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Russian President Putin
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Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday jokingly compared his learning of German to a circus bear learning to ride a bike, and said he studied English regularly to have "normal" conversations with other leaders.
"Before I went to Germany and lived surrounded by the language, I did not possess it," said Putin, who lived in Germany as a KGB officer before returning to Russia and becoming involved in politics in the early 1990s.
"But I lived there for nearly five years, in direct contact with our German colleagues and friends," Putin said, responding to questions from Russians during a live television appearance.
"In five years, even someone with average language ability can master a foreign language -- like the bear that goes to the circus and learns to ride a bicycle," Putin said.
The Russian president said he studied English "fairly regularly" in order to carry on conversations with foreign counterparts without the help of translators.
"Why do I do this?... It is necessary to have a normal working regimen with colleagues, so that there is no language barrier. You can't always talk about everything in the presence of translators," he said.
Putin said he had also made an effort to utter a few words in French during his speech before the International Olympic Committee in Guatemala last July.
"This was a request from several members of the IOC, as a sign of respect for French-speaking countries, including Francophone African countries," Putin said.
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(Agencies)
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俄羅斯總統(tǒng)普京上周四開玩笑說(shuō)，他學(xué)德語(yǔ)好比馬戲團(tuán)里的狗熊學(xué)騎車。他說(shuō)，為了能與其他國(guó)家領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人“正常”交談，他還經(jīng)常學(xué)英語(yǔ)。
普京總統(tǒng)在一個(gè)現(xiàn)場(chǎng)直播的電視節(jié)目中回答觀眾的提問(wèn)時(shí)說(shuō)：“我去德國(guó)之前，因?yàn)闆]有德語(yǔ)的環(huán)境，所以并不會(huì)說(shuō)德語(yǔ)?！逼站┛偨y(tǒng)曾是“克格勃”（前蘇聯(lián)國(guó)家安全委員會(huì)）駐德情報(bào)站的特工，他于上世紀(jì)90年代早期回國(guó)并步入俄羅斯政壇。
他說(shuō)： “不過(guò)我在德國(guó)生活將近五年，在這期間，我都是（用德語(yǔ)）直接與當(dāng)?shù)氐耐潞团笥堰M(jìn)行交流與溝通。”
“對(duì)于語(yǔ)言能力一般的人來(lái)說(shuō)，五年的時(shí)間也足以掌握一門外語(yǔ)了。這就像馬戲團(tuán)里的狗熊學(xué)騎車一樣?！?/font>
普京總統(tǒng)說(shuō)，為了能在不需要翻譯幫助的情況下與其他國(guó)家領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人自由交談，他正“十分有規(guī)律地”學(xué)習(xí)英語(yǔ)。
“我為什么這樣做呢？因?yàn)榕c其他同事之間建立正常的工作機(jī)制很有必要，因此必須消除語(yǔ)言障礙。譯員不可能在你說(shuō)每件事情的時(shí)候都在場(chǎng)。”
普京說(shuō)，今年七月，他在危地馬拉召開的國(guó)際奧委會(huì)會(huì)議上發(fā)表演講時(shí)還試著說(shuō)了幾句法語(yǔ)。
他說(shuō)：“這主要是應(yīng)國(guó)際奧委會(huì)幾位成員的要求，以此表達(dá)對(duì)法語(yǔ)國(guó)家以及說(shuō)法語(yǔ)的非洲國(guó)家的尊重。”
（英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津姍姍編輯）
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