Perils of Translation

Focus on Asia and Europe:

Diplomatic Snippets: Perils of Translation

By LB Labuschagne

Meintjeskop Ditaba No II/1998

We all know that language is one of the most effective tools in a diplomat's arsenal. While the English and Americans are said to be people separated by a common language one can only imagine some of the tribulations our officials get into when we are not separated by a common language. I would like to mention a few incidents which happened when I served in Beijing.

Shortly after my arrival I wished to make some arrangements for my son, who was to visit us during his university holiday, to practice fencing with a club. Telephonic enquiries elicited no satisfaction and the question was avoided with various excuses, including preparation for Olympic trials! I then remembered the importance of personal contact. So an appointment was arranged and equipped with a photograph of my second born, my secretary and I proceeded to the meeting in our official taxi - no official car as yet.

On the way I asked my Chinese secretary: "Who is meeting us?" She responded: "Yes". Mystified, I again asked and received the same answer. After the third try I saw the light and asked,  "Is Mr Who meeting us?" and. guess what! The answer was "Yes". Well. Mr Wu turned out to be most helpful and after many cups of tea and a display of my son's photographs it was arranged that he could indeed fence at a state fencing school.

Another exercise in Diplomacy was when I was trying to negotiate the finalization of our office accommodation and refurbishments. We had been struggling for weeks to get some reply from the Sino/German consortium. Ms Anli Ahlers, our Chinese speaking admin officer, was on leave when a joint meeting was finally arranged. I was left with no office linguist and thus dependent on the Chinese side for translation. At the meeting I gave vent to my frustrations at the delays in a most vigorous, bordering on the undiplomatic, fashion. After my tirade which was translated into Chinese, the Chinese official stood up and with a broad smile stretched his hand out over the table and in stuttering English said "Welcome to China. We are pleased that you want our building". What had been translated I will never know. Translation or diplomacy notwithstanding, I will never know, but I was totally disarmed. We eventually did occupy the office space and moved in after working out of hotel rooms for 14 months.

Like all new arrivals I made an effort to learn Chinese. This is possibly the most difficult language in the world. Those who speak both Chinese and Russian maintain that the latter is a piece of cake compared to the former. Each word has four different meanings depending on the tone used. We had just moved into our new apartment number 514 and I proudly gave a Chinese friend the number verbally. After all, what can go wrong with three digits, five one four. After receiving a mild blank look he said to me: "You have just said 'I want to die'!  I had used the wrong tones!

I then realised the many pitfalls awaiting aspirant Chinese linguists, particularly those who, like me, are tone deaf. The Chinese on principle would only speak Chinese and I would often find, when visiting the Foreign Ministry that we would chat away in fluent English and I would say my official piece in English. When the officials had to respond officially they would only do so in Chinese which would then be translated by their interpreter . Often the official would correct his interpreter in English. but never would I receive a direct reply in English.