"Dyevushka!"
It's probably one of the first phrases foreigners learn upon arriving in the Russian-speaking world, although many probably don't give much thought to what they are actually saying. Who cares? As long as one of the many pleasant young ladies who labor in Ukraine's service industry responds, right? Well, if you prefer to live in the linguistic shadows, don't read any further.
On the other hand, if you are wondering why we are discussing Russian in Ukraine, where the official language is Ukrainian, listen more closely as you stroll down Khreshchatyk: Both languages are spoken and mixed as the locals like. I, for one, am not about to tell them how they should speak.
Having said this, you aren't likely to hear, "Divchina!" [Дівчина](the Ukrainian equivalent) in a Kyiv cafe. I welcome all arguments to the contrary, but what I hear (as a Ukrainian Observer) is "Pereproshuyu" [Перепрошую] or "Excuse me."
So how do you translate the word "dyevushka" [девушка]? The fact is that she is neither a woman nor a girl, but (in the strictest sense) a female of childbearing age who hasn't had a child yet. This isn't strange for most European languages, like the Spanish 'senorita' or French 'mademoiselle.' However, we English speakers don't care for such explicit referrals to reproduction in our speech.
The English equivalent used to be 'maiden' or 'maid,' which still exists in denoting the woman who cleans your house (although she's usually not so young anymore) and in the job title, 'barmaid,' who often has the same social status as our dyevushka.
But again, we English speakers have done everything in our power to eradicate sex from our language and we don't like to think in these terms. First, we dropped gender and, following the feminist movement, creating the sterile title "Ms" so that no one knows whether our females are married or not.
Linguistically castrated as we are, however, we have no problems with getting a stranger's attention in a polite way. For Russian speakers, the task is more awkward.
For example, what do you do if the female you are addressing looks as though she's no stranger to childbirth? In fact, she may be toting two rug rats under her arms at the very moment you want to get her attention.
Well, first, it should be made clear that Russian speakers aren't really that interested in determining a woman's reproductive history before addressing her. If she's under 40 or looks like she wants to be seen as such, call her "dyevushka," for heaven's sake. If she has a matronly appearance and looks like she would be more inclined to scold a man rather than to flirt with him, then you may risk calling her "zhenshchina" [женщина] (woman) although it often sounds just as awkward as it does in English.
If we Anglos want to be nice, we can call our females (regardless of age or reproductive status) "Ladies." Imagine: Two brawny housewives from a Detroit housing project get into a scrap during an intense bingo session, and the security guard tries to separate them, repeating the word "Ladies!" every five seconds.
The equivalent of "lady" in Russian, "Damy," [Дамы] is not used nearly as often, though perhaps it should be.
Even more interesting in the Russian-language world are the other age groups. The word "babushka," [бабушка] for example, is also very familiar to foreign travelers, but it doesn't mean "old woman" as many think. It means "grandmother," and you don't have to be related to use it. Having said this, most native speakers use it in the third person: "I bought a pack of smokes from the babushka." Nevertheless, if she looks like a simple woman (poor or from a village), many will say to her face: "Babushka, give me a pack of Marlboros."
For the foreigner, keep in mind that this approach is coarse, and depending on the situation and the woman you are speaking to, potentially rude.
Continuing along the family tree, you also can refer to a woman as "tyotya" [тетя] or "aunt". Even more so than with babushkas, you don't often say it to their faces. Moreover, roughly speaking, all females can be descriptively referred to as either "devochkas" [девочки] (girls), "devushkas" [девушки] (young ladies), tyotyas [тети] (not so young) and babushkas.
There is, of course, a whole slew of other names by which men (and sometimes women) refer to females - most of them are indelicate, if not insulting. Baba [баба] (broad), telka [телка] (literally, "hefer"), devka [девка] (wench - only nastier and without the cute medieval association that it has in English), korova [корова] (literally, "cow" and more often used by women) and devitsya [девица] (girly - not nasty, but definitely disrespectful).
Now let's turn to the men. Basically the system here runs parallel to the one for women. You are either a granddad (dedushka) [дедушка], uncle (dyadya) [дядя], young man (molodoy chelovek) [молодой человек] or boy (malchik) [мальчик]. Like with the female titles, I wouldn't recommend you calling a silver-haired gentleman a "dedushka' or "dyed' [дед] to his face. He would be even more sensitive than a babushka to this form of address.
As far as the word "dyadya" goes, if you are older than 25, you could easily be addressed as such by a confident, but by no means aggressive, Russian-speaking teenager. You would address him, in return, as "malchik," just to show him who is boss.
Most 30-something foreign men really get a treat in this part of the world by being called "molodoy chelovek," and not just by old grannies. To the Russian mind, if you aren't clearly over 40 (and therefore fat, bald and cynical), you still deserve to be called a young man.
The word muzhchyna [мужчина] (man) is also used awkwardly if the person you are addressing is too old for 'molodoy chelovek' and two young for 'dedushka.' In addition, it carries as much if not more of the macho trappings as the word 'man' does in English: A real man is strong, confident and responsible.
One female acquaintance described men who don't act like real men as 'samtsy' [самцы] or 'males,' which, unlike in English, is only used to refer to animals.
The parallel holds true for the word 'malchik' or 'boy.' It can mean he's still green and wet behind the ears, or be used in a friendly sense, as in, "Let's go, boys."
You would never hear the word 'muzhchyna' being used like the word 'man' is sometimes used in English: "Hey man, do you have a light?"
However, there seems to be a disproportionate number of words for younger men: The word 'paren' [парень] seems to mean just a little younger than a molodoy chelovek. And 'patsan' [пацан] comes pretty close to the English "kid," except it doesn't refer to little nippers.
There is also no equivalent for the English 'guy,' which can refer to anyone who is male. At some point, the Russian speaker would feel obliged to define whether he's talking about a 'dyadya' (which can be used with a pretty broad range of ages) or a 'malchik.'
There is also the word 'muzhik' [мужик] which means he's a regular guy (i.e. not some fancy pants). It used to distinguish the peasant from the lord in tsarist times.
On that score, I'm sure that many an English speaker has wondered how he should address a man of respect. You know his name is Ivan Ivanov, and your dictionary tells you that mister is translated as Gospodin Ivanov, but somehow it doesn't sound right.
The answer to this dilemma is the patronymic, that strange second name that Russian-speakers use. It denotes the name of the father, but that's not really the point. Instead of calling someone
Mr. Ivanov, you would call him Ivan Ivanovich (without the last name), Which means John, son of John. You definitely wouldn't call him Gospodin Ivanov, though Russian speakers almost never correct foreigners who do.
Gospodin [Господин] has a tsarist smack to it and literally means something like 'master.' Back then, you were a gospodin, a muzhik or the Tsar. The title quickly went out of style under the Soviets, who wanted everyone to be called 'tovaryshch' [товарищ] (comrade). Today, both are used ironically.
Confused? You aren't alone. During initial meetings, men in suits will often invite me into their offices using phrases like "Pan John" (Ukrainian for Gospodin) or "Meester Marone." If you're at a loss, just say "Izvinite" [Извините] to get someone's attention or "Pozhalusta" [Пожалуйста] (please) to offer them yours.
John Marone is chief editor of Willard News Service.
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