The Secretary and the Reset Button (A case for promoting U.S. Russian language study)

[Max Pyziur]

On Sat, 7 Mar 2009, Mark Nuckols wrote:

> But I would hesitate to criticize the language skills of the one
>> SoS in recent history who spoke Russian. >
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> Sorry, but Madeleine Albright also speaks Russian--probably much better 
> than Rice. A native/heritage speaker of Czech, she took Polish for 
> graduate research conducted in Poland, and she began studying Russian in 
> 1961. I don't know her exact level of ability in Russian, but she was 
> known to conduct official business in Russian, as well as Czech and 
> French.

I've heard her give interviews in French; it's much like Kofi Annan's 
French - not the best accent and no expansive vocabulary, but able to hear 
questions (w/o an interpreter interceding) and respond directly.

> Mark Nuckols

Political issues aside, Rice once commented that she read one of the great 
Russian authors for leisure (Tolstoy?). However, given what has been said 
on SEELANGS about her speaking abilities it certainly throws into question 
her linguistic claims.



Max Pyziur
pyz at brama.com

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