Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2020 July 5

= July 5 =

Russian and Latvian question
I saw this old diary from October 1970 in the city museum in Jurmala, Latvia. One page is in Russian, the other in Latvian. What do the texts say? J I P &#124; Talk 20:42, 5 July 2020 (UTC)
 * I can't read the Latvian, but I doubt it's a diary, as the page in Russian says something like "Thank you museum for a wonderful exhibit", in what is obviously the handwriting of a child (or someone who rarely writes in Cyrillic). It seems more like a guest book in which museum visitors can write their thoughts. Xuxl (talk) 21:17, 5 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Definitely a child (note the smiling heart), probably a girl (≤ 10 years old).
 * My transliteration of the Latvian poem:


 * Ar gaititi Riga braucu
 * Fris xirnisi veruma
 * Kamer es celu prasu
 * Aped gailis veruminu


 * par maru bet milu
 * pieminu Istucim no Lanes


 * Google automated translation:


 * I drove to Riga
 * Fris xirnisi veruma
 * As soon as I ask, I ask
 * Aped cock verumin


 * about the plague but the milu
 * I mention Istucim from Lanes


 * I presume it is from your late mom/aunt, who died from Covid? If it is her I'm sorry for your loss. Sorry :(
 * Mdob (talk) 22:47, 5 July 2020 (UTC)
 * What? My mother and all of my aunts are still alive and none of them have contracted Covid. None of them understand Russian or Latvian. This text is from 1970, when my mother and aunts were just out of their teens. Whoever wrote this text is a complete stranger. J I P  &#124; Talk 23:07, 5 July 2020 (UTC)
 * Kkkkkkkk, glad to know ;) Mdob (talk) 09:03, 6 July 2020 (UTC)
 * The Latvian is mainly a song: --Amble (talk) 22:56, 7 July 2020 (UTC)

The Russian will have been written by a young child. It's written in clumsy block capitals, with phonetic spellings of all words: all that can be misspelled is misspelled. The only exception is СПАСИБО, which does not appear as *СПАСИБА. The obvious explanation is that it's a very common word that even young children know how to spell.

--Theurgist (talk) 21:40, 8 July 2020 (UTC)