Absolutely nothing! Otto von Bismarck.

1539

Absolutely nothing! Otto von Bismarck.

Otto von Bismarck, the “iron knight” of Germany, always thought that he didn’t have enough knowledge. That was why he constantly improved his education, including learning foreign languages. As Otto von Bismarck was a politician that kind of knowledge was absolutely necessary.

The consolidation of the German kingdoms into the empire had not finished by that time, it was not even known, which of the countries Austria or Prussia, was going to become the centre of the consolidation of the united Germany. But besides those countries, other small German kingdoms supposed that it was necessary to enlist the outer support of strong and large countries. That was why there were a few German ambassadors of different kingdoms in Saint Petersburg at the same time. Prussia and the Prussian king’s interest at the Russian court of emperor Alexander II was represented by Otto von Bismarck. Just like many other ambassadors Otto von Bismarck couldn’t speak Russian before he arrived there but he had been studying very actively.

Once at one diplomatic reception Alexander II was involved in a very serious conversation with the Russian minister of for foreign affairs, prince Gonchakov, just in front of the Prussian ambassador. They spoke French, but when it came down to secret questions, the emperor switched on to Russian. He was absolutely sure that the ambassador wouldn’t understand anything. But unexpectedly the Russian emperor noticed a watchful glitter into the Prussian ambassador’s eyes. Sharply interrupting the conversation, he appealed to Bismarck in German:

– Can you understand me?

Bismarck had to admit that he could understand some general sense of the conversation. And Emperor Alexander said that it was pleasant to find out that ambassadors studied the language of the government and not only the politics.

Then Bismarck bowed and suddenly uttered in Russian with some accent:

– Pri topote kopyt pyl po polyu letit! (a Russian tongue twister) – he laughed and continued in French – Unfortunately I can hardly pronounce the sound “y”, but I try my best and I hope to cope with it. Then I will be able to speak with the emperor on his native language. Then prince Gonchakov, feeling a bit confused, said, appealing to Bismarck:

You could find a sound in German that is much alike our sound “y” and pronounce it.

– Oh, – answered Bismarck, – you are right! But still there are quite a lot of things I can’t understand in Russian. For example, your word “nichego” means absolutely the same as our “nothing, empty”, as the dictionaries I use say. But it is rather strange!

– Why? – the emperor got involved in the conversation. –The English phrase “never mind” doesn’t have more sense than our “nothing”, but in some respects it means the same.

– I don’t argue, – bowed Bismarck. – But today, turning from Nevsky to the palace, the coachman swiftly turned, so I threw out into the snowdrift. And when I started to argue, he, shaking off the snow on my fur coat, repeated: “Nichego, barin, nichego!”. I wonder if an English or a German coachman could find the right words?

In some respects Bismarck was right because Russian word “nichego” can get different meanings beginning with emptiness and finishing with expressing regret.