Interpreters for politicians: communication aides and keepers of secrets

A G8 summit, like any international event, is a hectic time for politicians and journalists. But interpreters also bear an enormous responsibility: how well national leaders understand one another depends on them...

A G8 summit, like any international event, is a hectic time for politicians and journalists. But they are not the only ones working hard: interpreters bear an enormous responsibility. How well national leaders understand one another depends on them. Above all, translation errors and inaccuracies can cost countries, if not war, then at least strained relations.

Interpreting looks easy only at first glance. Many imagine interpreters being flown around the world, meeting famous people and earning large sums. In reality, interpreting—especially simultaneously—is hellishly hard work. To experience its "delights", former interpreter Igor Dubinsky suggests an experiment: translate several five-minute radio news bulletins from Ukrainian into Russian. He says this is excellent for losing weight, although neurosis is a possible side effect.

Valery Zaitsev, head of interpreting at the Department of Linguistic Support, has experienced every "circle of hell" of simultaneous interpreting at summits. He interpreted for Boris Yeltsin, Vladimir Putin, Mikhail Kasyanov, Viktor Chernomyrdin, Yevgeny Primakov and every foreign minister since Eduard Shevardnadze. He believes the main difficulty is "intercultural communication": language reflects culture and national characteristics, and not everything understood in Russia will make sense to a British audience.

Zaitsev gives an example: "At a press conference after one of his first meetings with British Prime Minister Tony Blair in St. Petersburg, President Putin said federal troops often found graffiti by bandits on walls and fences in Chechnya: ‘Аллах над нами, козлы под нами’—‘Allah above us, goats beneath us.’ My colleague had to translate it instantly and did so literally. The conference was broadcast across Russia, and our department soon received outraged letters from English ‘experts and enthusiasts’ offering various interpretations and insisting the interpreter was wrong. Months later, however, we learned that British Foreign Office specialists had analyzed it thoroughly and concluded our interpreter had rendered it exactly as required."

Zaitsev says interpreters need at least five to seven years of oral interpreting experience to work with heads of state, because the responsibility is immense. Foreign representatives sometimes arrive without interpreters, leaving one simultaneous interpreter to handle both sides, doubling the task. Sometimes one speaker understands the other and asks for only their own remarks to be translated. It is crucial not to independently reinterpret a politician’s thoughts. "Never assume responsibility for interpreting someone else’s ideas your own way. Better ask again, though not too often. If you find a politician’s speech structure or logic difficult, read and listen to their speeches beforehand. In other words, prepare carefully for every negotiation."

Confidentiality is another fundamental issue. Interpreters often attend private conversations between heads of state and must prevent information from leaking. An unpleasant incident once occurred during a telephone conversation between Boris Yeltsin and Bill Clinton. The interpreter took notes, as he was entitled to do. A technical department employee found them, copied them and sold them to a newspaper for US$300. Publication of the transcript caused a huge scandal. The woman was naturally fired, but the interpreter also faced trouble because he had made the record.

Interpreters also encounter comic situations bordering on catastrophe. At the 1943 Tehran Conference, Soviet interpreter Valentin Berezhkov decided to eat during a short pause and put several pieces of meat in his mouth. At that moment Churchill unexpectedly asked Stalin a question. Berezhkov sat silent, his mouth full. Once the others realized why, everyone laughed—except Stalin, who angrily whispered in his ear: "What a place to have lunch. Your job is to interpret!"

One of Putin’s interpreters, Andrey Tsybenko, finds the current president easy and convenient to work with. "He understands our work and pauses at the right time. Often people speak without stopping, and an interpreter cannot interrupt, even if they talk for half an hour. Then we use special symbols and notes: it is impossible to remember everything, but the meaning must be conveyed as closely as possible."

Well-known Soviet interpreter Viktor Sukhodrev never worked with Putin but observed him extensively: "Watching Vladimir Putin makes me proud of my country. He meets foreign colleagues as an equal, understands international affairs, speaks about what he knows and makes no unnecessary statements. He should not, of course, speak too fast, as he sometimes does, or use expressions like ‘замочим в сортире’—‘we’ll wipe them out in the toilet’. Nor should he mention ‘goats’ negatively to Anthony Blair, since the English word does not carry the Russian connotations. Nevertheless, Putin’s behavior is a breath of fresh air. Yeltsin sometimes made me as uncomfortable as working with Voroshilov or Brezhnev in his final years."

Putin sometimes dispenses with an interpreter. At the recent Russia–EU summit in Samara, he even interpreted himself: at AvtoVAZ, he translated a conversation between factory workers and Frank Stronach, an executive of Canada’s "Magna".