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The book Russian for Mathematicians by Glazunova has a very useful section with examples of how formulas are read in Russian. (Most mathematical dictionaries don't seem to have this, as I suppose they expect you to read formulas in your own language.) Here are a few examples:

  • $a \not\in A$, а малое не принадлежит а большому. ("Little a does not belong to big a.")
  • $\int_a^b f(x) \, dx$, интеграл от а до бэ эф от икс дэ икс. ("The integral from a to bee of eff of ex dee ex.")
  • $V \oplus W$, прямая сумма вэ и дубль вэ. ("The direct sum of vee and double-u.")

Unfortunately, the list is relatively short and limited to simple expressions, and I'd like something more extensive. Here are my questions.

  1. Does anybody know of other similar lists for Russian? The most likely source would be a bilingual mathematical dictionary between Russian and another language.

  2. What about something like this for German?

Also, out of curiosity, do Russians tend to use the French names of Latin letters in contexts other than mathematics? My impression is that in internet addresses, English names are used, but how would a Russian read a foreign postal code with Latin letters in it? (I would be happy to remove this part of my question if there are objections.)

Rodrigo de Azevedo
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user204305
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  • @Bot: Most unlikely; what would you enter? I don’t offhand know of such a glossary even for English. – Brian M. Scott Jan 03 '15 at 08:34
  • I think you should find some friend from Russia and chat with him until you become a master in this field. Your second question is more about linguistics. There are different types of bringing foreign entities to languages. Amongst them transcription and transliteration. Usually for name transcription is used for objects it depends. For sure this applies to Russian and probably to other languages too. Finally about postal codes. It depends on a person, for instance I like to read english words as rules dictate but some people prefer jargon in their natural life. – Jihad Jan 03 '15 at 09:00
  • @Jihad, if a Russian had to read a postal code like J0H 4X3, would it be "жи ноль аш четире икс три," or would it be "джэй ноль эйч четире экс три"? You seem to be saying that people do it both ways. – user204305 Jan 03 '15 at 09:08
  • @user204305 it depends on a school. In different school pronunciation is taught differently. – Jihad Jan 03 '15 at 09:15
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    It doesn't explain how to read formulas, but you might find this useful (for the German) http://www.henked.de/maple/woerterbuch.htm – Alessandro Codenotti Apr 27 '15 at 12:08

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