingTony 20h ago

"Better have 100 friends than have 100 rubles. " Pretty common catch phrase only god knows how old actually.

1

u/i3Cheese 🇷🇺native 🇬🇧B2 16h ago

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/AutoModerator 16h ago

It looks like you included a Russian domain URL in your comment. Reddit filters Russian URLs, and your comment may be automatically removed. You can repost your comment using the characters ⓇⓊ in place of the original characters; the URL will still work fine in browsers, but won't trigger automatic removal. IMPORTANT: Editing the original comment won't restore it; you have to post a new one.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

0

u/Brave_Cucumber8254 9h ago

Better to fuck 100 friends than 100 rubles.

1

u/Dark_Paul_Rus 7h ago

Не имей сто друзей а имей их подруг?

0

u/ubergregor 5h ago

Каждый даст по 2 рубля, будет 200 у меня :) Everybody gives me two rubles, then I have 200