Intended Reconciliation Turns into a Translation Blunder

US-Russia diplomatic relations were once marked by a comical tragedy involving a mistranslation of ‘reset’ in Russian. According to The New York Times, this translation error occurred on 6 March 2009, when the US was led by President Barack Obama. US-Russia relations had been strained for several years due to Russia’s role in the war in Georgia, while the US pushed for Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO. Therefore, the US sought to mend its relations with Russia. The two countries held a diplomatic meeting on 6 March 2009. The meeting was represented by then-US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. Hillary gave Lavrov a red plastic button inscribed with the English word ‘reset’ and the Russian word ‘peregruzka’. The gift was a reference to Vice President Joseph R Biden Jr’s call in Munich, Germany, in February 2009, urging the two countries to ‘press the reset button’ on their relations. ‘We worked hard to get the right Russian word,’ said Hillary, as she handed the button to Lavrov. ‘Do you think we did it right?’ Hillary asked. ‘You’re wrong,’ he replied. Lavrov then explained that ‘peregruzka’ did not mean reset, but rather overcharged (excessive billing). ‘We won’t let you do that to us,’ said Lavrov, laughing heartily. The room was eventually filled with laughter. The two foreign ministers then reported that they had engaged in positive exchanges regarding strategic cooperation. However, the red button left a lasting impression. Lavrov said he hoped the translation mistake would encourage progress in learning Russian in the US. Hillary responded well to Lavrov’s quip with jest. ‘The minister corrected our word choice. But in a certain sense, the word on the button turned out to be right too,’ said Hillary. ‘We are doing a reset, and because we are doing a reset, the minister and I have an “overcharged workload”.’ Although the incident seemed trivial and amusing, Hillary remained the subject of mockery by the Russian media.