Wednesday, April 20, 2005

Condoleeza's Russian is rusty

Yahoo! News reports on Condoleeza Rice's interview on Echo Moskvy. Apparently, when asked whether she might run for president, she mistakenly answered "Da" and then quickly answered "Nyet". She goes further to describe to the audience how she is out of practice, and that Russian verbs are very difficult.

Oh, how many stories do I have that I cannot write here about the great mishaps that can be made with Russian verbs! She uses a verb for "to earn money" intead of "to do", and causes confusion, but there are many more interesting mistakes one can make!

Instead, I started thinking about what I would be able to say in Russian off-the-cuff if I was in the interview.
Some of my favorites:

Kakaya Kracivaya Mebel! -- What beautiful furniture!
Pagoda Holodnaya. -- The weather is cold.
Ya Neudachni -- I am not lucky.
Yest chornii xleb? -- Is there any black bread?
Ostaroshnoye. Dveri zackaraitsa. Sledushe Stancia, Vykhino. Platforma Sprava. -- Caution, the doors are closing. Next stop, Vykhino. The platform's on the left.
Moya lubimoe cvet eto zelyonoe. -- My favorite color is green. (My favorite color is NOT green, but I don't remember yellow)
Ya hochu Obed C big makom -- I want a Big Mac Meal.

I think it's unlikely Ms. Rice will be asking for my Russian services soon :)

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