On the subject of Pussy Riot

[teddywolf]

Tonight's The Colbert Report is an encore of its February 3 show. Two things strike me about the interview: 1) the two members being interviewed who supposedly know no English responded more than once to Stephen Colbert's questions without their translator relaying the question to them first, suggesting that they understand more English than they are letting on in public; and 2) Mein Gott those activist ladies are gorgeous.

The payoff of the show comes with the closing scene, where Stephen Colbert sends a message to Vladimir Putin on camera--"You leave those girls alone!"--right before donning a Pussy Riot-style neon lime-green balaclava.

I'm tempted to get me a balaclava, take a selfie and give it the legend, "I stand with Pussy Riot."

Comments

[teddywolf.livejournal.com]

The West does pay a lot more attention to the pretty lades, yes, which is a strategic error of colossal proportions. Not to mention very sexist, really.

As for the direct responses, I would be willing to agree with you except that they had Stephen still talking while showing the women doing their best to hold back laughs--it was a straight shot. They made it a point to have all the translation kept in for some reason, which in truth I don't object to.

[leiacat.livejournal.com]

Understanding language isn't binary. It's not too hard to know enough to pick up the vague gist (or understand a joke via cognates and proper names) without being able to actually speak the language.

Around my family Spouse routinely pulls the trick of answering in English things to things said in Russian, despite not actually knowing the language, just by picking up the right word or two and extrapolating from the context.