Раз, два, три!

[paradoxa4]

Hello. I have listened to a song called "Moscow" from Rammstein and T.A.T.U, the chorus is sung in Russian and it says:

Раз, два, три!
Посмотри!
Пионеры там идут
песни Ленину поют

Why did they use Раз, два, три instead of один? I have to make clear that the context is about the Soviet Union.

The translation is supposed to be "one, two three", but I don't know if that Раз was a communist way to call people to work faster or it has to do with the Stalingrad battle. I am just guessing.

Maybe it is just a word invented by T.A.T.U. Well, I hope that someone can explain it to me.

Thanks in advance.

 

[Ёж!]

This is very ordinary counting. "One" is "один" when used as an adjective, but "раз" in counting.

By the way: amused at how often the word 'communist' is misused and/or overused outside Russia...

 

[YMOPA]

That's a shortcut for: "Один Раз, Два раза, Три раза", meaning "Единожды, дважды, трижды" - "Once, twice, thrice" or "One time, two times, three times".

In that rhyme, for the "once", "один" is dropped, for "twice and thrice", "раз" is dropped.

That's how you get "Один Раз, Два Раза, Три раза" = "Раз, Два, Три"

Another gross simplification is that it should really be "Первый раз, второй раз, третий раз" - "First, second, third". But that doesn't rhyme well, it does not give you energizing beat (rhythm), hence no ordinal numerals.

 

[paradoxa4]

That's a shortcut for: "Один Раз, Два раза, Три раза", meaning "Единожды, дважды, трижды" - "Once, twice, thrice" or "One time, two times, three times".

In that rhyme, for the "once", "один" is dropped, for "twice and thrice", "раз" is dropped.

That's how you get "Один Раз, Два Раза, Три раза" = "Раз, Два, Три"

Another gross simplification is that it should really be "Первый раз, второй раз, третий раз" - "First, second, third". But that doesn't rhyme well, it does not give you energizing beat (rhythm), hence no ordinal numerals.

Perfectly understood. Thanks a lot

 

[Ёж!]

In fact, both "первый, второй, третий, четвёртый, пятый" and "один, два, три, четыре, пять" are sometimes used for counting as well: the second is used more often than the first, and, I'd say, probably as often as "один, два, три, четыре, пять".

It is also worth noting that those words are not understood as shortcuts in speech. And, of course, the line does not mean 'once, twice, thrice'.

 

[bibax]

Razъ is a Protoslavic word that meant "stroke". It is used similarly like "times" in English:  три раза = three times (orig. "three strokes"). In the instrumental case, разом means "at a stroke" (at once).

Раз is a one-syllable word, shorter than один, so it is used in marching (Раз-два, раз-два – армия идёт "the army is marching",  Вперёд шагает гвардия, а командир поёт!), exercising (raz, dva, tři, raz, dva, tři, we use it in Czech, too), etc.

 

[Ёж!]

Indeed. Also, when counting things. The word is not limited to military contexts, this is a plain and common word.

 

[Real_]

Hello. I have listened to a song called "Moscow" from Rammstein and T.A.T.U, the chorus is sung in Russian and it says:

Раз, два, три!
Посмотри!
Пионеры там идут
песни Ленину поют

Do not pay so much attention.
This is like germans:
ein, zwei - policai,
drei, fier - brigadir.

Hello. I have listened to a song called "Moscow" from Rammstein and T.A.T.U, the chorus is sung in Russian and it says:

Раз, два, три!
Посмотри!
Пионеры там идут
песни Ленину поют

Why did they use Раз, два, три instead of один? I have to make clear that the context is about the Soviet Union.

This is the same as aqi:
Como si fuera esta noche la ultima vez.

Understood? While counting. (but es not in the case of example, aunque lo puede estar).
(do not be encucharao. . Do not afraid. Nobody understand - it is not in any (ANY) dictionary).