Oswald in the doorway: the blog of the Oswald Innocence Campaign, by Ralph Cinque

To Bud on McAdams' forum:

This is the kind of test that Oswald got more answers right than wrong on:

http://oswaldinthedoorway.blogspot.com/2014/05/i-found-this-russian-proficiency-exam.html

Anyone with sense knows that anyone who gets more answers right than wrong on that test has got considerable aptitude in Russian- whether or not you consider it "passing". This issue cannot be decided on a technicality. 

Besides, my understanding is that he got 4 more answers right than wrong. Depending on how many questions there were, it may have put him at 60%, in which case it would have meant barely passing. On the chart you provided, failing meant getting less than 60%. So, your chart doesn't "cure" my ignorance, rather, it demonstrates yours. 

So, you can't win on a technicality, Bud, and you may not even have the technicality with which to play. 

And the "bunkmate" (he was not a bunkmate) in the Marines who said he had a Russian/English dictionary and other Russian materials (books) was in Santa Ana CA. Oswald didn't arrive in Santa Ana until December 1958, and he took the proficiency test, scoring more answers right than wrong and barely passing, in January 1959. Obviously, to have done that, he would have had to begin his study of Russian long before December. But before that, he was in Japan, and NOBODY over there reported any association between Oswald and Russian in Japan. 

Do I have to argue with you about the fact that Oswald could not have learned Russian in one month? And by himself, no less, according to you? 

And when I said "specific Russian learning materials" I meant materials that are specifically designed to teach Russian to someone starting out to learn Russian. Even a Russian/English dictionary does not fall in that category. If all you've got is a Russian/English dictionary and Russian newspapers you CANNOT and WILL NOT learn Russian. I'll add that that is true in spades if you happen to be a dyslexic high school dropout. No, let's reduce that to a middle school graduate because Oswald only attended high school for 3 weeks before dropping out to join the Marines. 

And yet, you've got him learning Russian, in a month, by himself, with a Russian/English dictionary and newspapers.

Concerning Marina, the fact that she took Oswald for someone from the Soviet sphere and not for an American, and the fact that the only criticism she made of his Russian speech is that he spoke it with an accent, which does not belittle his vocabulary, his grammar, his diction, his use of idioms, or anything else except his intonations is something that amazes just about everyone except you. Let's consider what she didn't say: she didn't say he had any trouble understanding her. She didn't say she had to speak slowly in order to accommodate him. She didn't say that she had any trouble understanding him, only that he spoke with an accent. It is not a flaw to speak with an accent.  

Here is Israeli President Shimon Peres speaking English with a very heavy accent. Notice, however, that there is nothing wrong with his English. No one, in his right mind, would deny that he is perfectly fluent in English. 

  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UKZsD9vfVk8

The same applies to Oswald speaking Russian to Marina. 


But keep arguing with me, Bud, because you're just highlighting the case I am making, as your boat sinks. You don't know the difference between passing and failing, and you don't know the difference between winning and losing. You are doing the latter.