Does Putin Speak English : Is Putin fluent in English? The Kremlin Reacts to Trump’s Meeting
Last week, Russian President Vladimir Putin praised Donald Trump’s listening skills, but on Monday, his own qualities as a skilled speaker were lauded.
According to the individual recruited to speak on Putin’s behalf, Putin’s English, which is rarely heard by western audiences, is good enough to correct his translators.
“He often speaks in English by himself in free conversation, on the sidelines of summits,” Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told the state-run Rossiya 1 television channel on Monday, referring to how Putin approached other leaders at the G20 conference.
“However, he interacts through a translator during negotiations and when conducting an official meeting.”
“However, he basically understands English in its entirety and even corrects the translators on occasion,” Peskov said. “There will always be a problem for a translator.
I used to work as a high-level translation, so I know how stressful it can be.”
Putin speaks English and German, in addition to his native Russian, which he utilised on a daily basis in his previous employment as a member of the Soviet secret services (KGB) stationed in Dresden, East Germany, in the 1980s.
During his visits to German-speaking countries, Putin routinely uses German and has even used it in official events.
In 2001, during his first visit to Berlin as president, he spoke to German parliamentarians “in the language of Goethe, Schiller, and Kant.”
During director Oliver Stone’s recently broadcast interview series with Putin, the president spoke to the American filmmaker in both English and Russian, including during a tour of his Kremlin office.
In 2013, he also elected to speak before the Bureau of International Expositions in English.
“In Russia, thank God, I get by in German and I can express myself more or less in English,” Putin said when asked what languages he speaks during his annual televised response of pre-screened questions from Russian.
Former US President Barack Obama lauded his foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov, for his exceptional English abilities and proclivity for correcting interpreters.
Also Read:
