Does the usage of headphones mean "talk to me" in Russia?

As you may know, У меня плохо с русским, or in a Russian you understand better, my Russian is bad. To avoid any kind of contact with Russians on the street, I do my best to not have any kind of eye contact with people. I really don't like doing it but, unfortunately, it helps me not getting in contact with people that I can't talk, yet.

Not not make eye contact with Russians, I keep my headphones on my ears all the time. May the Lord bless the Aiko Morita for the walkman and Steve Jobs for the iPod :D . But it seems it doesn't work. It feels like some Russians think that if a person is using headphones, you know, listening to their music, it means you can stop than to ask some information, or maybe some money.

I was walking home and this lady stops me to ask an information. I asked her if she spoke English. She didn't, so, no help from me :( This other lady, with her kids, stopped me while I was listening to my iPod. Again, I asked if she spoke English. She asked me where the Metro station was. A question I answered with my finger, that one we use to point a direction. Finally I could help someone here :)

But there was this day I was walking, with my headphones on, and this guy stops me. He starts to talk in Russian, pointing to his cellphone. Again, I said I didn't speak English. I thought at first he was asking me where it was the closest machine he could add credits. But I realized he wanted me to give him money. I said I didn't have. Well, I had, but not to him. I kept walking and he was following me. I turned and said with a rough voice "did you loose anything?". Not polite, I agree, but I had to do it. Also, could have been dangerous, if he had a knife or and kind of weapon. Good he didn't have any.

Maybe, to avoid those situations again, I'll have this t-shirt done:



In a Russian you understand, the shirt reads "Just because I’m with my headphones doesn’t mean you can ask me anything.”. Natalie Sytnik, my BBDO Moscow colleague, thank you for translating it to Russian :)

Eu sou, I am, ia ...

Here in Brazil, learning English at school is reviewing the verb To Be all the time. If you get lucky, you can learn some verbs in the present, past and gerund. That's why attending a language course is the thing to do.

It has been a long time I don't go to school anymore. I went to college, improved my English in an intensive English program in Boston, I attended Miami Ad School in USA (Miami Beach, San Francisco and internship programs in Chicago and New York City). On June 14th, I'll finish my basic Russian program. I learned some words, expressions and a new alphabet.

On my 9th class, I learned that in Russian, there isn't the verb To Be in the present. Afters years of learning the verb To Be in English, I get the notice that there isn't the verb To Be in Russian, in the present.

So, what am I in Russian? I Brazilian. Where am I in Russian? I Brazil. It seems in Russian I was and I will be, but I am not. In Russian, I eat, I drink, I think, I speak, I listen, I dream, I make, I play, I know, I show, I ... I ... I ..., but never I am.

I don't see it was the end of the world, because I'll have more space in my mind to Russian words, a language that as long as it gets complicated, it sounds beautiful :)

In English is one thing. In Russian is another thing

I've taken private Russian lessons here in Rio de Janeiro. Most of the Russians don't speak English, but where I'll work, English is the main language. I won't stay at work the whole time, so, learning Russian is necessary.

I remember my first day at "Instituto de Cultura Eslava" (Slavian Culture Institut) that I wouldn't have problems learning Russian because there are some words that sounds Portuguese - my native language. But some of the words I learned so far I learned in English, but what they mean changes in Russian. Check it out:

Most - Bridge
Glass - Eye
Machina (Machine) - Car
Rradio - Radio
Magazin (magazine minus e) - Store
List - Leaf

And to make me even more lost in translation, Russians use the cyrilic alphabet. This is subject for the next posts, because I'm 2 lessons to complete learning the Russian alphabet.