?’?€?°?? ???????µ?€ ????????: No. 1 enemy
I am, in general, a big fan of the democratic process. Give the candidates their say, vote 'em in, or vote 'em out.
But during the electoral season — which in the United States is pretty much nonstop these days — I start waffling on the "give them their say" part of the process. Sometimes I wish they'd shut up.
That goes double when they babble on camera, circle around a topic, leave clauses dangling and use nonstandard vocabulary. Because when you filter their comments through translation, headlines and some editorial cherry-picking, a stupid comment becomes a ???µ?¶???????°?€???????‹?? ?????†?????µ???‚ ???????µ?€ ???????? (No. 1 international incident).
According to the Russian media, Mitt Romney, a candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, called Russia ???€?°?? ???????µ?€ ???????? ?????? (the No. 1 enemy of the U.S.), or ???µ???????»???‚???‡?µ???????? ???€?°?? ?????? ???????µ?€ ???????? (the geopolitical enemy No. 1 of the U.S.). What Mitt Romney said many times and in many ways was that Russia is "the geopolitical foe."
So is ???€?°?? a good translation of foe? Sort of. Maybe. I dunno.
Foe is a weird word. It's old-fashioned — Who goes there? Friend or foe? — and can be used both to refer to a military enemy and to an opponent or impediment, like in the phrase "taxes are the foe of economic development."
In Russian, enemies come in many shapes and sizes. There are general enemies: ???€???‚???????°?? ???‚???€?????° (the opposing side); ???µ???€???? and ???µ???€?????‚?µ?»?? (enemy, literally "not a friend"). There are armed enemies: ?°???€?µ???????€ (aggressor); ?????µ?????‹?? ???€???‚?????????? (military opponent). There are ideological enemies: ?????°???????‹???»???‰???? (dissenter); ?????????????µ???‚ (dissident). And spiritual enemies: ?‡?‘?€?‚ (devil); ???µ?‡?????‚?‹?? ?????… (unclean spirit); ???µ?????? (demon). And people who are up to no good: ?·?»???????‹???»?µ???????? (malefactor); ???µ?????±?€???¶?µ?»?°?‚?µ?»?? (ill-wisher); ???±?????‡???? (offender); ???€?µ???»?µ???????°?‚?µ?»?? (pursuer); ???€???‚?µ???????‚?µ?»?? (oppressor); ?????????‚?µ?»?? (persecutor); and ?·?»?????‹?…?°?‚?µ?»?? (mudslinger). And really bad enemies: ???µ???°???????‚?????? (hater, bitter enemy); ?·?°???»???‚?‹?? ???€?°?? (sworn enemy); and ???€?????????? (blood enemy). There are also competitors (???????µ?€????????), who might be vying for someone's hand, someone's company or someone's geopolitical backyard.
Of all these options, I'd probably say that in style and meaning, ???µ???€???? is closest to foe. True, ???µ???€???? ???????µ?€ ???????? sounds odd in Russia, but then "No. 1 geopolitical foe" sounds pretty weird in English, too.
Another issue with the translations of Romney's meandering comment was whether he said Russia was worse than Iran and North Korea or not. Most Russian press reports asserted that he did: "???µ?????????? ?????µ?????? ? ??????????, ?° ???µ ???€?°?? ?? ?????”? , ?????»???µ?‚???? ???µ???????»???‚???‡?µ???????? ???€?°?????? ???»?? ??????." (Today it is Russia and not Iran or North Korea that is the geopolitical enemy of the U.S.) In fact, Romney said, "… of course, the greatest threat that the world faces is a nuclear Iran, and nuclear North Korea is already troubling enough …" but then after a spate of confused pseudo-clarification, he circled back to "Russia is the geopolitical foe" — albeit this time without the "No. 1." Well, Mitt, if you can't speak clearly, you deserve the translation you get.
I have to say I agree wholeheartedly with President Dmitry Medvedev, who recommended that candidates should "?????»???‡?°?‚?? ???????????‹ ?€?°???????????°, ?????»?????? ?????????»???·?????°?‚??" (use their powers of reason and their heads) and suggested that they could "?????????°?‚?€?????°?‚?? ???° ?‡?°???‹ — ?° ???µ???‡?°?? 2012 ??????, ?° ???µ ???µ?€?µ???????° 70-?… ??????????" (look at the clock — it's 2012, not the mid-1970s).
I just wish he'd said that to the Russian presidential candidates, too.
Michele A. Berdy, a Moscow-based translator and interpreter, is author of "The Russian Word's Worth" (Glas), a collection of her columns.
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