Month: January 2018

January 05 2018, 18:06

There’s one grammatical norm that just hardly ever fits into the brain accustomed to thinking in Russian. Even after living here for two years. It’s the intuitively correct placement of articles. The rule is simple, but the brain still doesn’t apply it unconsciously; instead, it stumbles for a few milliseconds and quite often inserts the wrong one, because the decision must be made in real time. Specifically, the problem is with non-countable nouns. For instance, if you want to say Officials indicated that (the?) evidence obtained through undercover operations… there’s no need for an article (actually). Or in such a context – “hydrogen is (an article?) dangerous gas” you kind of understand that an article is needed, but then again, you can’t count gas. But when it comes to saying I need (a?) permission, it feels right to say “Ineedpermission”, but out pops “IneedApermission” because there was no time to think.

By the way, watch the first episode of the fourth season of Black Mirror. “I was just gonna fix a coffee”, “wide berth”, “don’t do her head in” and a bunch of other expressions that were absolutely new to me. But the episode itself is wonderful. And also check out Hang the DJ, very much so.

January 02 2018, 16:50

Inspired by a photo attached to the post.

It’s interesting how the more complex/resource-intensive learning something is, the less they pay professionals in Russia.

For example, to become a professional musician, one needs to invest about ten years in daily music practice. To become a professional artist, besides talent, tens of thousands of hours of practice are needed. Just to start thinking about the Poincaré conjecture, one must follow a path of about fifteen years, filled solely with mathematics. People don’t just stumble into quantum physics either. Professional athletes sacrifice their lives, and only a handful out of hundreds or thousands earn decent money from advertising contracts. To become a good doctor, you need to put in at least eight years of study and practice to initially earn just tens of thousands of rubles with slight increases over the following years.

Meanwhile, one can start earning through programming after a couple of years of intensive daily practice on platforms like Coursera combined with real team experience. Organizing something and bringing it to fruition often also doesn’t require the preliminary investment mentioned in the previous paragraph. Even basic repairs and construction work bring in more money for craftsmen, while demanding significantly less training even for those not naturally skilled.

Are there any counterexamples?