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- "Это очень хороший спектакль."
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A lot of the words in this chapter seem to have Latinate cognates in English: excursion/экскурсия, spectacle/спектакль...makes it easy to remember, at least.
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I read once that many of the 'arts' words in Russian come from French, since the French were seen as the artistic and cultural supremes of the world a few hundred years ago. Perhaps a Russian can correct me if this is wrong?
Spectacle is definitely a borrowing from French. And yes, still in the early twentieth century, Paris was a model city for everything related to culture. For instance, Bucharest was known as the little Paris.
Beware of "false friends": the Russian for a spectacle is зрелище; экскурсия means "a guided tour", whereas 'excursion' has no one-word equivalent - it can be translated as "увеселительная прогулка" or "небольшое развлекательное путешествие" or (if it's a trip to the country) "поездка за город"), the choice depends on the situation.
" the Russian for a spectacle is зрелище "
excursion I will not speak to, but zrelishche / spektakl' i do not believe would be examples of false friends. spektakl' is also a meaning of english spectacle. But perhaps a secondary one.
May I suggest the wiki article on False Friends. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/False_friend
One example given I think explains it quite well: " An example is the English embarrassed, and the Spanish embarazada (which means pregnant), "
So spektakl'/spectacle could easily mean the same thing in either Russian or English, whereas Embarassed/Embarazada have drastically different meanings in English/Spanish.
I can't think of a context in which спектакль would mean "spectacle". The word спектакль refers to a theater piece or stage play, and, if used idiomatically, it may be the equivalent of "song and dance" as in "make a song and dance about something". A spectacle is always зрелище, and "spectacles" (=glasses) = очки. In other words, "спектакль" and "spectacle" ARE false friends.
Did not accept "This show is very good." Is there a notible difference?
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I think it has to do with the difference between attributive adjectives and predicate adjectives. If an adjective (like хороший) comes before a noun (like "show" in this context), it is treated differently than if it comes after the noun. This site refers to them as "normal" and "short" adjectives.
"This show is very good." = Этот спектакль очень хорош(ий)/ Это представление очень хорошо/хорошее. The short forms of adjectives are preferable in predicative usage. By the way, "show" has a broader meaning than "спектакль" which only means a play or opera put on stage. Представление is any show on stage. Another meaning of представление is presenting.
Didn't accept "this is a very nice show". "Nice" and "good" are more or less interchangeable, no?
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Judging by other responses, it's a false friend. Russian appears to use спектакль to refer specifically to some kind of staged performance (be it a stage play or a Broadway musical), while "spectacle" in English tends to refer to any highly visible event that isn't necessarily theatrical, and may not even be voluntary. ("She really made a spectacle of herself at the party, getting in a shouting match with her friend, vomiting on Bob, and nearly driving into the ditch when she pulled out of the driveway.")
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But that is funny in English because it comes from our use of spectacle to mean a show or a play. A spectacle isn't always something embarassing, but it is always something theatrical or showy. Thus, something can be spectacular without having a negative connotation.
“She really made a spectacle of herself at the party” = «В гостях она отличилась»
Attn Damgelly "спектакль performance, play, show, spectacle, theatrical, " I seen that given via google translate. But it is not given as a primary meaning of "performance". I am sure it could be used here as an English rendering/translation but , maybe the writers of the course did not offer it as an answer.
Maybe this is a matter of opinion, but at least in English, I would use "show" and "concert" interchangeably, but the system seems to treat them as two different things. Are there particular traits that would differentiate a спектакль from a концерт? (Or for that matter, a "show" from a "concert"? Or a "gig?")
In my experience, spektakl/спектакль is used to describe a show or a play, with "show" meaning some kind of performance on a stage that is NOT exclusively musical in nature. A spektakl that's an opera is called an opera. A concert (or any musical performance) is a kontsert/концерт. I know in English, show and concert and gig are pretty interchangeable, but that has not been the case in Russian, in my experience. A konsert is a konsert. A "show" in Russian context is more akin to a play. A musical on broadway is a spektakl.
English distinguishes between adjectives in the predicative and attributive positions, and so does Russian. "This show" would be этот спектакль.
"It was a very good show." Was not accepted! How to tell present from past tense?
"It was a very good show" would be "Это был очень хороший спектакль" To be is dropped in the present tense, but not in past.
Is "great" show so much different from "very good" show? Or is there another stronger word in russian?
Just like English has 'wonderful', 'excellent'. 'terrific', 'great', 'awesome', 'neat' etc., Russian has a variety of words to say that something apeals to you: отличный, классный, замечательный, потрясающий, чудесный, чУдный. All of them are stronger than очень хороший.
That corresponds to "Этот спектакль очень хорош" or "Это представление/Это шоу очень хорошо"
In a show, actors or dancers or fashion models perform on stage. In an exhibition, things such as pieces of art (e.g. paintings or sculptures or photos) or some other items are put on display.
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"This show is very good" should also be an acceptable answer. The English meaning is precisely the same as "This is a very good show."
really = действительно, по-настоящему, на самом деле
very = очень
in this context.
In conversational English at least, “really” is indeed a more common alternative to “very”. «Очень» can be translated either to “very” or to “really”. In fact, the latter often sounds more natural. «На самом деле» corresponds to “actually” or “indeed”, so does «действительно» - at least with «хорош».
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Then how do you distinguish it as an american speaker where there's no difference? I.E. given хорошо how do I tell it was meant to be really or very?
In my opinion:
очень хорошо - almost excellent, a subjective opinion
действительно хорошо - maybe a bit less excellent, but actually good - more or less objective opinion.
