Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1908-03-27
How Nazimova Learned EnqIist

NHeH oeSdn 10 yam, yam yam III
English" said Nine. ALA Nazimova
the Russian actress, Il was so terribl,
discouraged that | almost gave up il
despair" By yam, yam, yam," Nine
Nazimova gave her original conception
OF the simple sound of English. I'VE
have heard" said the New York Times
of the exquisite poetry and tuneful
ness of our language as recognized by
ourselves, and again various literary
and artistic visitors have rathe,
brusquely contradicted the native good
opinion, but never before has speaking
English been so queerly expressed as
by the beautiful Russian.
We'll. now, why is it that you do
laugh at me-" she asked. Il said YAM
yam, YAM because that is exactly the
way it sounded to me. When | arrived
in this country | knew not one word
or your language, and if had not per-
severed would be back in Russia; but
when the managers tell to me that
must learn if | wish to stay, then
listen well, and l say to myself, it is
funny. but l must do it, and pretty
soon, before l really know it myself
l, too. am yam-yamming. And now
am glad; but, oh, such a time as
have. But now l can talk all day"
What was the first English word
you learned, Madame?"
My first word? | know you will
never believe when | tell you, but |
feel pretty sure not many other peo-
pie had the same for a beginning. 1t
was on the steamer coming to your
country. l had the most horrible feel
ing l have ever had in my whole life.
What is it-Oh, what is it that can be
the matter with me?' ask in Russian,
French and German. but no one under
stood me. At last the stewardess came
to me, and she couldn't understand
either. She was American. | say to
her in all the languages | know, finally
said 'urr. urr, urr,' and she did not
answer. | then say 'urr. urr, urr,'
once more and pointed to my stomach
and throat. She look at me and said
sea sick
"'Ugh?' said
"'Sea SICK she answered, and then
she said it several times. While talk.
ing | had another spell come on, and
as | leaned over the side of my bed
she pointed at me and said, sea sick
When got enough breath to open my
mouth again l nodded my head and
said sea seeck.'
'Oh, | made such awful mistakes in
learning your language. l am often
embarrassed. but, mon dieu, what will
you do? They tell ME it is all right
to say my God in French, but that 1t
is wicked, awful wicked, to say the
same thing in English. That seems SO
funny to me. All the EuroT cans say
my God just as you would say oh, |
am in despair In Russian We say
o BoZhe.' and it is no more than
mon dieu,' but there il want to call
on God must use some other language
than English. l learned this one day
when woman friend of mine told me
that | cursed too much. I do not
curse said /, you are mistaken. /
am just speaking to my Creator.
Another thing I cannot understand
is about that little word damn 1t
seems to me for such a simple word 1t
makes a great deal of trouble. In your
plays II a man Is mad he says dam
If he talks about the weather he says
dam you want to make the audi
ence laugh when the play is not funny
enough to do so, just put in few
dams and they will laugh until they
are tired. A funny little word! l
heard ii so much in your plays that
one day. just to make some people
laugh-it was an afternoon tea and
everybody was so solemn just said
it. A man l know whispered to me
that it was perfectly proper for men
to say 1t, but ladies were not supposed
to do so except in private. But is not
the stage private?' said I.
"'Oh, that's different he answered
Whenever a man in the United
States can't explain anything he just
says, oh, that's different and that
settles it.
"One of the first sentences l tried
to say was to the telephone man In
my hotel had called for waiter
and he did not come, so asked the
telephone man, What about the wait
er"
1.-The weather is good he answered.
"'Send 1t to me- reply.
81 can't. You must go after it, he
answered.
mo. send 1t to here said, get
ting mad.
We had quite a quarrel over the
telephone until some one explained to
the man what | wanted.
MIR. Miller often tells me that say
funny things. but don't know 1t. 20. I
suppose, 1t is all right. II did not
speak I would not learn. would I?
Therefore must keep on saying things
that make people laugh until l know
better. | can't help it.
"One day Hr. Miller asked me about
a new production We were making on
the East side. During my description
of il he inquired how many people