Russian Town Bans Phrase “I Don’t Know”

by Iva Skoch on

Have you ever tried to get anything done — report theft, start a business, get a driver’s license — in Eastern Europe? If so, you will appreciate what Alexander Kuzmin, the 33-year old mayor of a Siberian oil town of Megion, is trying to do: make bureaucrats more friendly.

He has banned the following phrases among state employees:

  • I don’t know
  • I can’t
  • What can we do
  • It’s not my job
  • It’s impossible
  • I am having lunch
  • There is no money
  • I was sick/on vacation

If they banned these in all of Eastern Europe, state employees would become officially mute. And they say Russia is not progressive. Pretty soon, their bureaucrats might even smile!

Want more Russia? Check these out:

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Word for the Travel Wise (12/16/06)

by Adrienne Wilson on

When my plane landed in Budapest I had no idea at the time how much I would fall in love with the city, but over the course of my stay I started to seriously day dream about living in the country. What would it have been like? What could it be like today, tomorrow or in five years? In the event that I went out on a wing and took the big leap into living in eastern Europe I started practicing the local language with my first word being a very basic and essential one.

Today’s word is a Magyar (Hungarian) word used in Hungary:

Jó napot – hello

The Hungarian lingo is a Finno-Ugric language, which you can learn more about at Wikipedia, right now let’s stick to the places you can learn it for free. Hungarotips is a completely free site with beginner, intermediate, and advanced lessons. This impulzus web page has everything you’d basically find in a LP guide. There’s no audio, so read a little about the alphabet and then find someone who’s willing to make sure you speak like a local. The verbal exchange will be very rewarding I am sure. As always remember to scope out the BBC for basic lang downloads.

Past Hungarian words: köszönöm, vásárlók könyve, hangverseny, kijárat, segítség