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Korean Job Discussion Forums
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Woland
Joined: 10 May 2006
Location: Seoul
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 Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 5:11 pm Post subject: |
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| canuckistan wrote: |
| Mostly Kiev. Side trips down to Odessa (great history there) and the Crimea/Sevastopol. |
Kiev is a really nice city. One thing I especially liked is that it is very walkable. Each time I've been there I spent at least a day just wandering around the city and finding all kinds of neat stuff. Do give yourself the time to spend a couple of hours in St. Sofia, the great church/museum. Also, there's a great Georgian restaurant in the Podol neighborhood. Ask about it; people will know. The owner is some famous actor and the waitresses all wear old Aeroflot flight attendant uniforms, as a tribute to a ccharacter in one of his movies. If you ask, they'll give you a free videocassette of the movie. Kitschy, but the food is great. Get a table away from the music (too loud).
I want to get to Crimea for the Turkish history there. Someday. It's unclear to me if Sevastopol has ever been completely opened. It was a closed city for military reasons for many years, evven after independence. Other people here might know better than I if special permission is needed to go there.
| canuckistan wrote: |
Mostly Russian. I should be ready for both though. *Beep*!!!
It'll be interesting to see the differences/similarities between the two languages--assuming I get that far. I will have a translator with me but I would like to be able to navigate the straightforward stuff largely on my own. Being there (an immersion) will be a great opportunity to cement some basic linguistic knowledge.
Oh I've bitten off a lot to chew haven't I?  |
Yeah, but it will be manageable. If you learn Russian, then learn the equivalences between the orthographies, plus a certain amount of distinct vocabulary, and carry a good Ukrainian dictionary, you'll be able to read things in Ukrainian. But it's just reading. I've read things in Ukrainian using my knowledge of Russian and bits of other Slavic languages.
You're right about the effect of being there to really solidify knowledge.
| canuckistan wrote: |
| For now I have a Ukrainian phrasebook, but have chosen to try and learn Russian first as I've been told it'll be more useful--especially in Kiev (?) It'll be interesting to compare the two languages--I'm assuming they are pretty close? |
I wa in Kiev in 2000 and then again in 2005. In those five years, Ukrainian became much more prevalent and was increasingly assumed as the initial language in encounters. However, I never had a problem using Russian; people would switch automatically. I only met one person who couldn't do it and she went and found someone who spoke Russian.
Both languages are East Slavic and share a lot in terms of both structure and vocabulary. Ukrainian has more in common with West Slavic languages, especially Polish, especially in terms of vocabulary. I witnessed conversations where one person spoke Russian and the other Ukrainian without problem. I suspect being in a bilingual environment made that more possible.
| canuckistan wrote: |
I'm looking forward to making all those (sometimes embarassing) mistakes that make the locals titter with laughter -- it sure wouldn't be the first time 
...which makes me think of another time I flung myself into You're-The-Goof language learning situations. I arrived in Germany to work completely unprepared. Ok I spoke English, French--and Dutch--pretty close to German but that still didn't prepare me for working every day. Never mind, we just blunder through it right? So one day I arrive at work in the summer hot and sweaty from bicycling in. I get to my desk and declare in my directly-translated-from-English: "Oh, Ich bin heiss!!" (I'm hot)---and the whole floor bursts out laughing. I'm thinking "Uh oh" .....when they stopped laughing someone ever so kindly explained...I should have said "Ich ful mich warm".
Well you can imagine what the other meaning of what I said was 
Had a few moments in Korea when they thought I was swearing (I wasn't). I can't remember what I was trying to say but the disapproving looks were enough language learning for that day.
Oh ya, it's all fun |
I once mixed up vysokii (tall) and dlinnyi (long) in talking about myself, much to the amusement of the people I was with. At least it came across as bragging.
You've got the right attitude and experience with other languages will always help you learning a new one. Have fun and good luck. |
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ddeubel
Joined: 20 Jul 2005
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| Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 10:09 pm Post subject: |
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| Ddeubel, were you teaching English in Kiev? Just asking because I've heard there's almost no teaching jobs available over there... |
No,not teaching. Writing a book about Gongadze, a journalist killed by Kuchma and also freelancing with some articles in the Financial Times.
But there is teaching there and I worked at Proctor and Gamble a bit for good money $50 / hour (this was in 2000 when that was half or more the monthly wage). I have some school contacts there still. Oxford Class is a great school but mostly in Kyiv, the English teaching is profitable and business oriented. Don't know the economic details now, could have changed but still imagine people are prepping for EU membership (someday). Kyiv International School hires accredited teachers but mostly couples.....
I lived on Lutheranskya, just by the presidential building and off of Krischatek, the big boulevard. Check out Buddy Guys if you ever get there, Blues bar right near there where I "lived" a lot.
Paka,
DD |
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VanIslander
Joined: 18 Aug 2003
Location: Geoje, Hadong, Tongyeong,... now in a small coastal island town outside Gyeongsangnamdo!
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| Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 10:22 pm Post subject: |
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vodka vosk-rese !
(a couple of hours later I'm passed out - I don't drink enough to learn Russian) |
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