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In episode 10 of _Love Live_ season one, when Yazawa Nico is woken up and
everyone sees her facial mask, Ayase Eli comments saying " _Khorosho_ ". She
says this also when Sonoda Umi is woken up and turns into a "demon". Given the
context, I thought " _Khorosho_ " meant something like "scary" or
"frightening" but it was weird that NISA didn't change this in the English
subtitles.

However, at the end of the episode when all the girls are on the beach holding
hands and watching the sunrise, when Nishikino Maki thanks her, Eli says "
_Khorosho_ " and also Eli's sister Alisa says " _Khorosho_ " when she's
corrected in thinking that a red bean bun was a cream puff in episode 12. In
both of these situations, I can't really imagine " _Khorosho_ " meaning
"scary".

So what does " _Khorosho_ " mean? And why wouldn't it be translated in the
English subtitles?


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love-live
What does "Khorosho" mean?


> What does “Khorosho” mean?

It's Russian:
[хорошо](https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/%D1%85%D0%BE%D1%80%D0%BE%D1%88%D0%BE).

I don't know Russian, so I can't claim to know how Russian speakers understand
the word "khorosho", but I can tell you how Japanese speakers presume Russian
speakers understand it. The Japanese understanding of "khorosho" is as an
interjection used to express roughly "Wow!" or "Great!" or perhaps "OK." (cf.
[one](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%8F%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%BC),
[two](http://xn--
eck5eb7eb2541d26fovj.biz/%E9%9B%91%E8%AB%87/%E7%B5%A2%E7%80%AC%E7%B5%B5%E9%87%8C%E3%81%A1%E3%82%83%E3%82%93%E3%81%8C%E3%82%88%E3%81%8F%E4%BD%BF%E3%81%86%E3%83%8F%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%BC%E3%81%AE%E6%84%8F%E5%91%B3/),
[three](http://dic.pixiv.net/a/%E3%83%8F%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B7%E3%83%A7%E3%83%BC)).
This appears to differ somewhat from how the word is understood by Russian
speakers.

Understood as a fairly generic interjection, one can see why Eli/Alisa might
have used it in the various contexts you point out in your question.

> And why wouldn't it be translated in the English subtitles?

I imagine it would've gone untranslated because it's a foreign word to
Japanese viewers, too.

* * *

Aside - for reasons that are not clear to me, "khorosho" appears to be Japan's
favorite Russian word. The [Japanese destroyer
_Hibiki_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_destroyer_Hibiki_\(1932\))
was surrendered to the Soviets post-war (and renamed _Verniy_ ). Thus, Hibiki
in _Kantai Collection_ also frequently says "khorosho", because apparently
that's just a thing that [Japanese people think] Russians do.


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Khorosho is a Russian word meaning "okay". In certain contexts, it can also
mean "fine" or something similar. In a way, it's almost a universal word.

The spelling is: "хорошо". It is pronounced as:
"[kharasho](http://vocaroo.com/i/s0l93zRbapIs)". (O's in Russian are often
pronounced as ah's.)

I'm afraid I can't fully explain why it was used as it was, as I haven't
watched the anime. However, it seems senshin provided a wonderful explanation.

A note: I haven't had much interaction with the Russian community lately
(read: for almost a decade), but unless my memory's faulty, senshin's theory
that "khorosho" is "just a thing that Russians [say]" isn't quite right.

* * *

_Source_ : I used to be fluent in Russian. "Used to" being a key word here,
but I'll always remember a word that simple.


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