Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Svetlana: Привет всем!
Yura: Yura here! Intermediate Season 1, Lesson 5 - Did You Get a Bad Deal in Russia?
Yura: In the previous lesson, we bought a nice local phone, remember?
Svetlana: Of course, большую память и хороший фотоаппарат
Yura: Yes, a good memory and a camera were the customer’s priorities. But imagine you bought a phone of your dreams and the next day it starts having glitches, or you can’t turn it on at all, what do you do?
Svetlana: I guess I’ll go return it.
Yura: And for that, you’d have to be able to explain the problem.
Svetlana: So why don’t we try to do that today? In this lesson, you’ll learn how to return a product. This conversation takes place in a store.
Yura: The conversation is between a customer and a store clerk.
Svetlana: The speakers are strangers, therefore the speakers will be speaking relatively formal Russian.
Yura: Let's listen to the conversation.
DIALOGUE
Покупатель: Здравствуйте. Два дня назад я купил у Вас фотоаппарат, но я хочу его вернуть.
Продавец: А в чём дело? Вы нашли какой-то брак?
Покупатель: Да, у него нет русского меню, и вспышка работает через раз. И вообще, мне сказали, что это японский фотоаппарат, а на нём написано "сделано в Китае".
Продавец: Хмм... У Вас есть гарантия?
Покупатель: Да, вот гарантия на два года.
Продавец: Тогда обратитесь в наш центр технической поддержки. Там Вам всё починят. И поменяют наклейку на "Сделано в Японии".
Yura: Let’s listen to the conversation one time slowly.
Покупатель: Здравствуйте. Два дня назад я купил у Вас фотоаппарат, но я хочу его вернуть.
Продавец: А в чём дело? Вы нашли какой-то брак?
Покупатель: Да, у него нет русского меню, и вспышка работает через раз. И вообще, мне сказали, что это японский фотоаппарат, а на нём написано "сделано в Китае".
Продавец: Хмм... У Вас есть гарантия?
Покупатель: Да, вот гарантия на два года.
Продавец: Тогда обратитесь в наш центр технической поддержки. Там Вам всё починят. И поменяют наклейку на "Сделано в Японии".
Yura: Let’s listen to the conversation with English translation.
Покупатель: Здравствуйте. Два дня назад я купил у Вас фотоаппарат, но я хочу его вернуть.
Yura: Hello. Two days ago I bought a camera from you, but I want to return it.
Продавец: А в чём дело? Вы нашли какой-то брак?
Yura: What's the matter? You have found a defect?
Покупатель: Да, у него нет русского меню, и вспышка работает через раз. И вообще, мне сказали, что это японский фотоаппарат, а на нём написано "сделано в Китае".
Yura: Yes, it doesn't have a Russian menu, and the flash works only every other time. And besides, I was told that it's a Japanese camera, but it says, "Made in China."
Продавец: Хмм... У Вас есть гарантия?
Yura: Hmm...Do you have a warranty?
Покупатель: Да, вот гарантия на два года.
Yura: Yes, here's my two-year warranty.
Продавец: Тогда обратитесь в наш центр технической поддержки. Там Вам всё починят. И поменяют наклейку на "Сделано в Японии".
Yura: Then contact our support center. You'll have everything fixed there. They can change the sticker to "Made in Japan," too.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
Yura: Is it easy to return goods in Russia?
Svetlana: You know, it depends. When it comes to returning clothes or shoes, you can forget about it. Well, technically you should be able to, but it almost never happens. They will find a thousand reasons to deny you return or exchange.
Yura: What about electronics?
Svetlana: If you have a warranty, they will make everything for you to go and fix your device instead of just exchanging or returning it.
Yura: So I'm guessing if I buy something over the internet and it doesn't work, I shouldn't even try to return it?
Svetlana: It can be hard, even though it might be cheaper. You should be prepared for it and check your device a THOUSAND times in the store before buying it.
Yura: I see. So, let's be careful buying expensive things in Russia. And for now all we need to do is learn the vocabulary for this hypothetical situation or returning things.
VOCAB LIST
Yura: The first word we shall see is...
Svetlana: вернуть [natural native speed]
Yura: return
Svetlana: вернуть [slowly - broken down by syllable] вернуть [natural native speed]
Yura: Next
Svetlana: Брак [natural native speed]
Yura: defect, flaw
Svetlana: Брак [slowly - broken down by syllable] Брак [natural native speed]
Yura: Next
Svetlana: Вспышка [natural native speed]
Yura: flash
Svetlana: Вспышка [slowly - broken down by syllable] Вспышка [natural native speed]
Yura: Next
Svetlana: Через раз [natural native speed]
Yura: every other time
Svetlana: Через раз [slowly - broken down by syllable] Через раз [natural native speed]
Yura: Next
Svetlana: Гарантия [natural native speed]
Yura: guarantee
Svetlana: Гарантия [slowly - broken down by syllable] Гарантия [natural native speed]
John: Next
Svetlana: Обратиться [natural native speed]
Yura: ask, contact
Svetlana: Обратиться [slowly - broken down by syllable] Обратиться [natural native speed]
Yura: Next
Svetlana: Поддержка [natural native speed]
Yura: support
Svetlana: Поддержка [slowly - broken down by syllable] Поддержка [natural native speed]
Yura: Next
Svetlana: Починить [natural native speed]
Yura: fix
Svetlana: Починить [slowly - broken down by syllable] Починить [natural native speed]
Yura: Next
Svetlana: поменять [natural native speed]
Yura: to change
Svetlana: поменять [slowly - broken down by syllable] поменять [natural native speed]
Yura: Next
Svetlana: Наклейка [natural native speed]
Yura: sticker
Svetlana: Наклейка [slowly - broken down by syllable] Наклейка [natural native speed]
VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE
Yura: Let's have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. The first word we had was the most important for our situation – "вернуть".
Svetlana: It means "to return". But you can't use it to talk about yourself, like "to return home", for example. In that case you would need a reflexive verb "вернуться".
Yura: Right, "вернуться домой", for example, would mean "to come back home". But when you return something, an object, you need the verb "вернуть" – "вернуть телефон", "to return a phone".
Svetlana: Yes. The next word we have is "брак", which in our context means "a defect", "a flaw".
Yura: Actually, the word "брак" also means "marriage". And don't ask me why its second meaning is "defect".
Svetlana: Haha Ok, we'll just remember the meanings. Then we had a phrase "через раз", which means "every other time" or "every second time".
Yura: Instead of the word "time" you can also use the words like "day" or "year". For example, через день – every other day. Через год – every other year.
Svetlana: Then we had the word "гарантия", which means "warranty" or "guaranty".
Yura: Гарантия 3 года – a 3 year warranty. You can also use this word as a verb – гарантировать, to guaranty.
Svetlana: Yes. Next we have the verb "обратиться", which is a quite formal version of the word "to ask". For example, "обратиться за помощью", to ask for help.
Yura: In our case it can be translated as "to contact". Обратиться в центр поддержки – to contact a support center, where the word for support is "поддержка".
Svetlana: You can use the word "поддержка" in the phrases like "финансовая поддержка" – financial support, "психологическая поддержка" – psychological or mental support.
Yura: Yeah. And the last word we had is "наклейка", which is "a sticker". In everyday language "наклейка" can also mean "a label". Basically, everything that is sticky is "наклейка".
Svetlana: Great, time to get to the grammar.

Lesson focus

Yura: In the previous lesson, we went over the adjectives in the Accusative Case. Today we will do the same, but in the Genitive Case.
Svetlana: Just like we said in the last lesson, to talk about adjectives we need to start with the nouns, as they will define the properties of the adjectives. So here is a quick reminder for you of
when we use the nouns in the Genitive.
Yura: First, when we talk about the possessions, the possessor will be an object in the Genitive Case. For example, ручка друга – a pen of a friend. "Friend" is the possessor, therefore used in the Genitive Case.
Svetlana: Right, so this case is often translated with the preposition "of" into English.
Yura: Also, the nouns are used in the Genitive when they are used after the words like просить – to ask, хотеть – to want, бояться – to be afraid of and so on.
Svetlana: Right. Also we put the nouns into the Genitive when they come after the phrases "don't have" (for example, у меня нет ручки – I don't have a pen) and "there is/are no" (like, там нет воды – there is no water there)
Yura: Yeah. And it's also used after such prepositions like без – without, для – for, из - from, из-за – because of, кроме – except for, вокруг – around, недалеко от – not far from, and some others.
Svetlana: In the phrase "Кофе без сахара, coffee without sugar, for example, the word "сахар" is used in the Genitive, because it came after the preposition "без".
Yura: Now, when we put a noun into one of the 6 Grammar Cases, we modify its ending. What endings do we get when putting nouns into the Genitive?
Svetlana: If it's a masculine noun, it would end in "а" or "я", like "сахара" in the phrase "кофе без сахара".
Yura: Feminine nouns usually end in "и" or "ы". Книга подруги – a book of a friend, where "подруга" is used in Genitive.
Svetlana: And neuter nouns have the same endings as masculine in the Genitive Case – "а" and "я".
Yura: Ok, that was a reminder of what the Genitive is about. Now, let's take examples from our dialog and work with them.
Svetlana: We had two – нет русского меню – there is no Russian menu, and
центр технической поддержки – a tech support center
Yura: Adjectives that describe the nouns in these phrases are "Russian" and "technical", and they must agree with the nouns in gender, number and Case. What are the endings for the adjectives in the Genitive?
Svetlana: If they describe a masculine or neuter nouns, they will end in "-ого" or "его", as in "красивого". And if it's feminine, it'll end in "ой", like in "красивой".
Yura: Right, so the adjectives that describe the nouns in the phrases from the dialog – "русский" and "техническая" – become "русского" and "технической" after applying the Genitive rules.
Svetlana: In the Lesson Note you will find a comparative table of the examples with the nouns

Outro

Yura: That's it for today. Don't forget to look at the Lesson Note for this lesson, it will definitely clear some things out for you!
Yura: Listeners, do you know the reason flashcards are so popular?
Svetlana: It's because they work!
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Svetlana: Learn vocab using your eyes and ears!
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Svetlana: Master words in your My Wordbank by practicing with Flashcards.
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Svetlana: While you learn to recognize words by sight!
Yura: Go to RussianPod101.com now, and try My Wordbank and Flashcards today! See you next time.
Svetlana: пока!

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