World of opportunity through language

Spare a thought for international diplomats and their interpreters. Anyone who reads the enlightening account of Richard Woolcott, secretary of the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade from 1988-1992, will surely be able to relate to the pitfalls of all that can possibly be lost in translation.

In his memoir, Undiplomatic Activities, Woolcott provides several amusing accounts of times when words and concepts fail in translation, and only humour prevails in the situation.

For instance, ‘When I look at my backside, I find it is divided into two parts.’ Very profound in its simplicity, but really the Australian diplomat in France had wanted to express the dual-faceted history of his career, from dull postings to a position in Paris.

An Australian colloquialism from jocular Prime Minster Bob Hawke, ‘I’m not here to play funny buggers with you’, presented his Japanese interpreters with a difficult situation. Unfortunately, the phrase was rendered into Japanese literally, and a stunned audience was told that the Australian head of government wasn’t there to ‘play laughing homosexuals.’

Woolcott himself was victim of mistaken translations, and for instance instead of the ‘Ladies and gentlemen, on behalf of my wife and myself, I want to say how delighted we are to be in Palembang’ that he said in English, the interpreter announced to the audience that Woolcott said: ‘Ladies and gentlemen, on top of my wife, I am delighted to be in Palembang.’

Getting lost in English translation isn’t always the immense problem that it appears to be. Take the Asian minister who told a long joke at a banquet in Seoul, and remarkably the interpreter managed to convey it in a few sentences, after which the minister was greeted with laughter and applause. The interpreter confessed to not understanding the joke after the function, and admitted that he had instead simply said to the audience that ‘the minister has told his obligatory joke, would you all please laugh heartily and applaud.’

Who would have thought that Japanese, French and Spanish translations could have presented such a minefield!?!