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http://www.factcheck.org/2016/05/putin-did-not-call-trump-a-genius/
Trump is basing his claim on comments Putin made during a press scrum in December, when Putin was asked what he thought about Trump.
According to a translation by Russia Insider, which uploaded the video, Putin responded, “He’s a very colorful person. Talented, without any doubt. But it’s not our affair to determine his worthiness — that’s up to the United States voters. But he is absolutely the leader in the presidential race. He wants to move to a different level of relations, to more solid, deeper relations with Russia. And how can Russia not welcome that — we welcome that. As for his internal political issues and the turn of speech which he uses to raise his popularity, I repeat, it’s not our affair to evaluate them.”
It’s the word “colorful” in the first sentence of that translation that is at issue here.
The Washington Post‘s Kessler found various media outlets provided slightly different translations of it. Some said Putin called Trump “colorful,” others “lively” or “flamboyant.” One outlet, the Hill, translated Putin’s praise of Trump as “really brilliant.”
The Guardian newspaper initially wrote that Putin called Trump “bright,” but then revised its item with this explanation: “An earlier version quoted Putin as saying ‘bright and talented.’ To clarify: The word he used was ‘yarkii’ (яркий
, which can mean bright or brilliant, but not in the sense of intelligent; it can also be translated as colorful, vivid or flamboyant.”
According to a translation by Russia Insider, which uploaded the video, Putin responded, “He’s a very colorful person. Talented, without any doubt. But it’s not our affair to determine his worthiness — that’s up to the United States voters. But he is absolutely the leader in the presidential race. He wants to move to a different level of relations, to more solid, deeper relations with Russia. And how can Russia not welcome that — we welcome that. As for his internal political issues and the turn of speech which he uses to raise his popularity, I repeat, it’s not our affair to evaluate them.”
It’s the word “colorful” in the first sentence of that translation that is at issue here.
The Washington Post‘s Kessler found various media outlets provided slightly different translations of it. Some said Putin called Trump “colorful,” others “lively” or “flamboyant.” One outlet, the Hill, translated Putin’s praise of Trump as “really brilliant.”
The Guardian newspaper initially wrote that Putin called Trump “bright,” but then revised its item with this explanation: “An earlier version quoted Putin as saying ‘bright and talented.’ To clarify: The word he used was ‘yarkii’ (яркий
, which can mean bright or brilliant, but not in the sense of intelligent; it can also be translated as colorful, vivid or flamboyant.”Edit history
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