Zelenskyy's interview — Friedman made a mistake in translation

Yevheniia Briukhovetska

editor

American podcaster Lex Friedman interviewed President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy. During the translation, he distorted the meaning of the Ukrainian leader's statement.

This was reported by Novyny.LIVE with reference to viewers who noticed this.

Friedman distorted Zelenskyy's statement

For example, Friedman translated into Russian Zelensky's words that Ukraine punishes corruption with a "slap on the wrist". However, there is no such idiom in Russian, while in English it means a minor reprimand.

In Russian, the president said "we beat everyone on the hands" — "Мы били всех на руках". Instead, "slap on the wrist" in English means that virtually nothing is being done about corruption or that weak actions are being taken.

Friedman responded to the criticism

Later, after criticizing the translation, Friedman apologized and promised to correct the mistakes. He invited the audience to choose the correct version of the phrase "We slapped everyone on the wrist" ("Ми били по руках всіх"):

• "we slapped everyone's hands";
• "we hit everyone's hands";
• "we beat everyone's hands";
• "we cracked down on everyone";
• "we cracked down hard on everyone";
• "we firmly reprimanded everyone";
• "we punished everyone".

The journalist believes that the latter option is the most understandable, but not entirely accurate, as the president meant a decisive stop before the crime was committed. Therefore, he identified the best expressions that convey clarity and firmness — "we hit everyone's hands" and "we cracked down hard on everyone".

Earlier, Novyny.LIVE collected the main theses of Zelenskyy, which he voiced in an interview with Friedman. He talked about negotiations with Russia and corruption in Ukraine, and also criticized the signatories to the Budapest Memorandum.

Zelenskyy also explained why it is currently impossible to hold elections in Ukraine.

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