Italian

Watch out for the silent g, as in Тольятти = Togliatti.

Polish

в = w (note that in Czech, в = v)

ц = с

ж could be z or rz (Кжижановский = Krzyzanowski)

ч could be с or cz

ш could be s or sz (Варшава = Warszawa)

-ский = -ski (not -sky)

Latin

The problem with Latin and Greek names is that their suffixes are omitted in Russian, but retained in English.

The suffix for masculine names is generally "-us". It took me some time to find Квинт Курций Руф, which turned out to be Quintus Curcius Rufus.

Greek

Possible suffixes are -as, -es, -us: Геродот = Herodotus, Аристагор = Aristagoras; Клеоман = Cleomanes.

Turkish

й = у

ж - с (Baku-Ceyhan pipeline)

Chinese

[Find!!]

3. Punctuation

It is important to remember that English punctuation is very different from Russian. I am not just being fussy here: the use of Russian punctuation in an English-language document can change the meaning or emphasis considerably.

Commas

In English there are not as many fixed rules governing commas as in Russian and other languages. In Russian a comma has a grammatical function, whereas in English a comma may simply indicate a pause (for added emphasis, or to take a breath!). For example, if I were speaking I could say,

• In 1999 second-tier banks lent 730m tenge to small businesses [without pausing]. OR

• In 1999 [pause for emphasis], second tier-banks lent 730m tenge to small businesses.

Here, it's a matter of personal choice. Some people use a lot more commas than others. If you don't use enough, the writing is unclear, but if you use too many the style might seem a bit clumsy.

This explains why, for example, the word please is rarely followed by a comma in English: we do not pause after saying "please" unless we are extremely upset!

• Please note that...

• Please, please, won't you reconsider your decision? (said emotionally)

For the same reason, there should be no comma before relative pronouns, unlike in Russian:

• Те, кто живет на казахской земле...: Those who live in Kazakhstan...

• Он сказал, что...: Не said that...

• Было время, когда некоторые считали, что здесь, в Казахстане, у корейской культуры нет будущего [four commas]: There was a time when some people thought there was no future for Korean culture here in Kazakhstan [no commas!].

It is correct in Russian, but wrong in English, to put a comma between a noun and an adjectival participle following it:

• указ, имеющий силу закона: a decree having the force of a law

• доходы, полученные от продажи основных средств: income gained from the sale of fixed assets

Hyphens and Dashes

Many words are hyphenated in Russian but not in English:

• Премьер-министр: Prime Minister

• вице-президент: vice president

• бизнес-план: business plan

• форс-мажор: force majeure

• пресс-конференция: press conference

• пресс-релиз: press release

Where Russian links two related noun clauses with a dash, English uses two dashes to fulfill the functions of parentheses (brackets). In the following type of sentence, leaving out the second dash makes it much more difficult for the English reader to understand:

♦ [Russian??]: The source of payment - the Uzbek JV - is exempt from taxation.

Russian uses a dash in constructions where two different cases are contrasted to indicate repetition of the verb, but English does not:

• На Кашагане, извлекаемые запасы нефти которого оцениваются в 7-9 млрд. баррелей, а общие геологические - в 38 млрд. баррелей...: At Kashagan, where recoverable oil reserves are estimated at 7-9 billion barrels and general geological reserves at 38 billion barrels...

• Потребление же природного газа в Казахстане к 2005 году предполагается на уровне 7,84 млрд. кубометров, к 2010 году - 11,15 млрд. кубометров, к 2015 году - 15,83 млрд. кубометров: Demand for natural gas in Kazakhstan is conjectured to be 7.84 billion cubic meters in 2005, 11.15 billion in 2010 and 15.83 billion by 2015.

• На первом этапе в нефтяной пласт будет закачиваться ежесуточно 180 млн. кубических футов газа, на втором этапе - 240 млн. кубических футов: 180 million cubic feet of gas per day will be pumped into the oil formation in the first phase and 240 million cubic feet in the second.

• Жанажолское газоконденсатнонефтяное месторождение, геологические запасы которого по конденсату составляют 40,7 млн. тонн, а извлекаемые запасы газа - 25,6 млрд. кубометров: the Zhanazhol gas condensate field, which has geological reserves of 40.7 million tonnes of condensate and recoverable gas reserves of 25.6 billion cubic metres.

(Also note the difference in word order in these examples.)

Capital Letters

In names of organizations, titles of documents, or defined terms in agreements, every important word should be capitalized (i.e. nouns and verbs, but not articles or conjunctions), not just the first as in Russian.

• Министерство энергетики и угольной промышленности: (the) Ministry of Energy and Coal Industry

• Программа по снижению бедности: Poverty Reduction Programme

As a general rule, do not capitalize words that are not capitalized in the original (except as explained in the point above). For example, "Tenge" may be spelt with a capital "T" in contracts because it is a defined term. In general, however, it should be written "tenge".

People's surnames are never written in capitals in English, even in bylines:

♦ Андрей БЕЛЫЙ: Andrei Bely