"Peregruzka" is not a small matter

Politico writes:

After promising to “push the reset button” on relations with Moscow, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton... handed him a palm-sized box wrapped with a bow. Lavrov opened it and pulled out the gift—a red plastic button on a black base with a Russian word “peregruzka” printed on top.

“We worked hard to get the right Russian word. Do you think we got it?” Clinton said as reporters, allowed in to observe the first few minutes of the meeting, watched.

“You got it wrong,” Lavrov said, to Clinton’s clear surprise. Instead of "reset," he said the word on the box meant “overcharge.”
 

In the show Cenk dismissed it as a guff. But it's not.

Yes, Russian as a compicated and nuanced language, but Clinton leads the Department of State. There should be plenty of experts on Russian politics, Russian culture, Russian ways of communicating. And Clinton presented not a speech but a hand-made object. There were plenty of time to check and recheck before making that button. It's one simple word, you could find it in all dictionaries.

And why the hell it was written in Latin letters?! Russians use Cyrillic.

And it's not an isolated mistake. Hollywood constantly uses Russian characters as foils and enemies, but there is only a small amount of movies and TV shows with correct Cyrillic written words and actual Russian names and surnames (James Bond series are a welcome exception - mostly). Hey, producers, there are tons of Russians in USA! Consult someone. Even if it's your favorite blowjob girl. Even your Russian janitor knows that "Zoya Petrovna" is not a correct full Russian name (example from "The Closer" series). It's first name plus patronym without the surname.

And we never, ever say "Na zdorovie!" while toasting. It's Polish custom (I think). In Russian "Na zdorovie" ("For health") is a reply to "Spasibo" ("Thank you"). Something like "Don't mention it" in English. 

This is one of reasons why many Russians hate Americans. We don't need your love, but we need respect. And a bit of understanding. How can we respect you, when even the Department of State is unable to make a linguistically correct gift for our minister? Even after "working hard"?

Summing up, this is not a guff. This is a disaster in making.

BTW, "peregruzka" is not "overcharge", it's "overload". But I digress.

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Since we Americans are always making fun of absurd Japanese and Chinese signs or labels in broken English, it's nice to be reminded of the glass house we live in.

by ashbul on 03/10/2009 08:26:32 AM EST

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