Denmark's Language Problems

The Danes do not speak Russian. However, they seem to understand the Chechen language very well

It seems that the Russian Federation Office of the Prosecutor General was not really shocked over Denmark’s unexampled refusal to deliver the arrested Chechen terrorist Akhmed Zakayev to Russia. A spokesman for the Russian Office of the Prosecutor General Leonid Troshin stated on Saturday that there would soon be a complete package of documents prepared again. These documents will contain legal reasons for the delivery of the Chechen terrorist, who was previously arrested in Denmark on a claim from the Russian authorities. After the documents are all ready, they will be handed over to Denmark.

Danish Justice Minister Lene Espersen has recently announced that the Russian party did not present convincing evidence to prove Zakayev’s links with the terrorist activity. The minister promised to release the arrested terrorist from on November 30 if the Russian law-enforcement bodies fail to prove his guilt.

Some Russian media outlets believe that there might be a very serious problem with the whole issue. All of the documents that will be handed over to the Danish lawyers are written in the Russian language. Moscow newspapers do not rule out the possibility that the Danish Justice Ministry does not have qualified translators to translate the Russian documents accordingly. At least, the press secretary of the Danish Justice Ministry told Reuters that Denmark would like to have official translations of the documents and more facts in them. In other words, it seems that the Danes were simply unable to read all the documents from the Russian Office of the Prosecutor General.

It is worth mentioning that the English language, which is considered to be an international language, does not get much honors in Denmark either. If you come up to a Dane person in a street, asking him or her for directions in English, you are not likely to receive any information. Russian tourists who have been to Denmark have pointed out the explicit dislike of the Danish people towards any foreigners, especially Germans.

Let’s hope that the personnel of the Russian Office of the Prosecutor General will have at least one qualified translator of the Danish language. It goes without saying that the office could ask the Russian Foreign Ministry for help. However, it might turn out that the Foreign Ministry does not have one either. Relations between Russia and Denmark have been still for decades already. Even if there are some specialists found, there is the possibility that they are on business trips or vacations.

On the other hand, all of these language difficulties might simply be fakes. Probably, the Justice Ministry of Denmark decided to deal with the case very slowly. The situation is not really pleasant: Russia keeps up the pressure, and Denmark’s reputation might be spoiled due to its official indulgence to international terrorists. For the time being, Denmark is conducting active consultations with the European parliament.

Anyway, officials of the civilized European country of Denmark find a common language with Chechen terrorists easier in comparison with Russian diplomats. This is a fact, and this fact is not likely to be any good for Denmark in the future.

Dmitry Slobodanuk PRAVDA.Ru

Translated by Dmitry Sudakov