45 Comments
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Can I use this sentence after sex? or is it used only in educational context?
Я не могу перестать смеяться, когда думаю о том, что после секса кто-то говорит "Молодец!" :D :D :D
I would translate this as good job! Who says attaboy these days in English?
I actually had to google it, because I 've never heard "attaboy" before (I'm not a native speaker, obviously)
I actually probably say it on a daily basis. But I use it in the same way it's suggested here, sort of patronising. Kind of as a way of saying "Good job, you finally did your job right"
I was under the impression that this is used only toward small children, in a vaguely insulting manner towards underlings, or sarcastically - golf clap after a fail Молодец!
I can't find where I saw this - it was several places, though.
It is not insulting, just a bit patronizing. So you will use it toward friends and your subordinates but not towards people you are not qualified to judge. For example, if a famous writer writes a very good book or a singer you love performs really well, it would feel out of place to praise them with «Молодец».
By the way, feel free to suggest other options. Obviously, it is impractical include hundreds of different options but right now "Good job!"/"Well done!"/"Atta(boy/girl)" are the only ones that come to my mind.
By the way, feel free to suggest other options.
Oh I meant to reply to this but forgot about it until I saw russianduo post today.
Your options are absolutely fine (and I agree that bunches of options are just confusing and impractical). I was simply trying to clarify, for myself, when this would be appropriate based on other things I'd read.
2 things:
- I can't remember in the intro to this course if it strongly encourages reading comments - even to the problems you get right. It should. The course (as great as it is) couldn't possibly cover all permutations, but the comments section is a gold mine of colloquial usage, nuance and discussion. And that grows daily. I read comments on my review questions, every time, just in case there's some additional information. There usually is.
In other languages on DL I find doing this less important. With Russian? Well you could probably get by without it, but if you wanted to actually learn the language it seems extremely useful.
- How would you say "Well done!" or, perhaps "Bravo!" [I loved your book/opera/play] to someone you weren't qualified to judge but to whom you wanted to express your admiration?
- 499
This strikes me as sarcastic, or a bit baby boomerish -- I can't imagine myself or my grandparents using "Way to go." Instead, it would only be my parents' generation.
To be honest, I can't stand the phrase, though I might be alone in that.
I've only heard Americans use it non-sarcastically. I just can't say it seriously with a British accent.
Gen-Xer, have been living in the US for many years now, albeit learned my English in the UK. I do say "Way to go!" but only sarcastically, commenting on someone's inept or incompetent actions. I wonder if it's a generational backclash given that baby boomers seem to be using it as an actual encouragement.
Does it really feel out of place? I'm just asking, because I remember when I was in Minsk, I attended the city festival there and whenever there was a group of performers, the audience would shout "молодцы" all the time! Maybe that's a Belorussian thing, though...
I never thought about it, but I suppose it makes sense--if I'm grading tests and I write "good job!" to a student who got 100%, that's fairly standard praise. But the only time I'd say "good job!" to, e.g., a professional athlete, is sarcastically: "Good job in scoring the own-goal that lost us the game!"
Hi. I have two native Russian speakers who say this to me in response to my Russian practice. I'm under the impression it's something someone says when praising your efforts. Would "Nice!" work as a translation?
Living in Ukraine for almost a year, I find that Молодец translates quite well to "good jobber" (if that makes sense)
I've been following a famous russian singer and his fans are writing "молодец" to him all the time! It's one of the first russian words I learned because of this.
- 499
What would one use for performers or other people one admires? I've heard shouts of "Bravo/Brava" a ballet setting, but what would one say to a writer, for example? Simply, "I love your new book?"
I was warned by a Russian friend that to describe something as хорошо is very luke-warm praise, so that if you are asked how something went and answer "хорошо" it comes across more as "it was fine", "it was OK" rather than active approval.
His explanation was because this was the word used for a mid-range grade in the schoolwork grading system.
Yep, хорошо is usually just "fine", unless the sentence used certain structures or words to make it stronger:
- очень хорошо = very good
- Так хорошо!.. = So good!...
If you want it stronger, there are bags of other words at your disposal, defining stronger shades of awesome: отлично, прекрасно, превосходно, замечательно and others. The standard grade system used in schools and universities uses the scale of (literally) "unsatisfactory"-"satisfactory, adequate"-"good"-"excellent"
(this "adequate" when used like that is, really, more like "better than nothing")
Is there a different phrase that means "congratulations?" That's what I put, and it wasn't accepted.
- 113
Likewise. I've been using молодец as congratulations for a long time... Am I now being told that I was incorrect all that time?
"Молодец!" is an informal expression of encouragement/praise. You could use "congratulations" in that sense too, but the primary meaning of "Сongratulations!"="Поздравляю!"
I have some Russian friends who translated it to "good boy". I'm not an English native speaker neither, so duo's " good job" sound strange to me... But I guess it means the same anyway in everyday English. Would Duolingo accept "good boy" or "good girl" as possible translation here?
- 1901
Is there a feminine version of this word? I have seen it in masculine singular and plural only, so I guess it's unisex, but that's unusual, isn't it?
Except, the word itself is not specifically feminine. A boy can be told "Какой же ты молодчина!" (Notice the masculine form of "какой".)
I don't know how many times I reported "Attaboy!" should be accepted (especially that Attagirl IS accepted already), but no reaction so far... maybe commenting will help in that matter? :)
