|
Всё та же Берди:) (чтобы сохранить отличный юмор Ms. Berdy, я скопирую статью целиком) Суверенная демократия: sovereign democracy
Every once in a while I go on a linguistic self-improvement campaign, a mini-program of enlightenment designed to expand my horizons and raise my political consciousness. "Yo, Berdy," says I, "'tis better to light a candle than curse the darkness of your ignorance."
This time I decided to shine a light on демократия (democracy). First, I discovered that Russian doesn't really need the word. It comes from Greek via French and German, and is a synonym for народовластие, a nice, old Russian word that says what it means: that power (власть) is in the hands of the people (народ).
Now, in Russia it has been qualified as суверенная демократия (sovereign democracy). I read a zillion gigabytes on this term before finally finding the definitive definition, as it were, by Vladislav Surkov, deputy head of President Vladimir Putin's administration and the man who coined the term. It is: образ политической жизни общества, при котором власти, их органы и действия выбираются, формируются и направляются исключительно российской нацией во всём её многообразии и целостности ради достижения материального благосостояния, свободы и справедливости всеми гражданами, социальными группами и народами, её образующими (the model of the political life of society in which the authorities, their structures and actions are chosen, formed and directed exclusively by the diverse Russian nation as a whole to achieve material well being, freedom and justice for all citizens and social and ethnic groups that comprise it).
Got that? Well, how about this free translation: the political and economic system made by Russians for the benefit of Russians without any foreign interference. That pretty much sums it up.
Having shed some light on that issue, I forged ahead to the conundrum of демократический and демократичный, two of those paronymous words that are the bane of my existence. This is sometimes not problematic, since both words can sometimes be translated as "democratic." But my candle began to sputter when I tried to grasp the usage. Демократический describes something democratic in the sense of a political system. So you can have демократические страны (democratic countries), демократические институты (democratic institutions) and демократическое государство (a democratic state).
Демократичный describes something democratic in nature. Here we are not talking about social and political institutions, but a non-dictatorial approach. So you could say: Наш коллектив -- демократичный. Мы все участвуем в принятии решений. (Our office is democratic: We all take part in decision making.)
But it can also mean democratic in the sense of "open to everyone." Самый демократичный форум в рунете! (The most democratic site on RuNet!). It's a site where all can participate.
From democratic in the sense of "open to everyone," it's just a hop to "affordable for everyone." В нашем ресторане самые демократичные цены! (Our restaurant has prices everyone can afford, literally "the most democratic prices.") And then a skip to a synonym for "inexpensive": Самая демократичная машина! Производители вывели на российский рынок свою самую недорогую модель. (The car for everyone, literally "the most democratic car!" The manufacturers have introduced their most inexpensive model to the Russian market.) And then a final jump to a euphemism for "people with modest incomes": Мини-отели претендуют на демократичный сегмент рынка. (Mini-hotels are going after the lower-income market segment.)
And that's when my candle went out. Now I think: Nope, 'tis better to praise the darkness.
|
