Easy for Tolstoy, but not for me
Learning Russian isn't a snap. Oh, if he had only started sooner.
from the March 5, 2007 edition
Page 3 of 3
On my plane ride home via Helsinki, Finland, a mother with a baby looks back and sees me studying my Russian textbook. She sends her 5-year-old to me. He asks encouragingly and in loud, clear Russian, "You know Russian?"
"I know very little," I answer.
"[Incomprehensible.]"
I shake my head.
His mother calls out a suggestion to him.
"Do you know ..." and as if he's dealing with a 2-year-old, he points to his ear, his nose, his head.
He nods at my correct answers for "ear" and "nose," but when I offer "hair" for "head," he gently tugs a lock above my "ear" and corrects my pronunciation of hair. He leans in close and breaks the word into long, extended syllables: "Vollll-uh-SIH!" When I mispronounce that, he corrects me more loudly.
After a few more words, his mother tells him to ask me to teach him some English.
I point to his sweat shirt, on which is the image of a roaring lion. "Lyev," I say. "Li-on."
"L-yon."
"Li-on."
"Liyon."
"Lion."
"Lion."
"Good."
Learn a second language while you're young. You'll be glad you did.
RSS feed
