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Avoid Major Mistakes with Quality Conference Interpretation Services
by
Jordan Rocksmith
When you need to find conference interpretation for your event, look for the following traits and characteristics:
Strong reputation in the local area
Familiarity with interpreting your event type
Familiarity with your industry
Language proficiency and skill level
Years of experience
Unfortunately, history has presented several instances when incorrect interpretations and translations resulted in embarrassing situations, and much worse. Here are a few prime examples of unfortunate situations that could have been avoided with more careful interpretation.
Jimmy Carter
One example that illustrates the importance of having interpreters with native level language proficiency in the language you need interpreted involves former President of the United States Jimmy Carter. President Carter was speaking to a Polish audience in 1976 when the Russian interpreter who spoke Polish misinterpreted President Carters initial statement of I left the United States this morning as I abandoned the United States.
Although residents of the United States know that President Carter never abandoned his post or his country, this likely caused a great deal of confusion to attendees as well as embarrassment for the United States. Although the nation has since recovered, this might have had much more dire consequences, especially as the interpreter continued to criticize the Polish constitution even after the egregious error, an act that may have done serious damage to the United States relations with Poland.
Willie Ramirez
Willie Ramirez was an 18-year-old young man who was admitted to a hospital in Florida after having been poisoned or experiencing an allergic reaction to something. Willies family only spoke Spanish and tried desperately to communicate the problem to medical professionals. They thought that he was suffering from food poisoning, and used the word intoxicado to describe his condition. The interpreter misinterpreted this word to mean intoxicated, and the doctors treated him for a drug overdose. What really was happening was that Willie was suffering an intracerebral hemorrhage and was left a quadriplegic. The family sued and was awarded a $71 million malpractice settlement.
Moses on Mount Sinai
Have you ever seen a sculpture or painting of Moses of the Old Testament with horns? If you have and have ever wondered why he is depicted in this way, it is because of a famous misinterpretation by St. Jerome, the patron saint of translators. St. Jerome had studied Hebrew in an effort to translate the Old Testament into Latin. The Bible states that Mosess head has radiance when he returns from Mount Sinai, but this word was misinterpreted as horned.
Give Your Man Some Chocolate!
Every year on February 14, millions of boxes of chocolates are swept from store shelves by harried men buying last-minute gifts for their significant others. In the 1950s, chocolate companies began an initiative to make Valentines Day a big deal in the Japan, but an error in translation urged women to buy chocolates for their men rather than the other way around. Sixty years later, this tradition still stands. (But dont worry, men return the favor for the women on March 14.)
Whether the result is 60 years of silly backwards tradition or something more serious such as distorted international relations, misinterpretation can have all kinds of negative consequences. When you are hosting an event or a conference, be sure to prevent any of these things from happening by researching and selecting the most qualified conference interpretation company.
U.S. Language Solutions is a leading provider of top quality conference interpreting, translation equipment and audio system in Denver & the United States.
Conference interpretation
. Visit our page on
uslsolutions.com/
for more info!
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