Lex Fridman on Russian language

[@LexClips]

Full podcast episode: kzbin.info/www/bejne/jXKcmImBgLWmeNE Lex Fridman podcast channel: kzbin.info Guest bio: Jordan Jonas is a wilderness survival expert, explorer, hunter, guide, and winner of Alone Season 6, a show in which the task is to survive alone in the arctic wilderness longer than anyone else. He is widely considered to be one of the greatest competitors in the history on that show.

[@SparkBerry]

My wife is a Russian speaker, and for the past two years I've made it my duty to learn the language, just as she has learned mine. It's been extremely tough, but I won't give up, no matter how long it takes!

[@Anton-Soloviev]

Удачи ❤

[@ErickRamirez-g5t]

The cool thing about learning another language is there is no finish line, it is a never ending journey. Try to have fun while you do it!

[@thinkpad20]

I'm almost in the same boat. I started learning Russian about a year and a half ago for my wife. Very tough language but it's fascinating and rewarding to learn!

[@dbaluev]

Молодец!

[@orangesoup395]

У тебя обязательно получится, изучение любого языка это достаточно индивидуальный путь, верю в твой путь, приятного пути! Пожалуйста получи от нашего языка максимум удовольствия. Мир расширится и будет иным это точно, как и с изучением любого нового языка, русский правда может искренне поразить тебя (в хорошем смысле) и ты увидишь этот мир немного иначе, удачи!! ʚ♡⃛ɞ(ू•ᴗ•ू❁) 🤲🏽🍃☕🍋🫐🥨🥞🍯🥠🍧 Я русская, неплохо знаю английский и учу японский, мир очень изменился для меня, потрясающие чувства. Have a nice and cozy work!!! Glad to see you in russian language ajajajj ☺☺🤗

[@Aleksandr_TRI]

languge is window to another universe

[@DmitryKandiner]

The word ordering influence on the nuances of the meaning in Russian is somewhat similar to an English phrase "I hit him in the eye yesterday", where you can add a word "only" in almost any position, and get different meanings.

[@dworkinbar]

ofc u r Russian, не так ли?

[@slnkrnk]

​@@dworkinbarвообще гугл пишет, что такая фамилия больше всего распространена в Северной Америке)

[@dworkinbar]

@@slnkrnk good job FSS 😄

[@slnkrnk]

@@dworkinbar лол)

[@flavoredwallpaper]

Yeah, I think there are plenty of examples of how you can change word order in English to change the meaning. Or even, as in Russian, change the emphasis. You're saying the same thing, just in a different way depending on word order. But in Russian, there is just way, way more flexibility and freedom in word order. It's intimidating to me as someone learning Russian. I'll read a sentence and have no idea what it means, and then I realize that I 100% know what it means; I'm just not used to the word order!

[@АлекСневар]

As a Russian myself, I would say that learning Russian as a foreign language will cause you extreme mental pain)

[@sergeyredin4054]

You should try learning Hungarian first :)

[@АлекСневар]

@@sergeyredin4054 No, thanks, I know it’s even more difficult than Russian) I have a couple of friends in Budapest

[@flavoredwallpaper]

ты права. это кашмар.

[@iamgdt]

Я тоже тебя люблю Lex

[@NightwatchRebel]

As far as I understand (not a Russian speaker), what Putin means by the fall of USSR being the biggest tragedy wasnt that the USSR fell apart but what happened as a consequence of it falling apart. Russia (and many of the other former USSR member states) were plunged into poverty and collapse seemingly overnight and that is to my understanding what he thinks is the biggest tragedy.

[@olekscap4620]

Western media omitted a lot from this quote, but this is exact meaning of this quote. Aftermath of USSR disintegration sends the waves till this day.

[@Егоза-д4ф]

Самой большой трагедией Путин считает то, что распад Союза вызвал множество национальных конфликтов и множество беженцев.

[@super_street_fighter]

​@user-fv5hu3ox5h so, he decided to prove it once again

[@moristar]

Not exactly. He means that Russia had an opportunity to be a great empire, but breaking away of the independent republics means that it now can't be that. Russia and other Soviet republics were plunged into poverty because there were no structures to support economics besides the central planning and a dedicated customer intentionally put as far as possible from the source of production to facilitate economic ties between republics, while Soviet workers had incredibly low productivity due to lack of meaning of it all.

[@egorsurimov5996]

​@@moristargood point, but i think he meant like millions of russians who lived in republics (like Azerbaijan tajikistan etc.) faced big discriminatory force due to rise of nationalism which were induced by the collapse of ussr. soviet union cultivated cosmopolitan views, with the fall of it nationalism, revanchism and reminescent rose .

[@aceaugusto]

Russian is such a beautiful language I wish I could learn it

[@victoriadedicova]

Just go to Russia and pick it up. After about a decade

[@aceaugusto]

@@victoriadedicova i really want to live in russia after the countries lift their war sanctions

[@thinkpad20]

You can, why not? Two years ago I didn't speak a word, now I can have long conversations in Russian. If you want to you should go for it :)

[@theindeez7929]

@@aceaugusto If you really wish to live in russia, there are a lot of ways how you can come here as a tourist, for begining, with no cares about sanctions

[@theindeez7929]

@@thinkpad20 That's cool. You made a great job

[@veryveryveryvery161]

Лёша, приезжай к нам, в гости пока лето. Погода отличная, Москва, Петербург. Может интервью у кого возьмёшь.

[@MECHANISMUS]

мож он саша

[@sergeyredin4054]

@@MECHANISMUS какой саша, он алексей александрович федотов, википедию посмотри что ли

[@veryveryveryvery161]

@@MECHANISMUS "Лекс Фридман (имя при рождении - Алексей Федотов) - американский ученый, интервьюер и блогер российского происхождения."

[@_b_x_b_1063]

​@@veryveryveryvery161он же вроде еврей

[@veryveryveryvery161]

@@_b_x_b_1063 из семьи советских евреев, да. Таких много переехало в начале 90х. Цитата из Википедии, родился Алексей в Москве так то.

[@leonardleonard3769]

If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart.

[@Roman-kk1ic]

Yeah, Putin did not say "Our greatest tragedy was fall of the Soviet Union" His exact quote from 2006 is- "The disintegration of USSR was the biggest geopolitical catastrophe of XX century" As you can see western shmedia grotesquely twisted this quote to make it seem that he's a commie and dreams about recreating the Soviet Union, which of course he never said anything remotely close to that. Putin needs a great interpreter with cool voice to translate his speeches as correct as possible for western audience to actually get to know him, because Putin is the most powerful speaking politician world seen in past like 50-70 years, as well as being the only one to host 3 hours long open press conferences twice a year where any journalist in the world can visit and ask him anything, and there is one common thing in every speech of his since he started in year 2000, whether he is addressing someone or something, reporting, or answering questions he is always speaking facts, straight to the point and utmost comprehensive, thorough and in depth, and fully so nobody has anything to add or any additional questions. And every time American journalists would come at him with hardball questions he'd completely smoke them make them look stupid every single time, nor he ever gives elusive answers like any other politician. Thats probably a professional side effect of being a recruiter of secret agents for KGB, he is trained to make perfect sense type shit, thats why folk in black suits had to keep Bush away from him =D

[@АлексейНовицкий-щ8р]

You're liar. All journalists are fake, real journalists are in exile. The first thing Putin did when he came to power was take over television.

[@АлексейНовицкий-щ8р]

All political opponents are either dead or in exile. The Constitution has been rewritten, the elections are fake. I have lived in Russia all my life, this is all happening before my eyes. Don’t believe the laudatory comments, this is all the work of the FSB, watch the interview with Yuri Bezmenov, and you will find out the true goal of the FSB, and Putin is from there.

[@Творческаяартель2Влад2-е3х]

Как распад Советского Союза может быть трагедией для человека, который его и разваливал?

[@Roman-kk1ic]

@@Творческаяартель2Влад2-е3х ты ничего не перепутал?

[@Творческаяартель2Влад2-е3х]

@@Roman-kk1ic , ничего.

[@nerminsnowhuseinbasic9340]

Similar is done in south Slavic languages

[@jamesbra4410]

Molodyets

[@vladislavsychev1312]

Lex have to make some with Viktor Pelevin

[@Galicz]

That would be awesome!

[@VIandVII_VIIIths]

Thanks for everything you do Lex.

[@Errouy1]

There is a word "mine" and it has two meanings "belonging to me" and "wash" there is a play on words, in that the word can have two meanings "wash my floor" in russian "мой мой пол"

[@yasno9491]

"Пол" also means "floor" or "sex (male/female)"

[@Егоза-д4ф]

​@@yasno9491 "пол" обозначает также половину)

[@super_street_fighter]

Changing word order in russian language is easy :) If you want to emphasize smth put it in the end of the sentence. Talking about the example "I love you". Although, usually in russian word order is the same as in English but in these case the speaker wants to emphasize that he loves the person whom he is talking to. So, normaly he will say: "Я тебя люблю". And phrase "Тебя люблю я" whoud be appropriate in a situation when smb asks "who loves me?" to emphasize that there is at least one person who loves you and it's me.

[@flavoredwallpaper]

Unrelated story. Growing up, my older cousin (as a prank) told me that if I wanted to really convey my love for someone, I should say "Я тебя убью" rather than "Я тебя люблю," and he encouraged me to try it out on our grandma. So I went over and said those words (I was probably 8 years old). My grandpa nearly choked laughing when he heard me.

[@ИльяДавыдов-э9ъ]

The way we speak articulates and displays the way we arrange the degree of the meaning that we put in. Language is a reflection of the environment around us. All languages are great since we realize how many stylistic devices and different contexts they implies.

[@kirillgimranov4943]

Why Lex with a beard looks like he's from Dagestan?

[@NEALESHA86]

Нет не похож :)

[@Thaifoodforyou]

He is Jewish

[@andreyvolkov3117]

Однако как Лекс зарос

[@AV3283]

Рекомендую Салтыкова-Щедрина, будет Вам и юмор, и ответы на вопросы, и вопросы ❤

[@pigslave3]

If Russian, we love you much. Happy days🐻

[@717pixels9]

Салтыкова-Щедрина неправильно понимают, как обличителя власти. Он сам был власть (вице-губернатор) и писал приколы для своих друганов.

[@AV3283]

@@717pixels9, его должности никак не отменяют ценность его произведений, актуальность сатиры, глубину и искренность личных убеждений. А кто что видит - это про наблюдателя

[@pigslave3]

@@717pixels9 Brother... which material must I digest (Russian authors, writers, playwright, etc.)?

[@elenalexey]

Nowadays Russian languge belongs to slavic group but originally it was a basic IEL. Old Russian (Rusis' language) is wiser and has unique forms of expression.

[@evl3894]

Respect from Russia. For trying to understand.

[@AlphaConviction]

Nah Romanian & Russian are similar in that regard

[@AVP2025-w4c]

As a native Russian speaker I admire English and hope one day will be fully fluent in it. But, let me explain it for you guys - Russian empire and USSR had been famose for their strict laws but we have saying " строгость законов в России компенсируется необязательностью их исполнения", same like in the Russian language - we have fucking massive rules (hardly know all of them) but you may use our verbs in all most all possible sequience in a phrase. Learn Russian language, learn russian soul!

[@Anton-Soloviev]

Я люблю всех и все. ❤

[@flavoredwallpaper]

почему? все плохо.

[@Anton-Soloviev]

@@flavoredwallpaper Если я говорю языками человеческими и ангельскими, а любви не имею, то я - медь звенящая или кимвал звучащий. Если имею дар пророчества, и знаю все тайны,и имею всякое познание и всю веру, так что могу и горы переставлять, а не имею любви, - то я ничто. И если я раздам все имение мое и отдам тело мое на сожжение, а любви не имею,нет мне в том никакой пользы. Любовь долготерпит, милосердствует, любовь не завидует,любовь не превозносится, не гордится, не бесчинствует, не ищет своего, не раздражается, не мыслит зла, не радуется неправде, а сорадуется истине; все покрывает, всему верит, всего надеется, все переносит. Любовь никогда не перестает, хотя и пророчества прекратятся, и языки умолкнут, и знание упразднится. Ибо мы отчасти знаем, и отчасти пророчествуем; когда же настанет совершенное, тогда то, что отчасти, прекратится. Когда я был младенцем, то по-младенчески говорил, по-младенчески мыслил, по-младенчески рассуждал; а как стал мужем, то оставил младенческое. Теперь мы видим как бы сквозь тусклое стекло, гадательно, тогда же лицем к лицу; теперь знаю я отчасти, а тогда познаю, подобно как я познан. А теперь пребывают сии три: вера, надежда, любовь; но любовь из них больше.

[@andrewenglish9400]

A russian Jew who has never experienced elementary school education in the U.S. speculates that the Soviet approach was better. How does he know? The 'Tolstoevskiy phenomenon' and the perceived 'greatness' of russian language and culture are overrated due to ignorance. Clearly, Lex doesn’t fully understand either russian or English.

[@dmytro_bro]

Как говорится, каждая жаба свое болото хвалит.

[@YuriKuzyk]

A day in the life of Ivan...

[@varsanapathak5170]

More than language it's the intention that plays the key role in human interaction, language could be an obstacle in the beginning but is certainly not a problem that hinders human interaction, if the intention is pure love then no matter what language we speak we are gonna receive pure love in return and if the intention is wrong then no matter how much we adapt to the language we are never gonna receive love in return and that's what happened with our invaders, who adopted the language but drastically failed to receive love in return because of their wrong intentions. Sounds stupid! but it's just my personal opinion

[@LaserQiwi]

dam habib learned english well

[@TEPMOBETEP]

I am russian, and i can say that if you translate english to russian, you will loose some subtlety too. If there is a pun in a sentence, you would loose it in transation. Like dad jokes in english do not work in russian. Same thing is there the other way around. Probably guys have some reverance for russian language just because they are not using it everyday. I've heard Tolkien have some interesting english language in his books. Like stop it, language is a language, russians adore russian language just because they are thinking in russian. They are used to it, it is easy for them to describe their feelings in russian. Or even for some english speakers russian has some novelty and interesting ways to put words together. But that is just a tool for your thinking. There is no better language than what you already have. If you want to know other languages, go for it, but why to make it sound like "you people are missing out on russian". It is just a complex tool for shaping your ideas. Your ideas are good enough, and you can shape them in whatever form. And if you are a master of your own tool of english language - you can have excellently shaped ideas. If you want to learn russian, it is cool, but don't worship it like an idol. For some reason i just weirded out when people are talking about russian language as if it some godsent language. It is like when arabs talk about their language and quran. Like, chill out it is just a tool, everyone have their beautifull language of their own.

[@vparenkin]

полностью согласен! однако ментально переключаться между двумя языками круто =)) совершенно меняется ход мысли, какие-то концепты мне проще разъяснить себе в одном языке, а некоторые в другом. а затем уже лингвистическая задачка - собрать всё воедино на родном русском)

[@TEPMOBETEP]

@@vparenkin я и говорю, что если есть желание учить языки, то это здорово, я только сказал, что не нужно боготворить какой-то язык.

[@blacksea3627]

​@@TEPMOBETEPвозможно это ностальгия

[@TEPMOBETEP]

@@blacksea3627 да понятное дело, я не совсем об этом. Я о том, что ностальгия не должна отнимать взвешенность твоей речи. Я уже второй раз вижу как Лекс отзывается о русском языке, и второй раз вижу, что он словно поймал нирвану от разговора о "красивости" русского языка. Я говорю скорее о том, что любой язык по своему уникален и красив, и что каждый язык достоин того, чтобы о нем так радостно отзывались, а не только русский. Я просто хочу увидеть постоянство. Если ты кайфуешь от русского, то ты можешь кайфовать и от английского. Но вместо этого ты считаешь английский недостойным того, чтобы поставить его на один уровень с русским. Потому что Лекс об английском так мечтательно не отзывается и я считаю, что это неправильно. Всякий язык хорош и банален одновременно.

[@blacksea3627]

@@TEPMOBETEP да ты прав. Но почему тебя это удивляет, опять же,уехал бы он в Россию так же бы скучал по английскому. Это вполне естественно. тем более русский это насколько я знаю его первый язык

[@blengi]

given compressed representation in AI to some extent is the degree of understanding a model possesses and given spoken english has highest information density and therefore compression according to studies,, does that imply english speakers understand reality better on average?

[@alexmashkin863]

English is extremely basic compared to Russian or Arabic, a lot of subtle nuance evident in those languages is incomprehensible for English speakers. Idk if it answers your question, I think English speakers understand reality very well but only in one very specific way, which can be detrimental for decision making. But I don't think it's only the language, it's culture, language is an instrument and manifestation of the culture. When I learned English well enough to understand it's workings somewhat, I was shocked how primitive it was at expressiveness and yet how precise it was at describing details, but not nuances, it's rather mechanistic and rigid, coming from Russian as a native. When I started to learn Arabic I was instantly amazed by the power and beauty of the language, it's really good for interhuman stuff as well as social and societal interactions especially.

[@blengi]

​@@alexmashkin863 So basic and yet still spoken english ranks highest for information density according to studies, where density ccorrelates with compression and in AI LLMs compression is ultimately representational of understanding according to sutskever. Just that factoid seems to imply english is imbued with deepest understanding of the world. Do you have evidence that spoken russian or arabic is more information dense? It would not surprising english has sublime preeminent understanding of things though, given english has the largest instantiated vocabulary, is the lingua franca of science business, diplomacy, basically every coding language of note that controls the digital world, is also by far the largest source of digital language content about the world being half the internet content wise. How can speakers of other languages devoid of this remarkable hyperconnected linguistic knowledge understand better what they never created or even possess? I'm mean just like the internet the most of transformative post ww2 inventions and social movements that influenced the world were created mostly in english based cultures, all the global sports, movies, pop, rock, PC tech, internet, video game culture etc

[@alexmashkin863]

@@blengi I bet you no one has ever studied Russian or Arabic like that, sounds very much like British scientists stuff :-) I'll take a look at papers though, if I can find them. I think lingua franca status is much more historical than merital. As well as all use cases you've cited. Coding languages were initially developed based on English, no real tangible benefit of redoing everything at this point. I see your sentiment, suit yourself :-) I told you what I learned dealing with those three languages. Obviously anecdotal :-) I personally don't think your overwhelming pride is warranted, but you're certainly entitled to it and it's quite inspiring knowing that there are people so excited about their favourite thing :-))

[@GameHubUHD]

@@alexmashkin863 As an English speaker who's learned some Russian, I disagree that speaking English is detrimental to decision-making. I would say that the Russian language gives many ways for one to express themselves, which is good for social interaction, but not as good for logic. On the flip side, I feel that the preciseness of English helps humans communicate in a logical and/or abstract sense, but hampers speaking in a social and/or romantic sense. High context vs low context language.

[@aakkk7016]

As an native Russian speakwr but Im also absolutely fluent in several eastern European slavic languages, i love English and speak it in many accents,but prefer some American accents, but i understand even black community humor at high speed. If u see me talkin u never guess im slavic lol😂I mean i just adore usa and whatsmore ive learned even old english language,some stuff like Longfellow. Btw i speak spanish German and understand Italian and French. So nah, there is no difference, i can express feelings of love in Russian with metaphorsusing big amount of combinations of words. And the same in English, u just needto read more and dig deep into languageand cultureand respect it,then u ll be able to feel it from the inside and use it with passion❤ @CarsVersusRaceClub

[@AA-qy7km]

Люблю

[@victoriadedicova]

I just had a fight (laughing at him actually) in the car this morning with my son. Him trying pronounce лю and kept pronounced лублу. Can see that he will not get the full appreciation and understanding of the language. Need to send him to Russia for a couple or years.

[@paprikar]

@@victoriadedicova lmfao

[@bhaashatepe5234]

@@victoriadedicova it's interesting. I have had similar issue with 'foreign' or 'unfamiliar' sounds while learning new languages. Regarding the Russian language, I am blessed that the sound of the Russian 'ы' is very similar to a sound in an ethnic language that I speak.

[@flavoredwallpaper]

@@victoriadedicova Reminds me of my mom's frustration trying to get me to pronounce ы. I still suck at it.

[@aakkk7016]

@@flavoredwallpaper hahaha , have u ever heard how black women very often pronounce the word "but" they reduse the sound and treir jaw is a little bit low. Try to copy them ,put the corners of your lips a little bit down . Maybe this tips will help idk))

[@subhranshudas8862]

Da Da Tabarish..glory to the Motherland.

[@noizekiller]

Тамбовский волк тебе табарищ.

[@subhranshudas8862]

@@noizekiller 😂😂 Ну что ж, похоже, мне пора начать выть! 🐺 Ах, это была опечатка!!

[@jazzyniko]

Russian is an extremely difficult language to learn!!! Not worth the pain unless you really really need it. I first learned English, then I learned German and now I'm enjoying learning french which is by the way very much accessible. PS: I was in a relationship with a Russian woman for 7 years and can say that Russian is very hard to learn.

[@ifinancier]

That’s not true. I’m a native Armenian (22 years old) and I’ve already mastered Russian (C2), French (B2), English for sure and at some point Arabic (probably B1 maybe a little worse). It’s just an immersion thing, you either want to dedicate yourself to achieve something or not. Russian IS worth it!

[@Aleksandr_TRI]

so German is literally spoken nowhere but Germany and it was worth it to learn, but not Russian while having 7years relationship with a russian woman?

[@neexgames]

@@Aleksandr_TRI lol you good one :D

[@bhaashatepe5234]

@@ifinancier Armenian? well, your country is basically a Russian speaking country. Probably majority of Armenian population are bilingual, Armenian and Russian. I live in a country that has more than 700 spoken languages. Almost every single person in my country is bilingual, they speak at least the national language and their local/ethnic language. Some of us, can speak three or more languages. I am fluent in the national language of my country. I can make basic (to intermediate) conversation in three ethnic languages and a dialect of a foreign language that is spoken in my country.

[@ygzpdygzpd700]

@@bhaashatepe5234 Indian? If you know Sanscrit, Russian will be easy for you. The who languages are remarkably close.

[@masha1414k]

❤❤❤

[@АмальФарук-в6д]

Люблю.

[@АлексейНовицкий-щ8р]

Комменты против Путина удаляются, интересно почему? Аааа наверное потому что вы объективный и Путин вообще легенда, как это так

[@СнежныйЭльф-л7т]

А что можно вообще сказать сегодня против Путина плохого? Он единственный нормальный белый правитель.

[@АлексейНовицкий-щ8р]

@@СнежныйЭльф-л7т ну да ну да, врать не мешки ворочать

[@СнежныйЭльф-л7т]

@@АлексейНовицкий-щ8р наверное поэтому Вы и хотели наврать, но уже не даёт сама система?)

[@АлексейНовицкий-щ8р]

@@СнежныйЭльф-л7т чего? Че ты имел ввиду? Какой-то неправильно русский язык у тебя

[@СнежныйЭльф-л7т]

@@АлексейНовицкий-щ8р или тебя просто память о прошлых комментах подводит.

[@bimmjim]

Yakov Smirnoff. Say no more.

[@etorawa9367]

Russian is perhaps one of the only living languages that's the closest to the Proto Indo-European (PIE) in terms of its construction. I would also, put Lithuanian in this category.

[@Ghoovchk]

😘

[@asd99579]

Американцы классные ребята. Есть один недостаток - их оскорбляет когда кто-то кроме них хорошо живёт. Они быстро придумывают почему надо его ограбить и у б и ть.

[@vparenkin]

сомневаюсь, что прям "оскорбляет лучшая жизнь других", тут больше о мании величия и твердой мысли, что штаты - главная страна по всем фронтам и тут больше проблемы от системы образования и в целом мироощущения (это достаточно быстро исправляется при желании правительства)

[@asd99579]

@@vparenkin я не про обывателя. Обыватель пойдет туда куда его отправят.

[@Vasily_dont_be_silly]

Смотрите меньше телевизор

[@shtein4476]

Скандинавия живёт куда лучше них, если брать людей. Что-то они их не грабят. Хотя ресурсов у них достаточно.

[@asd99579]

@@shtein4476 Украину тоже никто не грабит, потому что это тарасоколонка. Хотя до этого 30 лет грабили напропалую. Чувак, я тебе заранее скажу, тебе надо не политическими вопросами заниматься, а например в футбол играть.

[@brandeeno2846]

I’m Ukrainian and I’m so game I speak Russian lol I would not study it otherwise

[@Anastasia-nn5fy]

Ukrianians are Russians

[@olekscap4620]

лала забыли спросить, лол.

[@СнежныйЭльф-л7т]

Вам скорее пришлось "украинский" язык учить. Русский Вы все изначально знали. Лучше бы Вас никогда не учили русскому языку.