Day 60: Pelmeni Versus Pozy
In an open-plan carriage of a train crossing Siberia, a man from Perm and a man from Novosibirsk argue about pelmeni while a passenger from Ulan-Ude listens from the top bunk.
How to study this lesson 3 steps
- Read the situation under the title.
- Read the dialogue and its translation. The audio for this lesson is coming soon.
- Spend at least 30 minutes listening to native Russian audio, for example from the Resources page. It doesn't matter if you don't understand it yet.
Dialogue
Audio for this lesson is coming soon. For now, read the dialogue and its translation.
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A
Вы уж меня простите, но пельмени придумали у нас, в Прикамье. Само слово коми-пермяцкое: «пельнянь», то есть хлебное ухо.
Forgive me, but pelmeni were invented where I'm from, in the Kama region. The word itself is Komi-Permyak: 'pelnyan', meaning bread ear.
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B
Слово, может, и ваше, а лепить научились в Сибири. У нас испокон веку лепили мешками и морозили на всю зиму.
The word may be yours, but it was in Siberia that people learned to make them. Since time immemorial we've made them by the sackful and frozen them for the whole winter.
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A
Мешками ещё не значит вкусно. А у вас, говорят, в фарш кладут чуть ли не три вида мяса.
By the sackful doesn't mean tasty yet. And I hear that where you're from they put practically three kinds of meat in the filling.
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B
Не «чуть ли не», а ровно три: говядина, свинина и баранина. И это, молодой человек, не излишество, а традиция.
Not 'practically', exactly three: beef, pork and lamb. And that, young man, isn't excess, it's tradition.
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C
Мужчины, извините, что вмешиваюсь с верхней полки. Вы третий час спорите про пельмени, весь плацкарт проголодался, а у меня мама позы в дорогу налепила.
Gentlemen, sorry to butt in from the top bunk. You've been arguing about pelmeni for over two hours, the whole carriage is starving, and my mum made me a pile of pozy for the trip.
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B
Позы? Это что-то вроде больших пельменей, если я правильно понимаю?
Pozy? That's something like big pelmeni, if I understand correctly?
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C
Вроде, да не совсем. Сверху дырочка, готовят на пару, а едят руками: сначала надкусываете и выпиваете бульон, потом всё остальное.
Sort of, but not quite. There's a little hole on top, they're steamed, and you eat them with your hands: first you bite and drink the broth, then all the rest.
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A
Холодные, а внутри всё равно сочные... Должен признать, довод весомый.
Cold, and still juicy inside... I must admit, that's a weighty argument.
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B
Весомый, не спорю. Но по сути это ведь те же пельмени, только бурятские, правильно?
Weighty, I don't dispute it. But essentially they're the same pelmeni, only Buryat ones, right?
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C
У нас на это говорят: пельмени едят тогда, когда поз под рукой нет.
Where I come from, we have an answer to that: pelmeni are what you eat when there are no pozy to hand.
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A
Предлагаю перемирие до Иркутска. Пельмени пусть остаются спорным вопросом, а позы, похоже, вне конкуренции.
I propose a truce as far as Irkutsk. Pelmeni can stay a matter of dispute, but pozy, it seems, are in a league of their own.
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