Mrs. Paine.

in Russian. I have a book knowledge of grammar in Russian. But this doesn't prevent me from making more mistakes than an 8- or 10- year-old would make if he grew up native to the language--many more mistakes.

Mr. Jenner.

Would you say that is true of your writing--that is, when you compose a letter?

Mrs. Paine.

My writing would be with fewer mistakes, because I can think about it more in putting it down, but still very many mistakes occur in it.

Mr. Jenner.

Would you say your fluency in the command of the Russian language as of the time you first met the Oswalds in February of 1963 was comparably about the same as your fluency with that language now?

Mrs. Paine.

I have improved, particularly over the period of 2 months that Marina was at my home--I have improved my ability to converse, and certainly increased my vocabulary very markedly.

Mr. Jenner.

Your experience with Marina has served to improve your command both of vocabulary and of the use of the language generally?

Mrs. Paine.

That is right.

Mr. Jenner.

How fluent was--I will put it this way. How would you judge the command of Lee Oswald of the Russian language, both as to vocabulary and as to sentence construction, and grammar generally?

Mrs. Paine.

He had a larger vocabulary than I do in Russian. He had less understanding of the grammar, and considerably less regard for it.

Mr. Jenner.

He was not sensitive to the delicacies of the language?

Mrs. Paine.

He didn't seem to care whether he was speaking it right or not, whereas I care a great deal. He did read--he certainly subscribed to the things that I have described. And my impression is that he did read them some, and that he did not shy away from reading a Russian newspaper as I do. I find newspaper reading still very hard, and magazines, also. I have to do a great deal of dictionary work to get the full meaning of a magazine or newspaper article.

Mr. Jenner.

Do you think that is because you are a sensitive perfectionist as far as the language is concerned? You wish to read it and use it in its finest sense, and you avoid what I would call, for example, pigeon English use of Russian?

Mrs. Paine.

I would rather communicate than avoid pigeon use, and I have to use broken Russian to communicate. In reading, I would say what I have described as my reading--it is just that I don't have a very large vocabulary--not that I want to understand every nuance of the words that I am reading. I just can't get the meaning reading it off.

Mr. Jenner.

Yet you found that Lee was inclined to plunge ahead, as near as you can tell?

Mrs. Paine.

I gathered so.

Mr. Jenner.

Did Marina ever say anything about Lee Oswald's command of the Russian language, or his use of it?

Mrs. Paine.

Yes; she did. Let me preface my answer by saying she did not correct him, or at least not very often. She commented at one time in the fall, after Lee came to the house on a Friday, that his Russian was getting worse, whereas mine was getting better, so that I spoke better than he did now. It embarrassed me, is the only reason I recall her saying it.

Mr. Jenner.

Did she say it in his presence?

Mrs. Paine.

Yes; she did. That is why I was embarrassed. I did not know whether it was correct or not, and she had intended it as a compliment, but it was at the same time unkind to him. So this is why I was embarrassed.

Mr. Jenner.

Tell us everything you learned about Oswald's sojourn in Russia, first from direct statements you heard him make and this will be in addition to anything you have already told us.

Mrs. Paine.

I can't recall anything that hasn't appeared in my testimony. And there is very little that has appeared in my testimony.

Mr. Jenner.

Yes; I appreciate that. Did he ever say anything about--I think you did testify a little bit about this yesterday--his efforts to obtain a passport to return to the United States, and his difficulties in that connection?

Mrs. Paine.

My recollection is that it was she who told me of this.