# Russian language/bumper sticker question **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 21, 2005, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906 "2005-01-21T13:18:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Osip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/4491bb/32.png) [@Osip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osip)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/1 "2005-01-21T13:18:22Z")
I have been wanting to get a bumper sticker made. I want it to say “Remember Beslan” in Russian. I am guessing there are places online that will make it, but I am unsure as to how to write “Remember Beslan” in russian. Any help or direction would be handy. Osip ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/2 "2005-01-21T14:40:18Z")
I ran it through Babelfish, which would give an accurate rendering for something that short. Presuming you want the plural, which is what it gave, the Roman-language transliteration of it would be _Vspomnit’ye Beslan_. Since SDMB won’t display Cyrillic well, the best I can do is to describe the rendering of that in Cyrillic letters: B-C-pi-O-M-H-reversed N-T-E [b with a bar horizontally extended to the right from the top of the ascender, something like a 5 with the loop at the bottom closed]-E-C-[pi with the left riser curved inwards]-A-reversed N. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/3 "2005-01-21T14:42:20Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > …-A-reversed N. That should, of course, be -A-H :o ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/4 "2005-01-21T20:03:52Z")
That’s not a bad translation, but I would change it to “Pomnite Beslan!” == **Помните Беслан!** вспомнить implies remembering it like remembering something that happened last week; помнить implies a continual and future remembrance. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/5 "2005-01-21T21:01:18Z")
Who/what is Beslan? ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/6 "2005-01-21T21:13:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Who/what is Beslan? It is a city in Ossetia. Several months ago a group of Islamic radicals took an elementary school hostage, and caused [general mayhem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beslan_hostage_crisis) and the deaths of many children. This was major world news for several days; I’m surprised you’ve not heard of it. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/7 "2005-01-21T21:14:44Z")
I’m sure I did, but there have been so many such incidents that it’s hard to keep them all straight, sadly. Spasibo bolshoye, uvazhaemiye druzya. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/8 "2005-01-21T21:32:07Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Who/what is Beslan? Well, that pretty much makes the case for the bumper sticker… ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/9 "2005-01-21T22:08:57Z")
> [@yBeayf](#): > > That’s not a bad translation, but I would change it to “Pomnite Beslan!” == **Помните Беслан!** > > вспомнить implies remembering it like remembering something that happened last week; помнить implies a continual and future remembrance. As a third-year Russian major, I concur with this. My only qualm would be to ask why didn’t you put Беслан in the acc. case. Then I remember what a moron I am, and why yours is correct. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/10 "2005-01-21T22:45:50Z")
If you wanted to decline Beslan, you could also “vspominayte o Beslane,” or “pomnite o Beslane,” I think. Geez, it’s been awhile. ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2005, 11:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/11 "2005-01-21T23:38:47Z")
> [@](#): > > As a third-year Russian major, I concur with this. And as a second-year Russian major, I concur with your concurrence. 😃 > [@](#): > > If you wanted to decline Beslan, you could also “vspominayte o Beslane,” or “pomnite o Beslane,” I think. Geez, it’s been awhile. If you were doing it that way, indeed, “Помните о Беслане” would be correct. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/12 "2005-01-22T05:02:40Z")
> [@Crandolph](#): > > Well, that pretty much makes the case for the bumper sticker… Freely acknowledged. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/13 "2005-01-22T15:03:56Z")
> [@yBeayf](#): > > And as a second-year Russian major, I concur with your concurrence. 😃 > > If you were doing it that way, indeed, “Помните о Беслане” would be correct. _Y MHE NET_ any good memory of how to construct nuances like this. I recognize it as the preposition _o_ plus the instrumental case of Beslan. Wouldja be willing to explain the difference in connotation between the “Beslan” and the “o Beslane” constructions? (And thanks for the correction on the verb – I perpetually forget the significance of the perfective _aspect_, treating it like Western perfect _cases_.) ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/14 "2005-01-22T16:58:08Z")
> [@](#): > > Y MHE NET any good memory of how to construct nuances like this. Close… it’s У меня нет. 🙂 > [@](#): > > Wouldja be willing to explain the difference in connotation between the “Beslan” and the “o Beslane” constructions? “о” means “about”, so “о Беслане” would be “Beslan” in a more abstract sense. > [@](#): > > And thanks for the correction on the verb – I perpetually forget the significance of the perfective aspect, treating it like Western perfect cases. Well, вспомнить isn’t the perfective of помнить, it’s the perfective of вспоминать, so you could have said Вспоминайте о Беслан, but that would have the connotation of “Reminisce about Beslan” – a statement like this needs more definiteness. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/15 "2005-01-22T20:14:02Z")
But the OP was definitely asking for an imperative. $0.02 ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/16 "2005-01-22T20:28:42Z")
> [@CynicalGabe](#): > > But the OP was definitely asking for an imperative. > > $0.02 And that is what he got. The perfective and imperfective aspects are a characteristic of _satem_-group Indo-European languages not found in the _centum_ group into which most Western languages fall. Essentially, what you have are sets of two verbs, closely related, each with a full conjugation including infinitive and imperative forms, one representing an ongoing process and the other relating to a fixed range in time. But contextually they carry different ‘flavor’ – the distinction in usage between Spanish _ser_ and _estar_ is probably the closest a Western language comes to showing true aspect, as opposed to perfect and imperfect tenses, a related but somewhat different concept. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_aspect) on grammatical aspect may help to explain this better. ---
**Author:** ![CynicalGabe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@CynicalGabe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CynicalGabe)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/17 "2005-01-22T22:02:37Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > And that is what he got. The perfective and imperfective aspects are a characteristic of _satem_-group Indo-European languages not found in the _centum_ group into which most Western languages fall. Essentially, what you have are sets of two verbs, closely related, each with a full conjugation including infinitive and imperative forms, one representing an ongoing process and the other relating to a fixed range in time. But contextually they carry different ‘flavor’ – the distinction in usage between Spanish _ser_ and _estar_ is probably the closest a Western language comes to showing true aspect, as opposed to perfect and imperfect tenses, a related but somewhat different concept. [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammatical_aspect) on grammatical aspect may help to explain this better. I was making a wise remark. ---
**Author:** ![Crandolph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7cd45c/32.png) [@Crandolph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crandolph)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2005, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/18 "2005-01-22T22:45:21Z")
> [@ElvisL1ves](#): > > Freely acknowledged. Sorry **Elvis** , meant that more as an ironic funny than a cut. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/19 "2005-01-24T08:08:18Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > _Y MHE NET_ any good memory of how to construct nuances like this. I recognize it as the preposition _o_ plus the instrumental case of Beslan. Wouldja be willing to explain the difference in connotation between the “Beslan” and the “o Beslane” constructions? (And thanks for the correction on the verb – I perpetually forget the significance of the perfective _aspect_, treating it like Western perfect _cases_.) Pomnite Beslan means, literally, “remember Detroit.” Pomnite o Beslane means, “remember about (what happened to, or in) Detroit.” Both are clear in meaning as presented. ---
**Author:** ![Paladud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Paladud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paladud)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2005, 8:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906/20 "2005-01-24T08:30:22Z")
Memorial inscriptions usually begin with “Pomnim” or “Pomnite” rather than “Pomnite o.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-language-bumper-sticker-question/285906.md?page=2)