Letters to the Editor

Don’t Go Political

To the Editors:

Happy Birthday Russian Life magazine, 50 years old! I’ve been reading your fine publication for 10 years and never realized there were Soviet Life magazines available for so many years. Are any back-issues of Soviet Life available for sale?

...I also appreciated the “Drawing Russia” story (Sep/Oct 2006)...Can Russian Life magazine publish a few Russian anti-American cartoons just for balance?

Last but not least, the story by Dmitry Bykov was a real treat!

In closing, I would like to request Russian Life magazine not become a political sounding-off platform! There are already plenty of websites like Russia Profile that are about politics and economics. Let Russian Life continue to do what it has done so well, show American readers the culture and lifestyles of our Russian friends. When Russian Life first got started as Soviet Life, we could only dream of visiting the USSR. Today I have been there 6 times since 2000 and each time it is more modern and capitalistic. My friends there live quite well and are very enthusiastic about the future, but they still love their fine old traditions! Thank you for the memories!

Sincerely,

Ray Marton

Big Bear Lake, CA

Dear Ray:

We do not sell copies of Soviet Life, but we have seen them for sale quite often on ebay.com. And you’d be surprised how many people have old back copies lying around in attics, barns or basements. Each one is a fascinating time capsule of that era.

Interestingly, some years ago, during a trip to Moscow, someone “in the know” told us that Amerika Illustrated, the USIA publication that was the counterpart to Soviet Life, was often not widely distributed, that on more than one occasion, this person had seen boxes sitting in a warehouse, never to be sent out.

– The Editors 

Transliteration Errors

To the Editors:

Congratulations on a fine magazine, which I read from cover to cover. However, I find quite a number of misspellings, errors of transcription and transliteration. You appear to have a particular problem with Western, Latin-alphabet names which are Russianized but then transliterated by you back into Latin letters, without regard to the etymology and original language spelling of the Western language in question. This is at least tolerable in a Western Slavic language, e.g. your Latinization of the numerous Polish names of Catholic leaders in Belarus, as if they were originally written in Russian or Belarussian, instead of the actual Latin-alphabet spelling of Polish...

It is less acceptable when the original language is French, and where the original name is exceedingly well-known and established, literally on the map in the West. One such example is the grotesque “La Peruse” on page 44 of the July/Aug 06 issue, for the Frenchman La Pérouse (after whom a strait is named)... There are similar German examples in recent issues.

...Why do you never discuss Voice of America World Service, whose English language broadcasts are on the air 20 hours a day and are perfectly audible on shortwave throughout North America, here in Hawaii, and also on medium wave in Europe and elsewhere? In fact, why do you not publish VOR’s frequencies in each magazine, as an additional source of Russian news and culture? The frequencies, e.g. 15595 and 15425 kHz in the 19-meter band, should be publicized.

Also, you should consider a feature on the well-known, on-air personalities at the VOR World Service...

Richard Wood

Keaau, HI

Richard:

Thank you for your note. It is quite challenging to publish in a multilingual,
bi-orthographic environment. Each issue can deal with so many historical, geographical and cultural references that we are surprised that more don’t slip through our nets.

As to the VOR, we have printed the frequencies you supplied above. We would also recommend readers visit the VOR website (vor.ru) for more information and frequencies. Programs can also be listened to live via web streaming (follow the VOR web link to wrn.org), and already one VOR program is available as a podcast.

Meanwhile, in this issue (Under Review, page 62) we also note a few ways to access video news online. It is a great language learning tool and a fine way to stay on top of the latest spy scandal, trade embargo or cultural news. 

– The Editors