A great question posed by my multilingual colleague. Why do Russians use English hockey terms such as "save"?
The answer is, Russian appears to be uniquely badly suited for hockey in particular. I want me to extrapolate...
The answer is, Russian appears to be uniquely badly suited for hockey in particular. I want me to extrapolate...
Problem is, hockey is extremely rich in very technical terminology, all of it invented by the worst kind of English speakers, North Americans. "Worst" because English is already a very dense language, information-wise, and Americans tend to make it even denser...
Russian, of course, isn't dense at all. At least not when it comes to information. It's very dense with emotion, but when it comes to technical terminology, we tend to be at a loss. Our tendency to beautify and overarticulate everything takes over. The results are not pretty...
Consider for instance the Russian term "ataka igroka, ne vladeyushchego shayboy." Say that ten times fast. It translates as "attacking player not in possession of the puck."... 5 words, a comma, a whole mess of sh and ch sounds, all to say "interference."
How about "zaderzhka sopernika klyushkoy"? In English, it's called hooking. We have to roll with "holding an opponent with a stick."
"Igra vysokopodnyatoy klyushkoy", or "Playing with a highly raised stick" is what you guys refer to as high-sticking...
"Igra vysokopodnyatoy klyushkoy", or "Playing with a highly raised stick" is what you guys refer to as high-sticking...
But things get even worse... Russian doesn't have a good word for "a catch." We have verbs for it, plenty of verbs, but somehow not the noun. Can't say "A great catch".
It's the same situation with the word "save." A thousand ways to use it in the verb form, but not as a noun...
It's the same situation with the word "save." A thousand ways to use it in the verb form, but not as a noun...
So, Russian goalies don't really make saves. They repell shots. They deflect them. They pull them out. They liquidate danger. They neutralize chances. They parry. They bar the puck's route. They steer the menace away from the goal. But none of this is expressible as a noun...
And then, consider a veritable Frankenstein of a word such as forechecking. We are utterly flabbergasted by it. There's just no way to translate it adequately. We are stuck with "zhestkaya opeka v zone sopernika" or "rough guardianship in the opponent's zone." Yup..
This is why Russians often default to just copying and pasting English words, particularly when time and space are of the essence. This even extends to words that have regular available or Russian equivalents, such as goalkeeper, forward, foul...
And since, technically, the Russian word for goal is "taking the gates", you can't really blame us for borrowing English terms.
Then again, I wish Russians stopped using the term shutout altogether and used our native "dry match" or "dry bread." Because, seriously, props.
Then again, I wish Russians stopped using the term shutout altogether and used our native "dry match" or "dry bread." Because, seriously, props.
Also, we can't say "blocker", so it's a "blin" (pancake). Gloves are "kragi" (gauntlets) and the stick is "klyushka" (little cane) and power play is "realizing the majority."
Also, "too many men on the ice" is "violation of the numerical composition." Bow to us.
Also, "too many men on the ice" is "violation of the numerical composition." Bow to us.
I will almost certainly have a blog post on all the weird peculiarities of the Russian language especially as compared to English. In it, I shall do my best to translate the untranslatable and see where it takes me.
