# Russian school name translation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 15, 2010, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-name-translation/543278 "2010-06-15T10:56:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-name-translation/543278/1 "2010-06-15T10:56:51Z")
Greetings, all. A Russian friend of mine is filling out a form from the US government, and she’s being asked to list her educational history. She’s not sure how to translate the name of her school, which is “Муниципальное общеобразовательное учреждение средняя общеобразовательная школа №2”. She says the school was run by the city and that she attended from ages 6 to 17. On this basis, and because the first word looks like “municipal”, I suggested “Municipal Secondary Education School #2”. But as I don’t speak Russian myself I thought maybe someone here who is more familiar with the language and Russian education system could give some advice. ---
**Author:** ![ToughLife](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@ToughLife](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToughLife)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 11:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-name-translation/543278/2 "2010-06-15T11:41:19Z")
> [@](#): > > “Муниципальное общеобразовательное учреждение средняя общеобразовательная школа №2” simply: High School N2 **Муниципальное** (municipal) in this context means “public school” as opposed to\*\* частная школа\*\* (private school) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 12:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-name-translation/543278/3 "2010-06-15T12:03:30Z")
> [@ToughLife](#): > > simply: High School N2 > **Муниципальное** (municipal) in this context means “public school” > as opposed to\*\* частная школа\*\* (private school) If there’s a distinction between public and private schools, then why wouldn’t the translation be “Public High School #2” instead of just “High School #2”? ---
**Author:** ![Canadjun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/76d3ee/32.png) [@Canadjun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Canadjun)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-name-translation/543278/4 "2010-06-15T12:07:59Z")
> [@Bob\_Wolmer](#): > > If you are really Russian then it is easier for those around you to call you that as far as they are concerned and I think they would think it was cool. Just tell your friends you prefer your real name and they should accommodate you. How does that even remotely relate to the question? ---
**Author:** ![Neptunian\_Slug](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce7236/32.png) [@Neptunian\_Slug](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Neptunian_Slug)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-name-translation/543278/5 "2010-06-15T12:23:54Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > If there’s a distinction between public and private schools, then why wouldn’t the translation be “Public High School #2” instead of just “High School #2”? I don’t think it matters all that much. There really weren’t any private schools in the Soviet Union which is when this institution was named. If you really wanted you could say (whatever city) Public High School Number 2. Within the municipal department of education, there is only going to be one High School #2. So its not like anyone will be confused as long as you get the city and the number correct. ---
**Author:** ![ToughLife](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/8797f3/32.png) [@ToughLife](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ToughLife)\ **Post date:** [June 15, 2010, 12:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-name-translation/543278/6 "2010-06-15T12:26:41Z")
> [@](#): > > why wouldn’t the translation be “Public High School #2” instead of just “High School #2”? I think it’s a bit of nitpicking: both are possible but you wouldn’t normally emphasise Public/Private distinction on your resume/visa application due to the fact that the status of the school being public or private is irrelevant in this context. Better yet to write Novosibirsk (or whatever) High School N2 ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-name-translation/543278/7 "2010-06-16T07:23:17Z")
I’ve done a little Googling on the term средняя общеобразовательная школа, and the websites I’ve found for institutions bearing that name seem to incorporate classes that an English-speaking audience would consider much earlier than high school (as low as 5th grade in some cases). This [link](http://www.proz.com/kudoz/russian_to_english/other/440319-srednyaya_obshcheobrazovatelnaya_shkola.html) on ProZ (a useful website for professional translators) shows that ‘secondary school’ in Russia generally comprises grades 7 to 12 - what we’d consider middle and high school. Based on that, I think your best bet would be “[City name] Municipal secondary school No. 2”. ---
**Author:** ![Hallucinex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@Hallucinex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hallucinex)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-name-translation/543278/8 "2010-06-16T10:03:50Z")
[QUOTE=Olentzero] Based on that, I think your best bet would be “[City name] Municipal Secondary School No. 2”. [/QUOTE] I think that probably looks like it’d be the best bet too. (although as **ToughLife** says, I guess the municipal could be optional as to whether you put it in or not, may not matter much either way) My giant Oxford Russian Dictionary has the following under the entry for средний : [QUOTE=Oxford Russian Dictionary] средняя общеобразовательная школа - secondary school Russian children go to this school until they are 15 so as to get _основое общее образование_ and **аттестат об основном общем образовании** , or until they are 17 so as to get _среднее (полное) общее образование_ and **аттестат о среднем (полном) общем образовании** [/QUOTE] (Not looked up all of these, but here’s what google translate gives for each of those, which looks like it’s probably about right: общее образование = Basic General Education аттестат об основном общем образовании = Certificate of Basic Education среднее (полное) общее образование = secondary (complete) general education аттестат о среднем (полном) общем образовании = Certificate of Secondary (complete) general education) **общеобразовательный** apparently means “of general education” ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-name-translation/543278/9 "2010-06-16T11:05:11Z")
> [@Hallucinex](#): > > My giant Oxford Russian Dictionary has the following under the entry for средний Which one have you got? I just went to check my Oxford and it’s got nothing like that in the entry. Clearly the version you have is something I could use in my work. ---
**Author:** ![Hallucinex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ba9def/32.png) [@Hallucinex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hallucinex)\ **Post date:** [June 16, 2010, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-name-translation/543278/10 "2010-06-16T11:22:41Z")
> [@Olentzero](#): > > Which one have you got? I just went to check my Oxford and it’s got nothing like that in the entry. Clearly the version you have is something I could use in my work. Fourth Edition, published 2007 - I think it’s the latest one (we picked it up at the start of this year) I don’t think too many of the entries have those little fact-box thingies near them, but occasionally it might have a little box giving some context where you might see a couple of words together and still not know what it was talking about (e.g. just flicking through it, I see near the entry for ‘great’ in the russian section, it also has a little box translating ‘great patriotic war’ and a line or so underneath saying that this refers to the soviet involvement in ww2 from 1941-45. Also does a similar thing for a couple of the public holidays etc) ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [June 17, 2010, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-school-name-translation/543278/11 "2010-06-17T05:57:40Z")
Looks like I ought to update. Thanks.