This is unacceptable. Latvia is slowly going bankrupt, requesting money from the IMF. GDP is decreasing (by 4.7% compared to last year), taxes are supposed to go up, and there are also talks of devaluing the national currency (apparently you can now go to jail for saying that - long live Freedom of Speech!!) This is a video of Atis Slakteris, the Minister of Finance, appearing on Bloomberg TV. I understand that he is not in an comfortable situation. He is held responsible for the current problems, and has to do something about it, but does that involve making a fool of himself on a global TV network? He obviously has limited knowledge of English. Around 9th grade level, if you ask me.
Some people say that it is a good thing that he spoke directly, and did not use an interpreter. Should he have? Yes, definitely! Those peole say that we should be proud that he chose to take such a bold move. If you think that making a fool of yourself is a good thing, go on. But not in this situation, when Latvian is making world headlines. If you have an interpreter handy (and you can always find a Latvian - English interpreter nowadays), use it.
The funniest part is when Atis has no idea how to say "taupīgs" ("sparing", "thrifty", even "economical" would have worked), mumbles the word in Latvian, and the interviewer says "It's not easy, I know." (23:00) She actually felt bad for him. Who wouldn't...
As a pretty cool highschool teacher, nicknamed BB, would say:
"Un tad mēs gribam, lai mēs kaut kur būtu..."
which is hard to translate, but is approximitely,
"And then we wish we could be part of something..."
Atis hoped he could speak English perfectly, but he failed miserably. As I have noticed, sometimes those living in the glorious country of Latvia think too high of themselves. Being a minister, representing the whole country on the world stage, speaking English on a high enough level is not easy. It takes a lot of preparation and hard work. It doesn't just happen all by itself. Let this be a lesson for all of us.
edit: fixed spelling, changed link to video.
Ladas are fun
4 days ago
8 comments:
And then there are other people who advertise this failure to many non-Latvian readers :( and make bad PR in other way.
I think that misfortunes like this should be kept in the insider circle, in this case - Latvia/Latvians.
well, one might also argue that one reaps what one sows, Agzas. I'm implying that many Latvians (not only the government fuckwits) are responsible for the results of their irresponsible actions as little as a year ago (bad lending/leasing, through-the-roof spending, GOD-AWFUL investments, etc. - just the tip of the iceberg).
p.s. Careful, Jānis, someone might tip your blog to Homeland and next thing you know you're spending 48h alone in a 4x4...
Agzas:
I feel sad that you think that I should not publicize information about the actual situation in Latvia on my blog. You seem to be thinking that we should boast about all the good things that we have accomplished, but try to hide the bad things that are happening. This feels very much Soviet-y, doesn't it. The idea itself that there are no problems itself is a problem. Latvians need to admit that there is a bigger problem, and realize that this information needs to be shared with other people. Why is revealing the actual situation bad PR? I've only heard the term "bad PR" used in cases when the ones to be blamed do not want the bad news to get out.
Latvia has a lot of problems. One of them is that some of the people with the power are ignorant and not well educated. I was convinced of this myself after meeting the Education Minister, Baiba Rivža in the summer of 2006. It seems like she was proud about her ignorance.
Latvians need to realize that hiding the problem from those on the outside is not going to help solve the problem. Do you think anything will ever get done if the inability of Atis to speak English was discussed only on draugiem.lv? Probably not...
I see no fault in telling my non-Latvian friends about how miserable Latvia is at certain times. Stop make believing that everything is all right. It is not...
ed: well, if that is what it takes for me to exercise my freedom of speech (is FOS part of Latvian Law at all?), then let it be so...
You have spoken the F word! YOu needs to be punished!
I can agree with ed that the government is not so different from other Latvians. Though when ordinary man see that being unfair seems to be quite acceptable thing, which can help to earn lots of money, why does he need to stay as one of the few fair (and poor) ones?
I try to be fair, but I somehow am not able to show the others, why they should be also. They simply don't trust anymore that being fair can change something.
It is true also that hiding the problem doesn't solve it. Though, bad PR is also an issue. Say, an enterprise have understood their problems and want to invest in solving them, but people don't buy their production anymore because of the bad PR before. So the enterprise has less spare money for problem solving. Some of such examples lead to bankrupt, because less money makes less money. It is similar for the "black Thursdays" - if people take their money out of bank, the bank becomes weaker. The weaker it becomes, the more people take money out. The more people take the money out, the weaker the bank becomes, and so on.
Personally, I have no idea, how to get a smarter government. Some people say, that the generations should change - when our generation will lead the country, old lies would diminish. But why? Are there really better people in our generation?
(I'm usually optimistic...)
I had heard about this interview but just watched it for the first time. It's not as terrible as some said, especially when understanding that his expertise is economics, not English. Given that the interview was to be edited down to a few soundbites, an interpreter could have made this a non-issue, but perhaps the level of his English is not a concern outside of Latvia.
Also, it is rare for a finance minister to receive an international spotlight and luckily economic details are boring to most people and his very low voice will sooth people to sleep.
Looking at the future (the past is already gone), the younger generation has a good grasp of English, so that language issue goes away with time. What seems most important is getting high quality people to work together to solve problems. Talking openly is no threat as long as pragmatic action is the goal. It's not about hurting people who have failed, but agreeing on the problems so people can build something that works better.
The restless youth who do not want to wait to have the government handed down to them can step up and join the system in order to reform it from inside. A few active people can create a great amount of change - hopefully for the better.
Hello from a Latvian interpreter.
Yes, I agree that Latvia is finished for the time being, at least for me, I would not be able to sustain myself in this situation, because nobody will need my services. I am still getting a few orders from LNT, but soon I will have to start living in the street. Could anyone suggest where to find someone who would chose to pay for interpreting services this year, once most international conferences are being cancelled due to the new taxes for tourism industry? Anyway finished is finished, along with education, health care, etc. This is not about bad PR, Agzas, this is about survival! I highly doubt my ability to change (reform) the Latvian society in case I have to live under a bridge! Lecturing at the university is also out of the question - the salaries are way too low to survive, so I left after I had worked there for 23 yrs. And by the way, is this fair? Ha-ha!
We will be taupiigi!
Post a Comment