?—?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?????‹??: interested, intrigued, engaged, curious, having a vested interest
I was listening to the news the other day when I had one of those translator moments: You hear a Russian translation and immediately know what the original English was. In this case, I thought the translation was bad. But I also thought the English phrase was bad. And I sighed. Why are cognates so tricky?
The news report was about a shooting in the United States. The shooter was in custody, but the police also detained a second man who was described in the Russian newscast as ?·?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°???????µ ?»???†??. This was, of course, a translation of “person of interest,” a phrase that should win an award for maximum fuzziness. It means “someone the police are interested in.” Designed to be vague, it means that the person being questioned could be anything from a suspect to a witness — or perhaps just a fascinating guy.
?—?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?????‹?? is part of a package of words derived from the noun ?????‚?µ?€?µ?? (interest). ?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?‚?? (to interest someone in something) and ?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?‚?????? (to be interested in something) are the basic verbs. Since the prefix ?·?°- denotes the start of an action, ?·?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?‚?? has the sense of grabbing someone’s interest, and ?·?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?‚?????? has the sense of getting intrigued by something.
So the adjective ?·?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?????‹?? or its short form ?·?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?? can mean “interested” or “intrigued.” ?? ?±?‹?» ?·?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?? ???‚???? ?·?€?µ?»???‰?µ?? (I was intrigued by the spectacle). ?? ???‚?°?€?°?»???? ?????µ?»?°?‚?? ?·?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?????‹?? ?????? (I tried to look interested).
Sometimes the sense of interest might be rendered more clearly in English as curiosity or inquiry. For example: ???? ?·?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?»???? ???????? ?·?????€???????µ?? (He inquired after my health). ???????° ?±?€???????» ?·?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?????‹?? ???·???»???? (Misha gave a quizzical look). ?—?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?????‹?? ?????€?¶ ?????????»?‹?» ?????‡?‚?? ?? ???°???????? ?±???€?‚?? (The walrus, his curiosity piqued, swam nearly right up to our ship).
In other cases, ?·?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?????‹?? has the sense of being involved or emotionally engaged. ??‚?? ?±?‹?» ?·?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?????‹?? ?€?°?·?????????€ ???€???„?µ???????????°?»???? (It was an animated conversation of professionals).
But ?·?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?????‹?? can also have the sense of vested interest. In these cases, the translator is forced to make a call about a person’s motivation and morality: Is the interest benignly practical or insidiously material? Here we assume that the interest is practical: ?—?°???°??, ?·?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?????‹?? ?? ?????????µ?€?¶???µ ?????‚?????°, ?????????‡?°?‚?µ?»?????? ???€???????» ?‚?µ?·???? ?? ?‚????, ?‡?‚?? ?????????° ?? ?§?µ?‡???µ — ?‡?°???‚?? ?????µ?????€?????? ?±???€???±?‹ ???€???‚???? ???µ?¶???????°?€???????????? ?????»?°???????????? ?‚?µ?€?€???€???·???° (The West, with a vested interest in supporting Putin, finally accepted the thesis that the war in Chechnya was part of the worldwide battle against international Islamist terrorism). But here the interest is clearly material: ???µ???¶?µ?»?? ???°?? ?±?°????, ?·?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°?????‹?? ?? ???????‘?? ???»???µ???‚?µ, ???µ ???€?µ???????‚?°?????‚ ???°?? ???€?µ?????‚? (Why wouldn’t your bank, which has a vested interest in keeping its client, extend credit to you?)
In the case of the news report, that ?·?°?????‚?µ?€?µ???????°???????µ ?»???†?? (interested party) puzzled listeners. I asked Russian speakers who didn’t know English to tell me what they thought it meant. They all said it wasn’t clear, but it probably meant the police had determined that the man was involved in the crime or had some material interest in it. In other words, the Russian flipped the meaning. The English described a person the police were vaguely interested in, but the Russian described a person who had been identified as having some interest or involvement in the crime.
If this were the United States, I’d tell the radio station, “Get ready to be sued.”
Michele A. Berdy is a Moscow-based translator and interpreter.
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