"I believe he worked for the American government... He was taught the Russian language when he was in the military. Do you think that is usual, that an ordinary soldier is taught Russian?"
In actual fact, Lee was NOT taught the Russian language in the US military. So, why did she say that?
It may have been an assumption on her part because for many years I assumed it. I assumed I had to assume it. I knew very well that he didn't teach himself Russian because that's just plain ridiculous.
But, when you analyze the evidence, you realize that they really did NOT teach him Russian in the military. For one thing, they have always denied that they did- not that I would put it past them to lie about it. But, there was no time for it. It just isn't reasonable to assume that they skirted Oswald off to Monterey in the dead of night and put him through a secret intensive program of Russian language immersion- which according to the Language Institute requires 18 months of intense, full-time study to reach even basic fluency. There is just no way they could have squeezed that in. There is no good reason to keep it on the table even as a possibility. I have let it go, and you should too.
But, we should consider the implications of Marina's statement. It's really a categorical statement. When she said "he was taught the Russian language" she meant "he knew the Russian language." And it's consistent with what she told the Warren Commission which is that Lee could speak Russian. She NEVER qualified his ability in any derogatory way. She only qualified it by saying that he spoke "with an accent" which she presumed to be Lithuanian. And people on McAdams' forum have had the audacity to couch that as a bad thing, as her trashing his Russian. She never said she had any problem understanding him. She never said he had any problem understanding her. You know: listening and comprehending are as much a part of language as speaking, and there is no "accent" involved with listening. She never said that there were any problems that way.
Here's an analogy: I have a good friend who is a retired airline pilot, and he lives in Midland, Texas, which is west Texas. He was born in Midland, and he has always lived there. And he speaks with a strong West Texas accent. He has a real drawl. But, his English is as good as mine. It's as good as anybody's. He's a very bright guy. He's highly educated. And I have no difficulty whatsoever understanding him. I was born and raised in New York City, and people tell me that I still have a New York accent, although I don't hear it much myself. But, I don't think these Texans have any trouble understanding me either. An accent doesn't impair communication. So, the fact that Marina distinguished Lee's Russian-speaking only by citing his accent means nothing. In fact, she may not have even said that if they hadn't prodded her to say it.
But wait! This would be true even if she said that Lee spoke good Russian but with an American accent. But, she thought he was from Lithuanaia! Must I remind you that the Soviet Union was one country at that time? And there was a concerted program of "Russification" going on. They realized that if they were really going to be one country, it would be good if they all spoke the same language throughout the country, and that language was going to be Russian.
I can tell you for sure from having been there that in Ukraine- and I mean most of the country- they speak Russian. I have been to Kiev, Kharkiv, Odessa, and quite a few small towns, and I can tell you that every place I went, everybody spoke Russian. I threw away my Ukrainian/English dictionary and kept only my Russian/English dictionary. It's a good thing I brought it. For Oswald to have spoken Russian and come across as a Lithuanian in 1961 is amazing on the plus side.
In 1988, Marina concluded that the US Military must have taught Lee Russian, and it tells you that she dismisses the idea that he learned his Russian over there. He never had any formal instruction in Russian. Not over there. Not over here. Not anywhere.
I have a niece who spent a summer in France on a student exchange program. When she got there, she underwent a course in the French language. That's what she did all day while she was there: she studied French. It was systematic. It was professional. It was organized. It was academic. It was full-immersion.
LEE HARVEY OSWALD NEVER DID ANYTHING LIKE THAT- NOT HERE, NOT THERE, NOT ANYWHERE. Yet, when he got back here, he immediately sought to obtain certification in Russian fluency:
Paul Gregory: "Earlier that morning, my father, a successful petroleum engineer, received a call from a young man who wanted certification of fluency in Russian. Rather than tell him that there wasn’t much of a market for a Russian translator in 1960s Texas, my father, who fled Siberia during the civil war, welcomed the chance to meet this fellow Russian speaker in person. He told him to come in for a meeting."
"Around 11 a.m., with the temperature climbing into the 90s, a slight, 22-year-old Oswald arrived, drenched with sweat and wearing a wool suit. My father asked Oswald to translate passages from a Russian book he chose at random, and he was surprised at how well the young man performed. He asked his secretary to type out a “to whom it may concern” letter stating that one Lee Harvey Oswald was qualified to work as a translator, but he also told him that he knew of no jobs in the area that required knowledge of Russian."
So, to the McAdamites, stop pretending that Oswald's uncanny ability with Russian is accounted for by the instruction that this dyslexic 9th grade dropout received. Whatever instruction he received in Russian in Russia was minimal and not structured, not organized, and not systematic, and he received no instruction in Russian whatsoever here in the US. I'll say it again:
Whatever instruction he received in Russian in Russia was minimal, and he received no instruction in Russian in the US.
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