How important the right translation is, actually? The truth is that the whole issue was born out of a translation gaffe lately in Africa. Hillary Clinton took affront to the question: “What does Mr Clinton think, through the mouth of Mrs Clinton?” But what the French-speaking student actually asked was misinterpreted by the translator. It’s not the first time Clinton has found herself lost in translation since taking the reins as President Obama’s secretary of state. When she met the Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov in March, she came with a present, like all good guests. It was a red and yellow emergency button that had the words “reset” and “peregruzka” written on it – a reference to renewing the US-Russian relationship.

“You got it wrong,” retorted Lavrov, who informed her that “peregruzka” meant overcharge, not reset.  Presumably there was an empty desk at the US State Department the next day.

In his 1963 speech in Germany, the American President John F Kennedy told the world: “Ich bin ein Berliner.” Debate exists to this day about the accuracy of the statement, but some language pedants still chuckle to themselves about the fact that Kennedy announced himself as a jelly doughnut and not as a citizen of Berlin (a “Berliner” being both a resident of the city and a doughnut).

President Carter also fluffed a remark in 1977 when, on a visit to Poland, he told the gathered crowd that he wanted to understand their “desires for the future”. The following day, there was good-humoured ridicule in the Polish press when it transpired that his translator had mistaken “desires” for “lusts”.

Earlier this year, America found itself the wrong-footed one when Mirek Topolánek, the former prime minister of Czechoslovakia, accused the US of funding economic stimulus packages by selling bombs. Turns out that Topolánek’s translator had mistranslated “bombs” and “bonds”.

Other countries have had their fair share of translation malfunctions, too. In 2003 Jacques Chirac, then president of France, landed himself in diplomatic hot water after telling several Eastern European countries to “shut up” about the impending Iraq war. (“These countries missed a good opportunity to shut up,” he was reported as saying.)

The French verb “se taire” had been interpreted as to “shut up” instead of the more tactful to “remain silent”.

But then think of the riches that translators have given to the world over the centuries. Myriad ancient texts and advances in science and arts would have been denied without their help. And reflect on the fact that the world may have between 5,000 and 10,000 languages (Wikipedia announces this rather vague number, so it must be true). Really, it’s little wonder that standards occasionally slip.

Bookmark It

Hide Sites