Юбилей: anniversary and party
When you
begin to study a foreign language, at first you are struck by all the
differences — and how wrong all those differences are. I mean, six main cases
in Russian — really? And aspect? You really think I can take the time to figure
out if I’m talking about a habitual or a one-time action before I say when I’m
going to go home tonight (возвращаться or вернуться)? And consonant clusters like in взгляд (view)? Come on, Russian! Give me a break!
And then
slowly but surely something really strange happens. Not only do you get used to
cases and declensions and aspect and tongue-twisting words with seven
syllables… you begin to appreciate the internal logic of Russian. Finally, one
fine day you realize: oh, this is so much better in Russian than in English.
Zing! A
heavenly choir of Russian teachers get their angel wings.
One way
Russian is vastly superior to English is in the language for celebrating
special dates. First of all, there is one multi-purpose verb that is used for
every occasion, from a wedding to a new job to a national holiday: поздравлять (to congratulate). Your
neighbor’s kid graduated from high school? Поздравляю! Your best friends just tied the
knot? Поздравляю! It’s Victory Day, Christmas, New Year’s, International Love-a-Shrimp
Day? Поздравляю! If you want to get fancy, just continue the sentence: Поздравляювас
(literally I congratulate you on…) сДнёмПобеды (Victory
Day), спраздником (holiday), сженитьбой (wedding), or even сразводом (divorce). In English, you have to say something 19th
century like “I congratulate you on the occasion of Victory Day,” or mumble
something 21st century like “Great! Happy holidays! Best wishes! So happy for
you!”
And then
Russian has better words for “anniversary.” The problem with the English word
is its associations with the happy celebration of many years of wedded bliss.
It sounds odd when coupled with the death of a poet or other sad event. Юбилей (jubilee) is mostly used for
happy occasions. It means some variety of anniversary, usually, but not always,
what Russians call круглаядата (a round number, a milestone)
like 10 or 25 years. Сегодня
празднуемюбилей: вэтотдень 25 летназадмысмужемпоженились (Today we’re going to celebrate an anniversary: on this day 25 years
ago my husband and I got married.) And it’s also the celebration itself: Онлюбитходитьврестораны, клубы, на
званыеобеды, юбилеи (He loves to go to restaurants, clubs, dinner
parties and celebrations.)
The other
great word is годовщина,
which can be used for any kind of anniversary. Joyful: Сегодняони
отмечают третью
годовщину их союза (Today they are celebrating the third anniversary of their
union). Mournful: В годовщину Сониной смерти, в октябре, мы поехали на кладбище
(We marked the date of Sonya’s death in October by going to the cemetery.) Or both,
depending on your point of view: Раньше 7 и 8 ноября― годовщинаВеликойОктябрьскойсоциалистическойреволюции (In the past November 7 and 8 marked the Great October
Socialist Revolution).
To be
super-grammatical, say годовщинасмерти, победы, подписания (anniversary of the death, victory, signing) rather
than соднясмерти, победы (from the day of death, victory), and so on.
SoIcansay:
Сегодня пятнадцатая годовщина моей первой рубрики! Ура! (Today marks 15 years since my first column.
Hurray!)
Michele A.
Berdy is a Moscow-based
translator and interpreter, author of “The Russian Word’s Worth,” a collection
of her columns. Follow her on Twitter @MicheleBerdy.