Let speak english here!

[Граф Калиостро]

The world says that the french are perverts, the french say that they are perverts too, but there is a lot of people (25-30%) that are lonely and shy. So I don't know.)

I think that the biggest perverted people in the world are the Ukrainians. Fuck them and they like it.

 

[George Moran]

It's because German is more specifical language than English to which you can apply in any emergency.

And knowing German is more required for the high quality jobs.

I don't understand either of these statements.

What kind of an emergency requires German and why?

What are high quality jobs, for example in France, Spain or Italy, in which German is more useful than English?

I can see how in Poland or Czechia German may be more useful than English.

 

[Граф Калиостро]

I just want to sit in the garden and listen to the little bees making buzzzzzzz.))

It's oldness ma'am

 

[George Moran]

German companies are presented in these countries (France, etc). For example, at a certain stage the Airbus plane fly to Germany for painting.

What language do Airbus executives, engineers, test pilots, etc. from France and Germany talk to each other in?

I assume it's English, unless the french guy knows German or german guy knows French. Even if it's the case, the french guy may not want to talk to a german in German, and vice versa.

What language is the documentation in?

I assume it's English, because a buyer, a contractor or a partner from Malaysia or Brazil would most likely be able to read and understand technical English, but may not be able to read German or French.

When Airbus executive attends international conferences, exhibitions, tours factories in Asia and other parts of the World, English is much more useful than either German or French.

When a quarterly report on spending, profits and future plans of Airbus are presented to investors, it's done in English, because investors from all over the World prefer English.

 

[George Moran]

When you write
"Если меня не будет то какая мне разница что будет?" -
I willingly believe you.
(a bit strange, of course, for a person who has children. because if my children remain here after me, I would care.)

but when I read about the successful beggar, I don't believe you.

my elderly father, even when the roof goes on from time to time, does not forget to worry about the welfare of civilization. he CARES.

and since it is me, not all of mankind, caring for my father, I think it would be fair that I was the first to receive everything that I need.

"Worrying works! Most of the things I worry about never happen." (c)

When I wrote

"Если меня не будет то какая мне разница что будет?"

I followed one of my principles:

"If I can do nothing to change it I don't worry about it".

Since I cannot prevent Yellowstone exploding and other apocalyptic scenarios, I don't worry about them. Period. This does not make me indifferent to the fate of my children.


Who was talking about a "successful beggar"? It's either a beggar or a millionaire? Nothing in between? There are plenty of successful people (with close knit, loving families, with rewarding careers and universal recognition that are not rich.

By the way, "rich" is such a vague term, that it can hardly be used as a definition of anything. Rich in New York and rich in Harare are 2 different things.

I simply said that personal and professional success does not require a "million dollar apartment". By the way, while "a million dollar apartment" is quite ordinary in San Francisco, I cannot imagine what it is in Kharkov.

I am not worrying about welfare of civilization. I believe that if I worry about the welfare of my family, and my family has all it needs and it's happy, I contributed enough into the welfare of civilization. But I admire people who worry about the welfare of civilization and contribute to it in more meaningful ways.

However, some people have a perverted view of "welfare of civilization" that is contrary to mine, but that's another story.

I wholeheartedly agree that "it would be fair that you were the first to receive everything that you need". Most people believe they deserve everything they need and more. But the World is not fair.

Some people measure success, at least in part, by how well they fulfilled their duty - to their family, to their country. Yes, this view is mostly obsolete today, but it still survives in some places.

And many rich and successful (in public's view) people end up deeply unhappy or even depressed, sometimes even overdosing on drugs and dying.

 

[George Moran]

and what the hell is this life?

"When I die, I want to go to Heaven, whatever the hell it is." (c. Ayn Rand).

***

I agree, it's not a good life, but it's a matter of personal choice.

Some people choose to sacrifice this life for the sake of afterlife.

 

[George Moran]

afterlife? does it really exist? you just write like a preacher ...

the poor teacher saved money all his life, denied himself everything... and he saved a million dollars by his old age. so, what's the next?

even if afterlife really exists, dollars will definitely not be useful to him there)))

I wrote "some people". What did I preach? I wouldn't live like that myself and I am not trying to persuade anybody else to.

I don't think afterlife exists, but some people do. Some people even believe many virgins await them there.

Again, it's you who's preaching to a choir - I am not religious and don't believe in afterlife.

Some people live for their children, live frugally, amass a fortune and pass it on. Some are just born like that, they sit on piles of money and not spend it.

By the way, money does not just allow its owner to live in luxury, it provides freedom - freedom not to worry about roof over their head or the next meal, freedom to quit their job, to do something they love even if it doesn't pay high income, etc.

But we were talking about success, which again, in my opinion, is not an amount of money, it's much more than that.

 

[George Moran]

what do you mean? I didn't understand at all and Google translator doesn't help.

"Preaching to the choir" is an American idiom.

A more complete variant would be "preaching Christianity to the Church choir".

It refers to the pointlessness of a preacher attempting to convert to Christianity those who, by their presence in Church (participation in the Church choir), have already demonstrated their Christian faith.

 

[George Moran]

I think money is a particle of success

I would call it not "success", but rather "professional relevance" success is something more global.

Without question, money is a component of success, we are not disagreeing here.

But money is not the whole success. Money doesn't equal success, speaking in Math terms, money is necessary but not sufficient for success.

Professional recognition is a component of success as well.

So, in your own words, "success is something more global", it includes professional recognition, financial reward, moral satisfaction, sense of accomplishment, personal fulfillment, and other components.

I agree 100%.

In the USSR many famous actors, scientists, athletes were successful on many levels, except for their finances.

I would still call them successful, despite the fact that many died broke.

 

[George Moran]

ok, I understood about the idiom, thanks.

but it isn't fair to throw idioms at a person who is somehow trying to convey his thoughts in English. you need to take into consideration the level of the interlocutor.

This is how you learn! You learned something new today. I like to learn, don't you?

Anyone can ask for clarifications if they don't understand, this is what this topic is about.

I write how I think, and your level seems to be on par with most of the language used here.

If you prefer, I can stop using idioms and other more or less complex sentences.

 

[George Moran]

You can work abroad, you can leave for good. And then, involuntarily, you compare what we have achieved here (in material terms), and what specialists of a similar level - there.

And there is a persistent feeling that if you remove the "financial reward" from this pyramid, then it won't be quite a success.

Of course, we all know about financial inequality, it exists even within prosperous countries.

"The brain drain" continues, people from Eastern Europe go West, even within the EU. "Grass is greener" (another idiom, meaning incomes are higher) there.

Agreed again, "if you remove the "financial reward" from this pyramid, then it won't be quite a success".

 

[George Moran]

I don't like to feel like an idiot )))

in general, studying is a certain discomfort.

I don't know how you can love it

it is generally impossible to convey shades or some kind of "spoken Russian expression"

In short, I don't feel this language. It's just a bunch of words with the help of which I'm trying to convey my thoughts in Russian.

You only feel like an idiot when you don't know or understand something you are supposed to know or understand. For ex., if you live in the US for 20 years and still don't understand what people are saying. That's terrifying.

Working in IT, I feel discomfort all the time, I learn new things every day, and rarely feel like an idiot, only when I don't know something that a person in my position, with my experience, is supposed to know.

There are some things in Russian that have no exact equivalent in English, and vice versa, this is normal.

I would say, you convey what you want quite well.

On the other hand, as they say here, you know you speak English very well when people stop pointing out how well you speak English.

 

[George Moran]

write as you think, what is there

Let me guess, "what is there" is a literal translation of "чего уж там"?

 

[George Moran]

it depends on what to compare.

If with the way I speak my native language, then I think that my English is in its infancy.

I try as best I can, but I have no illusions)

Everything is relative.

If you compare my English to that of an average Iowa farmer or truck driver from Kentucky, I am quite sophisticated.

If, on the other hand, I will compete against a college Professor of English, I would appear quite "bone-tongued" (a direct translation from Russian ).

We all do our best and let the World judge us.

By the way, my Ukrainian is very rusty.

 

[George Moran]

do you mean that you like being in this state?

It's hard to say.

I like to learn new things.

I don't quite like being under pressure to learn something quickly.

But in my field, working for a Fortune 500 company, if you don't learn quickly, you fall behind.

If you fall behind, you risk becoming irrelevant, non-essential, obsolete and, therefore, dispensable.

Large corporations are like machines, it's a race against time - will you, with your skills, become obsolete before you become financially independent?

After all, they pay big bucks for me to live this kind of life.

Would I want to have a less stressful job, but get paid half of what I earn now? Not at this time.

Maybe in 10 years I would want to work part time, for pleasure, at a job where every day is like the day before, where everything is calm a predictable.

Or better yet, not work at all, live on a beach in Florida, Mexico, Spain, Greece...

 

[George Moran]

I remember the time when I had to take on the accounting of a running enterprise. But I'm not an accountant. there were no computers, no internet. there was no time to go to the courses. I came home in the evening, opened notebook with accounting entries and tried to understand - why so, and not otherwise. brains melted. it was awfully. it was the worst study in my life(

Yes, I see how this is a frustrating and generally unpleasant experience.

But if you are not under pressure to learn about the entire Universe of accounting in a very short period of time, if you are learning piece by piece, and new information is weaved into your normal activities, it could be fun.

Just like learning one or two American idioms a day should be fun.

 

[George Moran]

It's something like "Лучше быть богатым и здоровым, чем бедным и больным" ))))

Yeah.

By the way, there is no exact equivalent in English, as far as I know.

Tell someone "it's better to be rich and healthy than poor and sick", and stating this obvious fact will inevitably puzzle your American interlocutor.

 

[George Moran]

It was super extreme)))

I can imagine, it was quite a feat!

Hopefully you were handsomely rewarded for such incredible effort.

If not, was it worth it?

 

[George Moran]

of course. firstly, my life has become rich and interesting. events, people, laws that change every day. bank, funds, tax office.

there are tremendous opportunities for creativity. you won't believe.

accounting is such a thing where you can make money out of thin air. ... the pocket of the company. from which something falls into mine)))

this thing is called "tax optimization".

Then it was worth it for you. Hard work, and as the result, rich and interesting life.

***

I am aware of what creative accounting is.

One example is, in my company all work is classified as either "capital investment" or "expense".

Capital investment is tax deductible (you don't pay taxes on it), while expense is taxable.

By moving expenditures from one bucket to another, accountants save millions of $$ for the corporation.

In my personal taxes I take advantage of various tax breaks, to pay the required minimum and no more.

Some people establish their own corporations to take advantage of different deductions and ways to minimize the tax bite.

Because of creative accounting even some large corporations don't pay taxes because they can deduct expenses, equipment depreciation, carry over losses from previous years, etc.

Nowadays a lot of large corporations' accounting work is being moved from live people to computer programs or offshore centers.

So, formerly rich salaries of accountants take a hit, I know people that lost their jobs, sadly.

 

[George Moran]

Well, all good ever ends. They just need to look for something else)

Not easy mid-career, in your 40s or 50s, to re-invent yourself and learn a totally new trade.

Recently Deutsche Bank let go of 10000 employees, mostly from corporate offices. Those people, and similar people from other corporations, will have a hard time.

They get good severance packages, but $40K will not carry you to retirement.

You need to be prepared to any eventuality - physically, emotionally, financially.