Putin on Trump

Subject: Putin on Trump
Date: Fri, 18 Dec 2015
From: Steven Shabad <steve.shabad@verizon.net>

David, For the information of your non-Russian-speaking subscribers:

Western news outlets, including The New York Times and CNN, unfortunately mistranslated a word in Vladimir Putin’s comments about Donald Trump. They erroneously quoted Putin as describing Trump as “bright,” implying in English “smart” or “intelligent.”

In fact, the Russian word Mr. Putin used, “yarky,” means “bright” only when applied to colors and objects, not to human beings. When describing people, the word, according to a Russian dictionary, is defined as “Outstanding in some respect. // Making a strong impression in some way.”

While difficult to translate precisely, the closest English equivalents to “yarky” in the context used by Mr. Putin would be “outstanding” or “impressive.” It refers to a personality in general or some personal qualities, not to a person’s intelligence.

Certainly Putin’s comments were favorable any way you slice them, and I’ll leave it to others to analyze his motives. (I happen to believe that, at least in part, Putin was pleased with Trump’s characteristically glib assurance that he would get along with the Russian president.) But I thought it was important to correct this detail, especially for those interested in Russia.