The English Invasion

In case you haven’t heard, we’re very anti-West over here in Russia these days. If it comes from Europe or America – мы против (we’re against it). We’re against iPhones (except the iPhone 6 hidden in our pocket). We’re against European cars (except the really expensive ones we like to drive). We’re against European values (whatever they are), and European food (except the Parmesan and prosciutto we smuggled back in our suitcases from Rome). We’re outlawing foreign-made computer programs (except the ones in our iPads). We’re against Mastercard and Visa (although we use their cards). We’re even closing down McDonald’s restaurants, looking for something wrong so we can be against them, too. If it’s foreign, we’re against it.

Except words. Despite proposed laws to ban the use of foreign words, Russians are still borrowing words like crazy, mostly from English, and fully integrating them into everyday speech.

Sometimes these are words that don’t have easy equivalents in Russian, like паттерн (pattern), used in the sense of typical, repetitive behavior. I often see this word in articles about politics and governance. Someone asks, “Происходят ли существенные изменения в паттернах власти”? (Are the patterns of governance changing significantly?) But sometimes people – probably people who have been spending a lot of time in an English-speaking country – use it to describe little Vanya’s tantrums: Это уже определённый паттерн поведения (That’s already a behavior pattern.)

In the tech department, there are гаджеты (gadgets) and девайсы (devices), which are still, sort of, more or less, borrowed words that mean almost the same thing in Russian as in English. But keep your eye on them. They may be on their way to becoming false friends. Гаджет isn’t just a small tool or piece of equipment in Russian. It is defined as штуковина (thingie), прибамбас (doodad) or модная техническая новинка (a high-tech novelty everyone wants to have). So far девайс is close to English in meaning: прибор (piece of equipment) or устройство, предназначенное для выполнения частной, специальной задачи (a device used for a special task). That’s what you might call your automatic car locking doohickey. That particular device is also called брелок, which is also a borrowed word, from the French breloque. It originally meant a pendant on a bracelet, then a pendant on a key ring, and now the thing you click to lock or unlock your car.

The lexicon of computers and technology seems to have the most borrowed words, followed by other post-Soviet professions like advertising, psychological therapy, business and finance. But fashion is also highly Anglicized. For example, at a flea market people are selling старинная посуда, дореволюционный фарфор и винтажные платья и украшения (antique china, prerevolutionary porcelain and vintage dresses and jewelry). Винтажный is only used in the sense of antique or old objects – what Russians also call в стиле ретро (retro style). Vintage wine is марочное вино.

Винтажная одежда is a step up from сэконд-хэнд (second hand), a name borrowed probably because it sounds attractively exotic and is therefore much better than an exact Russian description: старые, уже ношенные тряпки (old worn stuff).

At the other end of the clothesline are трендовая, брендовая одежда (trendy, name-brand clothes). If you are on a budget – perhaps a бюджетник, which means a person employed by a state company – you might want to go to a store that advertises like this: Мы не просто дискаунтер, мы – модный аутлет дизайнерской одежды (We aren’t just a discount shop, we’re a stylish outlet for designer clothing.)

Time to do some шоппинг.