The opening line of Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s Notes from the Underground is “I am a sick man…a spiteful man.” Or is it? I once read a fascinating introduction to Dostoyevsky’s famous novella that began by collecting a dozen different translations of that line, all of them suggesting a slightly different meaning. So what did Dostoyevsky really mean? It may be impossible to say for sure in English.
That’s how I feel today, reading the news that Vladimir Putin praised Donald Trump at a news conference. Here are eight different translations of Putin’s remarks:
He is a brilliant and talented person without a doubt…
He is a very outstanding person, talented, without any doubt…
He is a very bright person, talented without any doubt…
He’s a very colorful person. Talented, without any doubt…
He is a standout, talented person, without any doubt
He is a bright personality, a talented person, no doubt about it…
He is a very flamboyant man, very talented, no doubt about that…
He’s a very lively man, talented without doubt…
Needless to say, these are very different things. “Outstanding” suggests that Putin thinks well of Trump. “Bright” suggests a more neutral assessment. And “flamboyant” and “lively” suggest that he thinks Trump is a blowhard.
So what did Putin really say? Beats me. But video of his remarks is above for anyone who wants to provide a deeper analysis of Putin’s word choice and what it really means in Russian.
