Lost in Translation

Condoleezza Rice: Lost in Translation

Created: 21.04.2005


Natalia Gevorkian

Gazeta.ru

No, we are not that perfect just yet. We will be perfect only once Ms. Condoleezza Rice, with her difficult character, opens her mouth over Russian television and translators insert a text edited by the Kremlin.

For example: Ms. Rice says that she hopes President Vladimir Putin will not alter the Constitution or try to use his power to remain president. But instead of that we will get the translation: Ms. Rice has said that she has no ambition to become president of the United States. Now, she may have said that, but not at that time, and in this shot she was talking of a different president of a different country. But of course this feminine gossip on the part of the secretary of state doesn't have anything to do with our viewers. Of course, later the secretary of state may argue that she never said those words during that shot or that her right to free speech was violated in Russia, but that would be later. For now, we've missed that train.

Lost in translation - it happens.

During Condoleezza Rice's visit to Moscow a rehearsal of sorts was staged for turning off the microphone when a guest says something that people here in Moscow don't want to hear. First of all, Russian television viewers were not told what it was exactly that Ms. Rice said on the plane just after landing in Moscow. By the way, she spoke about the limits placed on democratic freedoms in Russia. Incidentally, at the time she spoke there was a report of a bomb placed at the hotel where she would be staying, so the television media was focused, on the orders of the Russian president, on the fight against terrorism.

That was the first day of Ms. Rice's visit. When it turned out that there was neither a bomb nor any terrorists to be found, they decided to give at least some sort of information - after all, it was the second day, and the lady was always talking about something. So they reported briefly that Ms. Rice is concerned about freedom of speech in Russia in general and on the Internet in particular. That's exactly what they said - the Internet. And here Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov gave a press conference where he announced that yes, they spoke of freedom of speech, but that he, the minister, doesn't quite understand what is meant when people speak of freedom of speech "in general,"that we need concrete examples. Ms. Rice gave a specific example, but it looked like Mr. Lavrov did not understand it. She stressed that when she spoke about freedom of speech problems in the "electronic media," she specifically meant television and not the Internet, as it was "translated" for the Russian public. The woman knew what she was doing. She understood who and why "mistranslated" her words, and insisted on a correction, which, as unfortunate as this was for Mr.Lavrov, was broadcast on television.

That same day, speaking on Ekho Moskvy radio, which is not prone to mistranslations, Ms. Rice said that during her meeting with Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov she was successful in getting more American access to Russia's nuclear objects. Sergei Ivanov rushed to deny Ms. Rice's statements, saying that they did not touch on this topic at all during their meeting. For fairness' sake, however, that there was no mistake in translation here. Ekho asked Ms. Rice to clarify her answer several times, and she did so. Ivanov, meanwhile, made his statement in Russian. Moreover, Ivanov and Rice already found a common language some time ago, and it was English. So it would be hard to imagine that during their meeting the translator mistranslated part of their conversation. Either they did not agree on what to tell the press, or Rice did not see the need to hide her "little victory," while Ivanov
found it unpleasant to admit that the Russian side gave in to the secretary of state.

Ms. Rice is a very smart lady. Yes, it's possible not to tell the Russian viewer everything, to fail to mention something, or to "mistranslate" something. But this lady understood everything perfectly, I assure you. This experience with Russia's "freedom" of speech for a leader of her rank is priceless. Someone tried to cut and edit the U.S. secretary of state to put her in line with state television's information policy. The attempt failed, because the woman caught on. But the attempt was made, and that is sad. It's wrong to show such cowardice, especially to a lady.