Now you can’t catch me, baby you can’t catch me
‘Cause if you get too close, you know I’m gone like a cool breeze
– Chuck Berry You Can’t Catch Me
The other day I was walking by our student worker who said to the person on the phone, “Sorry, I didn’t catch your name” and I remembered a Russian speaker told me a story that she was talking once with a friend. The friend was not a native Russian speaker, and said to her in Russian, “Ну, мне пора! Мне нужно ловить поезд!” which Google Translate translates as “Well, I must go! I need to catch the train!”, which is literally correct, but incorrect in intention. The verb ловить means to catch something, like ловить рыбу [to catch a fish]. If you want to say, “I need to catch the train”, you’d probably want to say Мне нужно сесть на поезд or в поезд, I’ve seen native speakers say both. I think it depends on intent. This means literally, “I need to sit in the train”.
So I started thinking about how many things we do with the verb catch. I went to one of my favorite Russian grammar books: Using Russian – A Guide To Contemporary Usage by Derek Offord and Natalia GoGolitsyna. One of the things they do in the book is to list one section with examples of difficult English words to translate into Russian. Then they do another section where they list examples of difficult Russian words to translate into English. It’s very illuminating! Here are the examples they list for “to catch”.
ловить/поймaть: to seize, ensnare, e.g. поймaть рыбу, to catch a fish
хвaтaть/хвaтить оr схвaтить: to grab, snatch, seize
схвaтывaть/схвaтить: to grasp; also fig, e.g. схвaтитьсмысл, простуду, to catch the sense, a cold
зaстигaть/зaстигнуть: to take unawares
зaстaвaть/зaстaть: to find, e.g. Я зaстaл eго домa, I caught him at home.
зaрaжaться/зaрaзиться+instr: to be infected with, e.g. Oнa зaрaзилaсь aнгиной, She caught tonsillitis.
улaвливaтъ/уловить: to detect, perceive, e.g. уловить звук, нюaнс, to catch a sound, nuance
зaцeпляться/зaцeпиться: to get caught up on, e.g. Pукaв моeй рубaшки зaцeпился зa иглу, The sleeve of my shirt got caught on a thorn.
простужaться/простудиться: to catch a cold
Pretty interesting, eh? Well, it’s interesting to me. But I’m easily amused.
I’ve been watching a lot of episodes lately of old Julia Child shows and I wish I had a “catch phrase” [крылатая фраза] for the end of my blog posts like Julia has “Well, that’s all today on The French Chef. This is Julia Child. Bon Appetit!” for her show. I’ll try one out.
Ну, вот и все. Будьте здоровы, друзья! Ваш приятель, Брюс
