Lifting the Shadows of the NSA’s Equation Group

Re:Lifting the Shadows of the NSA’s Equation Group by Pyxl101 on Tuesday August 16, 2016 @12:45AM (#12295590)

Another sign of Slavic speakers is the incorrect usage of "is" where "it is" would be grammatically correct.

> Q: What is in auction files? A: Is secret.

> Q: When does auction end? A: Unknown. When we feel is time to end.

A native speaker would say "it's secret" or "it's a secret", or "when we feel it's time [to end it]".

Granted, the text seems a bit like someone imitating a Russian who speaks broken English from the movies. It may well be misdirection. It's possible that non-native speakers from other languages also make this mistake, but I have seen it commonly with Slavic speakers.

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Re:Lifting the Shadows of the NSA’s Equation Group by 4bpp on Tuesday August 16, 2016 @04:47AM (#12296245)

(Modern) Russian doesn't even have a verb corresponding to "is", so I'm not convinced that this turn of phrase is a thing that exists outside of American movies.

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Re:Lifting the Shadows of the NSA’s Equation Group by Pyxl101 on Wednesday August 17, 2016 @12:16AM (#12302472)

I have seen actual Slavic non-native English speakers make this mistake (more than one). I haven't inquired into why. I was giving one of those people informal advice to improve their English, and that was one of the things I had to keep reminding them about.

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Re:Lifting the Shadows of the NSA’s Equation Group by spacemanmatt on Tuesday August 16, 2016 @04:37AM (#12296214)

Actors playing Russian spies in American movies sound like that, too. I don't think the README contains enough information to read into the writer's native language.

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