Condi-- Come to the U!

I thought this was kinda funny, seeing as I'm taking Russian myself...

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice tried out her rusty Russian in a Moscow radio interview Wednesday, only to get caught out by a question on whether she might run for president.

"Da (Yes)," Rice answered in Russian, before realizing her misunderstanding and hastily adding "Nyet" (No) -- seven times.

Hmm. And we thought she was a "Soviet expert," "fluent in Russian." What happened? Maybe it was just a Freudian slip, sorta like when she called George W. her husband. But wait-- there's more...

Rice, in Russia to meet President Vladimir Putin, started out in English. "It is an opportunity for me to come back to Russia, a place I love very much. I love the culture and the language."

She then switched into Russian, but quickly hit trouble.

Apparently meaning to say that she would like to do her next interview in the language of her host, she chose a verb that sounded more like "to earn money" than the Russian for "to do."

"You understand it will be very difficult because I am out of practice, and in your language there are these awful cases!" she continued. "It's very difficult for us, and it is very difficult to talk without making mistakes."

Ah. Trouble with cases, eh? Yeah, I get that, too. Well, Ms. Rice, I have a solution... perhaps you should enroll in some classes here at the U of M. Take RUSS 3001. I'm in the 10:05-10:55 class with Schweikert. It might be kind of nice to have a "famous person" in our class. Maybe you and Professor Schweikert could swap some stories about the bad old days in the Soviet Union.

More about this here.

Posted by smit2174 at April 20, 2005 06:51 PM | TrackBack