orb@whuxl.UUCP (SEVENER) (04/01/85)
> Don Black > > "We shall bury you...As God is my witness...." > --Nikita S. Krushchev This is an oft-repeated mistranslation of what Krushchev really said. I was listening to a show on Americans lack of knowledge of foreign languages by an expert on foreign language study. He pointed out that our lack of knowledge of foreign languages has hurt us greatly in international trade and also in foreign policy. He also pointed out that mistranslations can greatly distort foreign relations and for that reason can be dangerous. Specifically he said that the translation of Krushchev's statement "We will bury you..." was wrong. In fact, what Krushchev said was "We will survive you..." which has a much different meaning. Krushchev also said that after a nuclear war "...the living would envy the dead..." There are several ways to interpret the statement: "We will survive you" One is that the Russians would survive a nuclear war. At the time the statement was made the level of nuclear arms was lower and the bad effects of fallout were not as well known. But given Krushchev's other statement "...the living would envy the dead..." after a nuclear war that seems unlikely. The other interpretation is that capitalism would collapse of its own contradictions-the Soviet Union would survive that eventual economic collapse and emerge as the economic world power. Where you get the tag line "As God is my witness" is anybody's guess. The same place you found out that the Holocaust by the Nazis was really just a hoax? A dedicated Soviet Communist is *extremely unlikely* to make any such reference to God. tim sevener whuxl!orb d
jsq@ut-sally.UUCP (John Quarterman) (04/07/85)
Here is a quote from a book by Freeman Dyson, who is fluent in Russian
and claims to have read `every utterance of Khruschev that I could get
my hands on' because Khruschev appeared to be a very unusual Soviet
political leader, since he wrote and spoke what he thought and felt.
Dyson was testifying before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,
chaired by Senator Fullbright, about the Nuclear Test-Ban Treaty,
which Dyson had just helped negotiate with the Soviets:
`When I had finished, Senator Fullbright asked me one question,
knowing well what my answer would be. What precisely did
Khruschev mean when he said ``We wil bury you?'' I replied
that in Russian this phrase is commonly used with the meaning
``We shall be here to celebrate your funeral.'' It means
simply ``We shall outlive you'' and does not imply any
murderous intentions.'
- Disturbing the Universe, by Freeman Dyson, page 140,
Harper & Row, New York, Copyright 1979 by Freeman J. Dyson.
--
John Quarterman, jsq@ut-sally.ARPA, {ihnp4,seismo,ctvax}!ut-sally!jsq