"A yak? A tut tovo... zhidiv-toni ma?"

English translation: А як? ....

01:47 Mar 14, 2004
Ukrainian to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Social Science, Sociology, Ethics, etc.
Ukrainian term or phrase: "A yak? A tut tovo... zhidiv-toni ma?"
Written in a story that takes place in Berlin in the 20s. This quote is overheard being spoken by a Ukrainian nationalist leader in exile. He is staying in a pension with many other exiles/emigrants.
AbuTomek
English translation:А як? ....
Explanation:
А як? А тут тово... жидів-то німа? This phrase is in broken Ukrainian. The person who overheard it is a Russian trying to imitate the Ukrainian speech. 'Tovo' is a Russian word 'того', and particle '-to' is also more Russian than Ukrainian. The word 'nema' (there is none or there are none) is misspelled and broken in two ('ni' and 'ma'). Looks like you have to make lots of spelling mistakes to reproduce the style of the original phrase.

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Note added at 2 hrs 37 mins (2004-03-14 04:24:11 GMT)
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This part of the phrase \'A tut tovo...\' is actually in Russian, not in Ukrainian. The right spelling of this word is \'togo - того\' which is pronounced like \'tavo\'. Maybe the speaker thinks it would sound more Ukrainian if it is written \'tovo\' (because unstressed vowels are not reduced in Ukrainian like they do in Russian).

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Note added at 1 day 3 hrs 55 mins (2004-03-15 05:42:07 GMT)
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The \'sandy regions\', as Mariana said, must be in the South of Ukraine. I think it is somewhere in Kherson region where one of the biggest deserts (some people say the biggest) in Europe is found. Oleshia Sands (Oleshivski pisky) is a sandy region on the left bank of the lower Dnieper River south of Kherson. And Mariana was right that it sounds like the speach of an uneducated person.

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Note added at 1 day 4 hrs 24 mins (2004-03-15 06:11:04 GMT)
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... sorry, speEch of an uneducated person.

Selected response from:

Vladimir Chumak
Australia
Local time: 22:45
Grading comment
Graded automatically based on peer agreement.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer



Summary of answers provided
5 +5А як? ....
Vladimir Chumak
4 +3But how? And what about... mm.. Jews here? I hope absent?
Vassyl Trylis
5 +2Kikes
Alex Zelkind (X)
5below
Vladimir Dubisskiy
1 +1***
Mariana Prokopovych


Discussion entries: 7





  

Answers


11 mins   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5
"A yak? A tut tovo... zhidiv-toni ma?"
below


Explanation:
something like:

Well, are there any Jews here?

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Note added at 1 hr 45 mins (2004-03-14 03:32:33 GMT)
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No problem:
А як? А тут того... жидів-то нема?

In your version (transliterated one) at the end it was screwed a bit.

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Note added at 1 hr 48 mins (2004-03-14 03:35:16 GMT)
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To add, that \'A yak\' sounds a bit off place... it is not needed here at all, you know. Can be a \'conversational peculiarity\' of a speaker (like \'you know\' for instance)

Vladimir Dubisskiy
United States
Local time: 06:45
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian, Native in UkrainianUkrainian
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4 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 4/5Answerer confidence 4/5 peer agreement (net): +3
"A yak? A tut tovo... zhidiv-toni ma?"
But how? And what about... mm.. Jews here? I hope absent?


Explanation:
I suppose "A yak?" (literally "But how?" or "And how?") is somehow related to the preceding text.
The negative form of the question ("nema?") indicates that presence of Jews would be undesirable...
And Chumak is quite right about a Russian "interpretation".

Vassyl Trylis
Local time: 13:45
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in UkrainianUkrainian, Native in RussianRussian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Vladimir Chumak: The meaning is conveyed very accurately
5 hrs

agree  Mariana Prokopovych
15 hrs

agree  Volodymyr Tsapko (X)
1 day 43 mins
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5 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +2
Say...What we've got here... Any kikes?
Kikes


Explanation:
A yak? - so, say, etc.
A tut tovo - what we've got here
Zhidiv-toni ma - zhidiv-to nema - any kikes
"Zhidi" is a derogatory name for Jews

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Note added at 6 hrs 44 mins (2004-03-14 08:31:12 GMT)
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So, the whole phrase in English sounds somewhat like:

Say... What we\'ve got here? Any kikes?

Alex Zelkind (X)
Native speaker of: Native in RussianRussian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Victor Mascov: see above Vladimir Chumak's
1 hr
  -> Да, Владимир дал очень хорошие объяснения

agree  moser.ilja
1 hr
  -> Тода. Хашув мэод лэhадгиш шэhу амар "йехудоним" вэло "йехудим"
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12 hrs   confidence: Answerer confidence 1/5Answerer confidence 1/5 peer agreement (net): +1
***


Explanation:
Agreeing in general with what has been said, I have some observations that might be helpful.

If the speaker comes from Western Ukraine, "тово" sounds more like a dialectal usage rather than Russian contamination, it might be translated with something like "so to say", "well", actually it doesn't have any precise meaning, just a pause in the speech. The same with "А як?" - it is quite common in Western Ukrainian regions for something like "so how?", "so what?". Also "німа" might be of Western Ukrainian dialectal origin. Besides, in case it was a Western Ukrainian speaker, the word "жиди" here surely does not have any derogatory connotation, since it was a neutral word for Jews (like it still is in Polish).

Mariana Prokopovych
Ukraine
Local time: 13:45
Specializes in field
Native speaker of: Native in UkrainianUkrainian

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Vladimir Dubisskiy: agree with possible non-derogatory connotation
3 hrs
  -> thanks!

neutral  Vassyl Trylis: Western Ukr. dialects have, indeed, some similarities with Russian, but in such "density"??? I hear the whole phrase as typically bad Russian imitation of Ukrainian language.
7 hrs
  -> You are right, that was just a wild guess. But still, to my Western Ukrainian ear this does sound a bit like an uneducated Western Ukrainian speech.
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1 hr   confidence: Answerer confidence 5/5 peer agreement (net): +5
"A yak? ......
А як? ....


Explanation:
А як? А тут тово... жидів-то німа? This phrase is in broken Ukrainian. The person who overheard it is a Russian trying to imitate the Ukrainian speech. 'Tovo' is a Russian word 'того', and particle '-to' is also more Russian than Ukrainian. The word 'nema' (there is none or there are none) is misspelled and broken in two ('ni' and 'ma'). Looks like you have to make lots of spelling mistakes to reproduce the style of the original phrase.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 2 hrs 37 mins (2004-03-14 04:24:11 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

This part of the phrase \'A tut tovo...\' is actually in Russian, not in Ukrainian. The right spelling of this word is \'togo - того\' which is pronounced like \'tavo\'. Maybe the speaker thinks it would sound more Ukrainian if it is written \'tovo\' (because unstressed vowels are not reduced in Ukrainian like they do in Russian).

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 3 hrs 55 mins (2004-03-15 05:42:07 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

The \'sandy regions\', as Mariana said, must be in the South of Ukraine. I think it is somewhere in Kherson region where one of the biggest deserts (some people say the biggest) in Europe is found. Oleshia Sands (Oleshivski pisky) is a sandy region on the left bank of the lower Dnieper River south of Kherson. And Mariana was right that it sounds like the speach of an uneducated person.

--------------------------------------------------
Note added at 1 day 4 hrs 24 mins (2004-03-15 06:11:04 GMT)
--------------------------------------------------

... sorry, speEch of an uneducated person.



Vladimir Chumak
Australia
Local time: 22:45
Native speaker of: Native in UkrainianUkrainian, Native in RussianRussian
PRO pts in category: 4
Grading comment
Graded automatically based on peer agreement.

Peer comments on this answer (and responses from the answerer)
agree  Vassyl Trylis: The analysis is absolutely correct.
3 hrs
  -> Thank you

agree  George Vardanyan
4 hrs
  -> Thanks

agree  Victor Mascov
4 hrs
  -> Thanks

agree  Kirill Semenov
5 hrs
  -> Thanks

agree  Mariana Prokopovych
18 hrs
  -> Дякую
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