The Russian Word's Worth - Softcover

Michele A. Berdy, a resident of Moscow for the better part of the last 33
years, is the author of the popular weekly column "The Word's Worth" in The
Moscow Times. She is a translator with several books, hundreds of articles
and short stories to her credit, and specializes in subtitling feature and
documentary films. She has co-authored a Russian-English dictionary and been
the lead or sole writer of four books about Moscow, St. Petersburg and
Russia. Her articles on culture, current events and various aspects of
intercultural communication appear in the Russian and English-language
press.

Michele Berdy
The Russian Word s Worth
A humorous and informative guide to the Russian language, culture and translation
With an introduction, eight thematic chapters, and a subject index

Since 2002, readers all over the world have been enjoying and learning from Michele A. Berdy s column The Word s Worth in The Moscow Times. A quirky, opinionated, sometimes hilarious and yet always thoughtful and authoritative guide, Berdy looks at Russia s changing culture, politics, and daily life through language and the art of translation. She explores the language of popular and youth culture, politics, the workplace, culture high and low, and the comical struggle of expats trying to feel at home in a foreign language and culture.
The Russian Word s Worth is essential reading for students and teachers of Russian, translators, Russia-watchers, foreigners in Moscow, and anyone who wants to understand Russia today.

Praise from leading translators:

For those of us in the States dealing with contemporary Russian Michele Berdy's columns are so good, they've become addictive, providing in-depth insight into what's new, what's different, and what's stayed the same in today's language. Her insider knowledge of how Russians actually speak is second to no one's. If I can't be on the streets of Moscow or Petersburg myself, at least I have Michele Berdy to be my eyes and ears. -- Marian Schwartz

Michele Berdy is to the Russian language what Julia Child was to French cooking: the same juicy, humorous approach, the same demystification of a daunting subject, the same message that if I can do this, so can you ." -- Joanne Turnbull

Michele has a truly unique gift for articulating the difficulties that
Russians and English-speakers encounter while trying to understand each
other's worlds. Her work is as entertaining as it is profound, and it will
prove equally useful to beginning students and to advanced professionals. Robert Chandler