Я думаю, что Вы слишком трудны на вас непосредственно. (I think you are being too hard on yourself.)
No need to be embarressed because you didn't recognize a transliterated lanquage.
A lanquage that uses a different alphabet than Latin, then converted to Latin, is hardly recognizable. It's often called "dog" lanquage and would confuse anyone who doesn't use it. In this case it's neither English *or* Russian so you can hardly blame yourself for that.
A good example is "no" is Russian. While
most people recongnize the transliterated word "nyet", thats a rare case. Russians don't write "nyet", in Russian/Cyrillic it's "Het". (Their "H" is pronounced like our "N") Btw, the Russian word for "but" is spelled "no" in Cyrillic.
That, and the fact that nouns in Russian have gender, will make you crazy.
Men and women use different words for the same things. Cars are feminine, toilets are masculine, gasoline is feminine, arrgh! Who decided all that is a mystery to me.
When you next see your Russian friend, say to him "preeviet!" (Привет!)(Hello!)(as in "previet"-nam). When you say goodbye, use
"puckuh" like in hockey puck, with an "uh" on the end. You now speak Russian!
In fact, you speak Russian everyday. Many English words are Russian. Russian for "car" is "machine". (For "work", the Russian word sounds like "robot"!) For "gasoline", it's "benzine". Most of the new "techno" words are the same, when you say "floppy disk" or almost any computer word, you're speaking Russian also. (Or they're speaking English.
See? You already know these words. It's a very rich lanquage compared to English, especialy when it comes to cursing! Unlike English, Russian is very phonectic, so it's easy once you learn the alphabet. The way you read it is the way you say it, English is a far cry from that. (Russian grammer will quickly drive you to drink, however.)
The "nyet" example aside, had I used Cyrillic letters you would have easily recognized it as Russian, as I'm sure you did in the last post.
Oops, sorry for rambling, way more than wanted to know I bet. To keep it on topic, I often give Surefire E2s as gifts to friends in Russia. They are simply amazed because Russian torches leave something to be desired. (I need to bring some back next time I go, just for grins.)
123s are very expensive in Russia but they are so enamored with the E2 they seldom use it, only bringing it out on on special occasions to show their friends. Maybe torch folks know no borders, because the E2 (and Leatherman tools) are considered treasured items from "Америка"