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How would you translate "coming out" into Russian?

I'm working with a website related to homosexuality and coming out and I need to translate the concept of "coming out of the closet" into Russian. Multitran suggest выйти из тени, публично заявить (аналогия со шкафом, потому что дети прячутся в…
styopa78
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Russian pronunciation of /etc (a directory)

Abstracting from the fact that it is usually pronounced as in English, how should the /etc directory be pronounced in Russian? I was under the impression that since it transliterates to /етц, it should be pronounced "ye te tse". That's the way…
Damian
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Can you use "едать" and "игрывать" in the present and future tenses?

There is a big conflict between what I was taught here in Japan and what is written in most Russian grammar sources, and I am very curious what the native speakers have to say about it. I am especially eager to hear responses to one very specific…
Mitsuko
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Moving the subject of the sentence into a dangling participle

When I do homework to be later read by the teachers, I sometimes like to show off by using rare forms that I have learned by deeply studying Russian. It is always fun, especially as the assistant professor is not a native Russian speaker and…
Mitsuko
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Animate nouns - how to detect them without knowledge of Accusative

There is a well-known rule that a masculine noun is animate if its Accusative form has a non-zero ending. However, I haven't noticed this information to be mentioned in dictionaries... Maybe I just don't know what each part of a dictionary article…
petajamaja
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"А так — да, ..." или "А так, да — ..."

Вопрос по пунктуации. Рассмотрим короткий диалог: — Впредь нужно ориентироваться на анонсы трансляций? — Сегодня будет трансляция в первом зале. А так — да, ориентируйтесь на анонсы. Как правильно ставить тире и запятую: А так — да,…
Dmitry Frank
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Этимология слова «аист» / etymology of “аист” (stork)

Считается, что в русском языке нет исконных слов, начинающихся на букву «А». Как объяснить этимологию слова «аист», явно отличающуюся от лексем в родственных языках? бел. бусел укр. лелека русин. бузёк / чорногуз / боцан польск. bocian словацк.…
Manjusri
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Which syllable is stressed in комплексный?

I looked in a couple of dictionaries, and they claim that комплексный is stressed on o - кóмплексный. However, when it comes to complex numbers in math, most of the professors at my university (many of whom are Russian in fact) stress е -…
Armen Tsirunyan
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Dimitry vs Dmitry, "не писала в письмах ъ", text from around 1900

I am slightly confused by this sentence: Она много читала, не писала в письмах ъ, называла мужа не Дмитрием, а Димитрием, а он втайне считал ее недалекой, узкой, неизящной, боялся ее и не любил бывать дома. (if you are interested it is from…
Tom
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What does the construction "У меня" mean in this joke?

Математик возвращается домой очень уставший, сердитый, и говорит жене: – Какая ты у меня компактная! – Что маленькая и миленькая? – Нет замкнутая и ограниченная. I understand the joke, but I specifically don't understand what "у меня" means in this…
chubbycantorset
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In Russian, how do you say "Old habits die hard"?

Старые привычки дают о себе знать, да? I wonder if this is a commonly used expression to convey the idea of "Old habits die hard"? If an automatic translator is anything to go by, however, it doesn't seem to turn up any example of this…
Con-gras-tue-les-chiens
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When are diminutive forms of time words (e.g., часик, неделька, годик) used?

I was searching the Russian National Corpus recently and in the results I noticed that nouns referring to duration in time are sometimes marked with a diminutive suffix, as in the following examples: Посидела там часик и всё. Я думаю, вам не…
Matt Menzenski
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Talking of historical grade systems, how should I call "отличник"?

In pre-prevoluationary times in Russian gymnasiums there was a 12-level grade system. In Soviet Union, as well as in Russian Federation, schools stand with 5-level grade system, but there is an actively discussed proposal to switch to 10-level…
shabunc
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What are these two words with obsolete letters?

I underlined two words in green. They have obsolete letters that I cannot track down. What are the translations? Context: This is a map legend. The full map is here.
DrZ214
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Pronunciation of 'э'

Should 'э' be pronounced as 'a' in "cat", or 'e' in "net"? Is its pronunciation context dependent? If so what are the rules for its pronunciation?
ctype.h
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