Method to my Madness

I know my blog can look pretty intense with all the Cyrillic nonsense, and maybe at times, my English appears a little broken or foreign, so let me explain how I go about creating my posts.

Let's get started!  This is the simplified version:

1. Turn on my international keyboard that is programed into my Mac or any PC
2. Start typing
3. Read it over, look for errors
4. Translate into English

Pretty easy right?  haha...  I wish!  Maybe as I continue studying this process will get easier.

First of all, let me set the record straight: I do not use translating software such as google translate to piece together my posts.  That would be too easy!  I do occasionally use online translating sites to check spelling or make sure I put the "ь" in the correct place.  This is mainly because I do not always carry a dictionary around and using the internet is much faster.

As of very recently, I type using the standard Russian Cyrillic keyboard, as opposed to the much favored crutch known as the Phonetic keyboard.  Learning to use the Cyrillic keyboard can be demoralizing because if you are not paying attention and you type "A" for the sound "ah" you get will instead get "Ф."  You really need to focus when using this keyboard, or your instincts kick in and you will start typing phonetically.  Typing the official way is really the only way I can hope to get a legit job with Russian or use a computer in Russia and Ukraine.  It is also easier on the fingers, because like our standard keyboard, the Cyrillic keyboard is set up based on which characters are used most often.  Pretty neat!
This blog can get tricky, because unlike when typing a term paper in English, I can't just hit "spell check" and have Microsoft review my spelling and grammatically errors.  If there is something incorrect, I leave it for a day when my language has improved.  I really do not want to rely on some one's translation software to correct my work.

Lastly, the easy part!  English.  This should be my forte right?  Unfortunately, my writing skills in Russian resemble a held-back high school student, so when translating I am not really doing justice to my Berkeley education.  I was previously simply translating my Russian writing into English, but I found that the English parts were not as colorful as they could be.  I am all about entertainment value, so I try my best to make the posts vivid and interesting for my American readers. 

I apologize for the errors and for the occassional broken English!  But hey, I can form sentences and express thoughts, and concepts in Russian!  I know, I am excited too!