Anton Somin is a well-known person: he has been organizing the Language Festival in Minsk for many years, and on April 1 it will be held for the sixth time. He now lives in Moscow, where he teaches the Belarusian language.
“IT IS MORE DIFFICULT TO START SPEAKING BELARUSIAN THAN ENGLISH”
Right now it would be more accurate to say “taught.” This was the “School of Neighborhood Languages” project, within the framework of which free courses in CIS languages were held. Now the project is temporarily suspended - funding has run out. The courses lasted six months. There was a competition for each language: in particular, for Belarusian - 2.5 people per place (for Armenian, for comparison, 16 people per place).
- Who came to Moscow to learn the Belarusian language?
Motivated people. Most have grandparents from Belarus. One girl is a folklorist who studies the Russian-Belarusian borderlands; she needs him for her work. And there was also a senior accountant, a woman of about 60, who came because she heard from a Belarusian friend what a deplorable situation we had with our language. It's a shame, the language is beautiful - she decided to make her contribution. It was amazing, I took it right away. But in general, there is a demand for language in addition to courses: students periodically come up to me and ask where in Moscow they can learn Belarusian.
- What did Belarusian seem like to them? Simple, complex, funny?
During the classes, I myself looked at the language from a different angle. I saw how people perceive words familiar to us from childhood, and it turned out that there are things that we simply do not notice. For example, on the Internet you may come across the “grab” (“save”) button, but it wouldn’t even occur to us that we could shift the emphasis and read it as “grab.” And the Russians are having a lot of fun! For them, unexpected words that are completely familiar to us also sound funny - “vadaskhovishcha”, “manly”, “zhanochy”.
There were difficult moments, as in any language. The consonant before E causes difficulties: for some reason everyone thinks that it is hard, as in Ukrainian: “Ploshcha NEzalEzhnatsi”, “peramoga”. It takes quite a long time to retrain. The second point is a hard H, they strive to say it softly. And there are no problems with the fricative G, although initially it seems to everyone that there will be.
They begin to understand Belarusian well after two months of studying, but they do not begin to speak for a long time - they are afraid of Trasyanka. It turned out to be a more difficult language barrier than with English or French. There you wait for the moment when you have enough vocabulary, but here you can almost immediately start making Belarusian sounds - and everyone will understand you. There is no need to overcome misunderstandings; there is a need to make Belarusian more pure, reducing the share of Russian.
“IF THEY ARE SUDDENLY SPEAKING BELARUSIAN IN BELARUS, IT WILL BE EXACTLY TRASYANKA”
- Is Trasyanka evil or not?
Last year I translated an article by a German linguist who has been studying Trasyanka for many years. He wrote that Trasyanka is a step towards general Belarusianization: if the political situation in Belarus suddenly changes so much that Belarusians start speaking Belarusian, then the output will not be such a pure language, but a mixed one, more like Trasyanka. Literary Belarusian will remain as a target language, but it will be the intermediate language. Therefore, it is wrong to spread rot on those who speak it. It may not sound prestigious to our ears, but this is our “admirable trot”, and we should treat it favorably.
Did you show them the famous poem “Vetraz” by Sergei Grakhovsky, in which there is not a single word understandable to Russians?
An ordinary literary text with artistic descriptions works even better when a huge number of mismatched words appear among the understandable ones. In the case of “Vetrazem”, you might think: “Oh, he sat down on purpose and chose such words, this can be done in any language.”
And when you give an arbitrary text, which for the most part can be understood, but every third word is incomprehensible, it becomes clear that Belarusian is still not at all the same as Russian. By the way, once I needed to translate the word “pamyarkoўnasts”, I lost my mind! In the end, he explained it as a mixture of “humble, accommodating and pliable.” A very specific word.
“BELARUSIAN TEXTBOOK SAILED ON A SHIP FROM INDIA”
Anton speaks English, French, German, Italian and Polish well. Slightly worse - Arabic, Bulgarian, Maltese, I once learned Swedish:
If you know three or four Slavic languages, then you can more or less understand the rest, at least in writing. I’m embarrassed to admit, but when I was at school, I didn’t like Belarusian. It was difficult to learn, he spoke much worse than Russian, and I didn’t like reading it. My interest arose after a trip to the International Russian Language Summer School, when I saw how foreign schoolchildren - French, Italians, Koreans, Macedonians - spoke Russian. For the first time this feeling appeared: we have our own language, separate! Plus, the move had an impact - here you acutely feel that you are different, that your language is different. I began to read Belarusian, develop - and brought the language to the level that I was able to teach and even write a self-instruction manual.
- Self-instruction manual?
It was ordered by the Living Language publishing house, which publishes a whole series. I almost refused, but then I thought that they could offer it to someone who is really bad at it, and I agreed - they’ll write some nonsense! I'm better off. I always wanted to correct errors in existing textbooks and manuals, but at the same time it seemed that this should be done by authors for whom the language is native, who have spoken it all their lives.
The work took a little over six months (including breaks for five years). The book has 224 pages. There are several pictures that I drew myself (they turned out so bad that they decided to leave them). Everything in Belarusian is written in red, and everything in Russian is written in black.
I immediately decided that he would describe not how it should be, but how it really is. For example, the dictionary says that a driver is “vadzitsel”, but almost everyone says “kiroўtsa”. This is the only tutorial that tells you that in addition to the official form of the language, there is an unofficial one, and that the same words in them can be translated differently (for example, “shpatsyr” and “pragulka”).
Interesting fact: the book has traveled more coolly than I have! The publisher prints them in India - it’s cheaper. Then they are loaded onto a ship (along with the Belarusian language, self-teachers of the Kazakh, Ukrainian, and Kyrgyz languages sailed) and sent to Hamburg. Then they are reloaded and sent around Scandinavia to Murmansk. And from there by train to Moscow.
- How did you even get to Moscow?
Through the university. In the 11th grade, I struggled for a long time: I wanted to work with languages (and preferably also with programming). Dad discovered a suitable specialty in Russian universities - “Theoretical and Applied Linguistics.” I graduated from the Russian State University for the Humanities, now I live in Moscow and teach at two universities - the Institute of Linguistics of the Russian State University for the Humanities and the School of Philology of the Higher School of Economics. I am also a researcher there.
Books of different genres. At school we read books about the difficult lot of the people, about the war, about the villagers. And in the seventh grade, my dad slipped me a book by Ales Yakimovich “Eldarada Ask for Help.” I thought: amazing, science fiction in Belarusian? How amazing!
Then I began to read books describing modern reality. I came across Alena Brava’s book “Kamendantsky Hour for Lastavaks”: about a woman who married a Cuban and went to Cuba. Thanks to her, the attitude “Belarusian literature is about the Belarusian village, and about everything else is in Russian” was broken.
Modern literature, in which your contemporaries speak Belarusian, is a greater step towards language than admiration for the unattainable level of language of classical writers. And when it is completed, then you can enjoy the beauty of the language: for example, I really love Bykov. Recently I have been reading Belarusian translations - “Oliver Twist”, two volumes of “Sherlock Holmes”, “The Call of Cthulhu”.
Anton's next step is to release an audio supplement to the tutorial.
It is difficult to learn Belarusian phonetics without examples, so last summer my friends and I voiced all the dialogues from the tutorial. Now we need to find time to put them together and post them.
Do Russians need to know Belarusian in order to survive in the country, and how do they feel about it - they asked, believe it or not, Russians.
IRINA
writer, journalist
“TRASYANKA HAS ITS OWN CHARM: IT IS RARELY LIVING SPEECH”
I have been living in Belarus for 7 years now and have noticed that it is usually the norm when a person speaks Russian and is answered in Belarusian, and vice versa. In my opinion, in a country with two official languages, this situation is quite harmonious and does not bother anyone. The languages are related, so a lot of things are intuitive to me, and if I don’t know the meaning of a particularly tricky word, then I don’t hesitate to ask or look in the dictionary.
The Belarusian language is very melodic, melodious, and I really like the construction of phrases. I can pronounce a few phrases in Belarusian, but Trasyanka drags me on. By the way, it has its own charm: it turns out to be an extremely lively speech. It’s easier for me to write in Belarusian than to speak, but I understand it by ear almost one hundred percent.
Like any language, Belarusian has its own non-equivalent vocabulary - charming, pithy words. They fascinate me; some have been written into my speech forever. However, I easily borrow words from any Slavic languages, since I studied Czech and Bulgarian at school.
I think that if a person who has received citizenship in Belarus knows at least one state language, that is enough. For most, speech skills are still not the main thing; they are required by people of certain professions. It is not so important whether a baker or a carpenter knows any language: they do not chat - they work.
What worries me more is that Belarusians are abandoning their folk instruments: pipes, zhaleks and ocarinas. For example, in Minsk there is only one class in a single music school where these instruments can be mastered. The situation with folk dances is also deplorable, but I find Belarusian dance incredibly beautiful. Perhaps someone will argue with me, but culture is not limited to movo, potato pancakes and embroidered shirts.
TATIANA
student
“Can you do it in Russian?”
I moved to Belarus in 2011. A few months before, I had already been to Minsk and immediately fell in love with this city! At the new school, my class teacher became a Belarusian language teacher. It was thanks to her that I fell in love with language. I remember at the very first lesson we were asked to open the letters, but I sat there and couldn’t breathe. Marina Vladimirovna asks: “Tatstsyana, are you okay?” - and I smile, clap my eyes and whisper: “Can I do it in Russian?”
Over time, my vocabulary grew, I was even entrusted with leading an evening of the Belarusian language. I approached this event very responsibly. It was interesting to study the language. Sometimes I even asked my friends to speak Belarusian to me.
The combination of “dz” and fricative sounds were not new to me, since I am from the Bryansk region, and this is an area on the border with Belarus. The intonation of speech was unusual. She looks like a wave. Belarusians seem to sing sentences without paying attention to punctuation. Closer to the point, the intonation, instead of going down, suddenly tends to go up. But over time, this barrier was erased. Now, when I visit Russia, it’s unusual for me to hear the clarity of rising and falling tones in speech.
I am ashamed that my command of the Belarusian language is not good enough. But I will definitely fix it! Now I am studying at the Faculty of Philology, and Belarusian begins with the next semester.
ILYA
sound engineer and sound engineer
“THE LANGUAGE IS SO BEAUTIFUL AND MELODIC. IT’S A PITY THAT IT’S GRADUALLY GOING OUT OF CARE”
I’ve been to Belarus many times, and I’m planning to move to you in the near future. I have never experienced any difficulties associated with the language barrier here. True, I did not immediately begin to understand the announcer in public transport, some signs and pointers. But I quickly got used to it and got the hang of it. Now I more or less speak the Belarusian language: I understand it well, but there is no conversational practice. I can read it, but my accent is terrible. I would really like to learn Belarusian, this language is so beautiful and melodic. It's a pity that it is gradually going out of use.
I believe that every citizen of the country should speak their native language. It is not necessary to use it in everyday speech, this is everyone’s business, but it is important to know at least minimally. It seems to me that one of the problems is that in addition to the purely Belarusian language, you have Trasyanka and Tarashkevitsa. Sometimes the same word can have several spellings: stsyag - syag, Minsk - Mensk. As I understand it, the opposition uses Tarashkevitsa, which causes a lot of controversy.
I think language should be perceived first and foremost as a means of communication, so I have a positive attitude towards bilingualism in Belarus. After all, it is thanks to this that we understand each other. If someone is comfortable speaking Russian, please, kali pa-Belaruska - dachshund kali laska.
VICTORIA
student
“Bilingualism does not allow the development of language conflict”
I moved to Belarus in 2010 and experienced great difficulties in Belarusian lessons at school, as I had to learn the language from scratch. Now I speak a little language, I can understand what people say. Of course, you need to respect the traditions and customs of the country in which you live. But since I don’t encounter a language barrier here, I’m not going to go deeper into studying the Belarusian language. Although I like Belarusian for its melody and some simplicity in spelling. However, compared to Russian, it has fewer synonyms, so at school I did not always have enough words when writing essays.
I believe that the presence of two state languages in Belarus unites people and does not allow the development of a language conflict. But at the same time, it upsets me that very few Belarusians speak their native language.
Photo: from the personal archive of heroes.
In Belarus at the moment there is generally no natural Belarusian-speaking environment, observers note. You can spend the whole day in Minsk and hear the Belarusian language only in transport when stops are announced. A DW correspondent wondered whether young Belarusians have a chance to learn the Belarusian language and whether a school course is enough for this?
Schools- Russians and Belarusians
According to the standards of the Ministry of Education, Belarusian-language schools are those that have at least one class taught in the Belarusian language. As Yulia Vysotskaya, press secretary of the Ministry of Education, explained to DW, such schools in Belarus are almost half (1,419) of the total number of secondary educational institutions (3,063) - schools, gymnasiums and lyceums.
Department officials will summarize the data as of the beginning of the current academic year in mid-September. And last year, according to official statistics, 128,566 people studied in Belarusian-language schools, and about a million in Russian-language schools. This difference in the number of students is explained by the fact that there are more schools teaching in the Belarusian language in rural areas, but there are few students in them.
In everyday life, citizens of the country call Belarusian only those schools where all subjects are taught in Belarusian from the first to the final grade, and where all school staff communicate with children and parents in Belarusian. And only in such schools can one fully master the literary language, believes linguist Vintsuk Vecherko, pointing out that the vast majority of children study in Russian schools.
In addition to statistics for the country as a whole, this is confirmed by the situation in the capital of two million: in Minsk there are 5 gymnasiums with the Belarusian language of instruction, and in another 5 schools there are separate Belarusian classes in which all subjects are taught in the Belarusian language. In total, there are 138 such classes in the city. Belarusian classes, Vysotskaya explained, are opened based on requests from parents: for this, at least 20 people are needed who want to study in the Belarusian language.
Language standards and proportions
The program and methods of teaching the Belarusian language today are virtually the same in all types of schools, but students of Russian schools are not given the skills of a living language, pronunciation, or thematic vocabulary, notes linguist Vecherko. As a result, as he puts it, those who do master a living spoken language do so not thanks to school, but to an alternative cultural space - primarily the Internet, rock music and enthusiasts who organize courses, festivals and everything that creates an environment for communication in Belarusian.
Today in Belarus there is a single state standard for textbooks and the number of teaching hours in the subjects studied. So, in the first grade of Russian schools there are six hours of Russian language and literature per week, and one of Belarusian. In Belarusian it’s the other way around. Then the number of hours evens out. But this does not matter, Vecherko believes, because in Russian schools all subjects, except the Belarusian language and literature, are taught in Russian, Belarusian is just one of the subjects that can actually be mastered at the level of a foreign language.
With the difference, adds Vladimir Kolas, director of the Belarusian Humanitarian Lyceum, that learning English or Chinese is promising, because it can be useful in life. But learning Belarusian is unprofitable, unpromising, and sometimes dangerous due to associations with opposition activities. In addition, in Belarusian schools, Vecherko continues, teachers of physics, mathematics or foreign languages often refuse to teach in Belarusian because they were not taught this at university. You can count the number of physical education and labor training teachers who teach lessons in Belarusian on one hand.
The line to get into the Belarusian school has been long since night
The proportion of students in Russian and Belarusian, according to Vysotskaya, corresponds to the real language situation in the country: although in surveys the majority of its citizens indicate Belarusian as their native language, in everyday life they speak Russian. This situation, Kolas notes, is the result of the authorities’ support for the historically established situation: “It’s as if the language policy of the Russian Empire, on which Belarus was in colonial dependence for several centuries, continues.”
Meanwhile, competition for admission to the few Minsk gymnasiums teaching in the Belarusian language is growing year by year, parents state. To enroll their children in the 1st grade of the 23rd Minsk gymnasium, parents line up overnight, and last year not everyone was able to get in, Kristina Vitushko, chairman of the board of trustees and mother of a 13-year-old student at this gymnasium, tells DW.
Context
She explains that first of all, the gymnasium is obliged to admit children according to universal education - a system preserved from Soviet times, when each school was assigned a certain district of the city. The gymnasium building is old, small, there are only two first grades, and those who simply happen to be higher on the list of applicants have priority when enrolling in the school.
Why don’t parents push for the opening of Belarusian classes?
Igor Palynsky, leader of the rock band Sumarok, chairman of the Polotsk city branch of the Francisk Skorina Belarusian Language Society, is also confident that there is a demand for education in the Belarusian language. “This is confirmed by resonant stories when parents sought to open Belarusian-language classes for almost one child. But the problem is that even among those who want their children to study in Belarusian, there are few initiative people,” complains Palynsky.
Kristina Vitushko looks at the situation differently: opening Belarusian classes is not a solution to the problem. She explains the advantage of Belarusian schools over Belarusian-speaking classes in Russian schools: “What is important is not the sign at the gymnasium, but the fact that the nurse, physical education teacher, and other teachers speak Belarusian, that the child will be answered in their native language in the cafeteria, so that there are no stress barriers in time for extracurricular activities - in a word, so that there is a comfortable language environment. In Russian schools there is none."
See also:
Watch video 02:39
World of Tanks from Belarus at the Gamescom exhibition in Cologne (08/26/2017)
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From Moscow - to Minsk
The series of photographs "Moscow-Minsk" is a long-term project by photographers Sandra Ratkovic and André Fischer. The main task of German photographers is to correctly understand and document the culture in the post-Soviet space.
Photo gallery: Moscow and Minsk through the eyes of German photographers
Time ago
Sandra Ratkowitz and Andre Fischer became interested in Russia and Belarus three years ago: then the young photographers were photographing monuments of Soviet architecture in Berlin. “In many places, time seemed to stand still,” Ratkowitz shared her impressions in an interview with DW. A few years later, the photographers decided on a new journey. The camera lens captured architectural monuments of Moscow and Minsk.
Photo gallery: Moscow and Minsk through the eyes of German photographers
Militarism in detail
During the two-week trip, the photographers were most struck by the militarism that has penetrated into all spheres of life of Russians and Belarusians. The photo shows a souvenir shop in Moscow.
Photo gallery: Moscow and Minsk through the eyes of German photographers
Two weeks in the capital
“Choosing Moscow as the first stage of the trip was the right decision. After visiting the capital, the desire to see other Russian cities immediately appears. In addition, Moscow contains important architectural monuments and the Central Museum of the Great Patriotic War,” explained Andre Fischer.
Photo gallery: Moscow and Minsk through the eyes of German photographers
Summer walk
Visitors to one of the largest walking areas in the capital - Izmailovsky Park in Moscow.
Photo gallery: Moscow and Minsk through the eyes of German photographers
Flowered weapons
“It was very interesting to observe the military and everyday culture in Moscow and Minsk. In Germany, you rarely see a bride and groom taking pictures against the backdrop of the Eternal Flame,” said Sandra Ratkowitz. In the photo there are cannons in the Gzhel and Khokhloma style.
Photo gallery: Moscow and Minsk through the eyes of German photographers
Spectacular buildings
Photographers describe Moscow as an amazing city: “It attracts with its numerous historical sites and impressive architecture: old churches, buildings in the style of socialist realism, the Moscow metro.”
Photo gallery: Moscow and Minsk through the eyes of German photographers
Next stop - Minsk
It was no coincidence that Andre Fischer ended up in the Belarusian capital: “After language courses at a linguistic university, I had the opportunity to spend a whole month in Minsk to immerse myself in the local culture and everyday life. Much in this city resembles Moscow, only in a smaller format.”
Photo gallery: Moscow and Minsk through the eyes of German photographers
Tankman's Day
While in Minsk, Andre Fischer saw an unusual performance. Tankman's Day is a professional holiday, which since 1946 has been celebrated annually in Belarus on the second Sunday of September.
Officials in Minsk talk about the need to know the Belarusian language, but learning it in the country's schools is not so easy.
You can spend the whole day in Minsk and hear the Belarusian language only in transport when stops are announced. The correspondent was looking into whether young Belarusians have a chance to learn the Belarusian language and whether a school course is enough for this?
Schools - Russian and Belarusian
According to the standards of the Ministry of Education, Belarusian-language schools are those that have at least one class taught in the Belarusian language. As Yulia Vysotskaya, press secretary of the Ministry of Education, explained to DW, such schools in Belarus are almost half (1,419) of the total number of secondary educational institutions (3,063) - schools, gymnasiums and lyceums.
Department officials will summarize the data as of the beginning of the current academic year in mid-September. And last year, according to official statistics, 128,566 people studied in Belarusian-language schools, and about a million in Russian-language schools. This difference in the number of students is explained by the fact that there are more schools teaching in the Belarusian language in rural areas, but there are few students in them.
In everyday life, citizens of the country call Belarusian only those schools where all subjects are taught in Belarusian from the first to the final grade, and where all school staff communicate with children and parents in Belarusian. And only in such schools can one fully master the literary language, believes linguist Vintsuk Vecherko, pointing out that the vast majority of children study in Russian schools.
In addition to statistics for the country as a whole, this is confirmed by the situation in the capital of two million: in Minsk there are 5 gymnasiums with the Belarusian language of instruction, and in another 5 schools there are separate Belarusian classes in which all subjects are taught in the Belarusian language. In total, there are 138 such classes in the city. Belarusian classes, Vysotskaya explained, are opened based on requests from parents: for this, at least 20 people are needed who want to study in the Belarusian language.
Language standards and proportions
The program and methods of teaching the Belarusian language today are virtually the same in all types of schools, but students of Russian schools are not given the skills of a living language, pronunciation, or thematic vocabulary, notes linguist Vecherko. As a result, as he puts it, those who do master a living spoken language do so not thanks to school, but to an alternative cultural space - primarily the Internet, rock music and enthusiasts who organize courses, festivals and everything that creates an environment for communication in Belarusian.
Today in Belarus there is a single state standard for textbooks and the number of teaching hours in the subjects studied. So, in the first grade of Russian schools there are six hours of Russian language and literature per week, and one of Belarusian. In Belarusian it’s the other way around. Then the number of hours evens out. But this does not matter, Vecherko believes, because in Russian schools all subjects, except the Belarusian language and literature, are taught in Russian, Belarusian is just one of the subjects that can actually be mastered at the level of a foreign language.
With the difference, adds Vladimir Kolas, director of the Belarusian Humanitarian Lyceum, that learning English or Chinese is promising, because it can be useful in life. But learning Belarusian is unprofitable, unpromising, and sometimes dangerous due to associations with opposition activities. In addition, in Belarusian schools, Vecherko continues, teachers of physics, mathematics or foreign languages often refuse to teach in Belarusian because they were not taught this at university. You can count the number of physical education and labor training teachers who teach lessons in Belarusian on one hand.
The line to get into the Belarusian school has been long since night
The proportion of students in Russian and Belarusian, according to Vysotskaya, corresponds to the real language situation in the country: although in surveys the majority of its citizens indicate Belarusian as their native language, in everyday life they speak Russian. This situation, Kolas notes, is the result of the authorities’ support for the historically established situation: “It’s as if the language policy of the Russian Empire, on which Belarus was in colonial dependence for several centuries, continues.”
Meanwhile, competition for admission to the few Minsk gymnasiums teaching in the Belarusian language is growing year by year, parents state. To enroll their children in the 1st grade of the 23rd Minsk gymnasium, parents line up overnight, and last year not everyone was able to get in, Kristina Vitushko, chairman of the board of trustees and mother of a 13-year-old student at this gymnasium, tells DW.
She explains that first of all, the gymnasium is obliged to admit children according to universal education - a system preserved from Soviet times, when each school was assigned a certain district of the city. The gymnasium building is old, small, there are only two first grades, and those who simply happen to be higher on the list of applicants have priority when enrolling in the school.
Why don’t parents push for the opening of Belarusian classes?
Igor Palynsky, leader of the rock band Sumarok, chairman of the Polotsk city branch of the Francisk Skorina Belarusian Language Society, is also confident that there is a demand for education in the Belarusian language. “This is confirmed by resonant stories when parents sought to open Belarusian-language classes for almost one child. But the problem is that even among those who want their children to study in Belarusian, there are few initiative people,” complains Palynsky.
Kristina Vitushko looks at the situation differently: opening Belarusian classes is not a solution to the problem. She explains the advantage of Belarusian schools over Belarusian-speaking classes in Russian schools: “What is important is not the sign at the gymnasium, but the fact that the nurse, physical education teacher, and other teachers speak Belarusian, that the child will be answered in their native language in the cafeteria, so that there are no stress barriers in time for extracurricular activities - in a word, so that there is a comfortable language environment. In Russian schools there is none."
I learning Belarusian language. What will compiling a personal dictionary give me?
A personal dictionary is a list of words you want to learn, with translations in Belarusian language.
You can make one large list of words for all occasions or create several lists (dictionaries) by topic so that you can learn them later.
For example, a list of words that you need when visiting a restaurant (or a bank, or playing sports, etc.)
It is important that you have the opportunity to compile a vocabulary only from those phrases and expressions that you need to learn.
You don't waste time and effort learning words you don't need.
How to make a list of words (my dictionary)?
Just enter a word in the left field and in a few seconds you will see its translation in Belarusian language.
Attention! Several meanings are searched until the program selects the most adequate translation of your word.
It may take a few seconds to find the correct translation. Don't be scared!
Moreover, if you don’t like this translation, you can enter your own!
After saving the dictionary, a card will appear for each word added to it, in which you can enter your comment and even your photo for this word, which will make the learning process more diverse and interesting, and at the same time, thanks to this, more productive!
How many dictionaries (lists of words) can you create?
How many you want! It all depends on what is more convenient for you learn words– one large dictionary or several small ones devoted to different topics.
Why compile a dictionary?
You make a list of words with translation into Belarusian language, so that later on our website you can check your knowledge of these words online.
The very process of compiling a dictionary already contributes to its memorization.
And then you take tests on it on our website.
Tests can be taken both from Russian into the language being studied, and vice versa.
If you entered the wrong translation of a word, our site will tell you the correct one and even show you a picture. So there is a high probability that next time you will not forget it.
Thanks to this, the testing process itself becomes quite fun and even exciting, because then the results of statistical processing are still waiting for you.
And all this is completely free!
The Belarusian language (Belarusian language) is part of the group of East Slavic languages.
The state language of the Republic of Belarus. It is spoken by about seven million people.
In Belarus there is also such a phenomenon as “trasyanka”. This is a spoken language, which represents the existence of various intermediate forms between Belarusian,
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