Soviet Prison Camp Speech: A Surviver's Glossary

by Meyer Galler, Harlan E. Marquess

Release Date: May, 1972

Edition: Hardcover

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Non-Russian Wannabe Russian Speakers Unite!

Russian is a language hard enough to learn. What really ... is if you find yourself in Russia, trying to converse with a Russian with the sterilized and watered-down Russian language you've been taught in the classroom. You'll find yourself tripping up your mental translation with every obscenity the speaker utters during a "normal" conversation in a bar after a couple drinks.
This is the kind of dictionary every serious Russian language student needs to have. It gets WAY down and WAY dirty, but it will save you from those conversational snags.
I mean, you don't have to USE these words. Just KNOW them so when they come about in conversation, you don't dwell on them and miss the point.
And how did these words come about? The authors go at length to describe how these words manifested themselves, with an interesting insight into Stalin's camps of the 20s, 30s and 40s.
The book is so graphic, my Russian teacher at the University of Central Florida had it banned from our library (all because I asked her if she knew what a "zalupa" was in class). It took me forever and a day to find Wisconsin Press and order my own copy. Now you guys can get it here. Oh, by the way, it's the same price now as it was back in 1992.

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