# Russian speakers: translate this address? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 15, 2005, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-speakers-translate-this-address/335819 "2005-12-15T22:26:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-speakers-translate-this-address/335819/21 "2005-12-16T16:38:59Z")
> [@aktep](#): > > Just to pile on, I’m going to side with **yBeayf** here. > > Раньше, я говорил по-русски, а теперь я много русского языка забыл. I have that sentenced memorized whenever my boss points out to another Russian speaker that I “know” Russian, with a little difference… Раньше, я хорошо знал русский язык, но… and I never figured out when it was better to use теперь and when it was better to use СЕЙЧАС. ---
**Author:** ![ElvisL1ves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@ElvisL1ves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ElvisL1ves)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-speakers-translate-this-address/335819/22 "2005-12-16T17:39:31Z")
> [@D\_Odds](#): > > I never figured out when it was better to use теперь and when it was better to use СЕЙЧАС. теперь is pretty indefinite, meaning something like “nowadays”. СЕЙЧАС is definite, “right now” or “at this very moment”. Compare to Spanish and “ahora” vs. “ahorita y no mas”. РУССКИЙ is just as acceptable an abbreviation for “the Russian language” as “English” is “the English language”. “говорить по-русски” has been entirely acceptable to every native speaker I’ve encountered. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-speakers-translate-this-address/335819/23 "2005-12-16T17:52:37Z")
> [@aktep](#): > > Just to pile on, I’m going to side with **yBeayf** here. Toжe mнe. (Is that how you spell that? I was strictly a C+ student.) –Cliffy ---
**Author:** ![yBeayf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/e274bd/32.png) [@yBeayf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yBeayf)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-speakers-translate-this-address/335819/24 "2005-12-16T18:02:57Z")
> [@](#): > > Toжe mнe. > > (Is that how you spell that? I was strictly a C+ student.) Я тоже. If that first letter in мне is actually an “m” and not a de-italicized italicized “t”, then you wrote “also to me”. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![D\_Odds](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/d_odds/32/2882_2.png) [@D\_Odds](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/D_Odds)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-speakers-translate-this-address/335819/25 "2005-12-16T18:03:28Z")
Sounds very familiar, **Elvis**. Fuzzy, old memory going here, but I’m pretty sure СЕЙЧАС came much earlier in our vocab than теперь, and all of us hard-headed, English-speaking, immersion-learning zoomies/grunts/jarheads/squids didn’t adapt to the new “now” easily, even if more correct. Also, the use of по- came later. Again, we learned to make ourselves known without using it. Given that we were expected to speak as much in the language as possible before we had much of a vocab or grammatical training, we just may have hardwired ourselves into a mode of speaking and I’m misremembering what I was taught. Wouldn’t be the first time. ---
**Author:** ![Cliffy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@Cliffy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cliffy)\ **Post date:** [December 16, 2005, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-speakers-translate-this-address/335819/26 "2005-12-16T18:53:47Z")
> [@yBeayf](#): > > ou wrote “also to me”. 🙂 Ha! THat’s probably the closest thing to a grammatical Russian sentence I’ve ever written. –Cliffy [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/russian-speakers-translate-this-address/335819.md?page=1)