Interpreters as Diplomats: A Diplomatic History of the Role of

Interpreters in World Politics

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 PERSPECTIVES ON TRANSLATION
Series Director: Jean Delisle

INTERPRETERS AS DIPLOMATS
A Diplomatic History
of the Role of Interpreters
in World Politics

Ruth A. ROLAND

With an introduction by
Jean DELISLE

University of Ottawa Press

University of Ottawa Press gratefully acknowledges the support extended to its
publishing programme by the Canada Council, the Department of Canadian
Heritage, and the University of Ottawa.
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the
Book Publishing Industry Development Program for this project.

Canadian Cataloguing in Publication Data

Roland, Ruth A., 1922-

Interpreters as Diplomats: A Diplomatic History of the Role of
Interpreters in World Politics

(Perspectives on translation)
First published Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co., 1982 under title: Translating
World Affairs.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7766-0501-1

1. International relations—Translating—History. 2. World politics—

Translating. 3. Translating and interpreting—History. I. Title. II. Title:
Translating World Affairs. III. Series.

JZ1305.R64 1999 327.1/01/4 C99-900616-9

Technical Assistance: Paule Ouellet

Cover Design: Robert Dolbec
Typesetting: Danielle Peret

Cover Picture: "The Ambassador's Arrival" by Vittore Carpaccio (c. 1455-1526).

Corel Photo Studio, "The Masters," Vol. VII, No. 566092.
Original Title: Translating World Affairs (Jefferson, N.C., McFarland & Company, 1982)

University of Ottawa Press/Presses de 1'Universite d'Ottawa

"All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmit-

ted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy,
recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission
in writing from the publisher."

ISSN 1480-7734
ISBN 0-7766-0501-1

University of Ottawa Press, 1999

542 King Edward, Ottawa, Ont., Canada KIN 6N5
press@[Link]
[Link]
Printed and bound in Canada
"Diplomacy is about making friends,
not losing them."

VERNON WALTERS,
The Washington Post,
December 16,1985

"What difficulties and misunder-

standings might not be avoided, and
how much time saved, by leaving
matters trustfully in the translator's
hands!"

FRIEDRICH VON GENTZ,

Diary,
September 1814
This page intentionally left blank
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction by Jean Delisle 1

Preface 7

CHAPTER 1
The Linguist of Ancient and Medieval Days 9

CHAPTER 2
Europe and the New World, to 1919 41

CHAPTER 3
East-West Confrontation: China, Japan, India 83

CHAPTER 4
From Versailles (1919) to the United Nations 121

CHAPTER 5
Outstanding Interpreters 157

Works Cited 175

Index 201

VII
 TABLE OF FIGURES

1. Sarcophagus of a Dacian interpreter 22

2. Punishment of an unfaithful interpreter 36
3. Friedrich von Gentz 52
4. Sacajawea 75
5. The "Big Four" and interpreter Paul Mantoux 122
6. The Nuremberg Trial. Booth of the interpreters 129
7. Leon Dostert 131
8. Sir Winston Churchill, interpreter Arthur Hurbert
Birse and Joseph Stalin 159
9. Adolf Hitler, interpreter Eugen Dollmann and
Galeazzo Ciano 162
10. Constantin Andronikof and Danica Seleskovitch . . . 163

VIII
 INTRODUCTION

No matter who we are or where we live, we are all, thanks to

translation and interpretation, contemporaries of every histor-
ical period and citizens of every country. The author of this
work enables us to discover a collection of fascinating charac-
ters who, although they worked in the shadows of some of the
world's great figures (but also the not so great), played an
essential role in political and diplomatic affairs. Like the trans-
lators and interpreters who come back to life in these pages,
she takes us beyond our linguistic and cultural boundaries
and even beyond the boundaries erected through prejudice
and ignorance.
Ruth A. Roland's story is embellished with numerous
anecdotes, which give a human, realistic dimension to her
characters. The interpreters belong to almost all of the sub-
groups of this age-old profession, from the Pharaohs' first
interpreters to conference interpreters, with military, judicial,
parliamentary and interpreting brokers in between. Canada's
French explorer Jacques Cartier finished his seafaring career as
an interpreting broker in the port of Saint-Malo in Brittany.
Still today, interpreting brokers in ocean ports are the only
ones apart from ship commanders who have the right to trans-
late documents written in foreign languages before commer-
cial courts. They are also the only ones to serve as go-betweens
with foreigners.
One of the major strengths of Interpreters as Diplomats is
that it is the only work to give an overview of other works by
interpreters from antiquity to the introduction of a new inter-

1
 INTERPRETERS AS DIPLOMATS

pretation method, simultaneous interpretation, by means of

modern technology. Greeted with skepticism and even latent
hostility by the mandarins of consecutive interpretation,
simultaneous interpretation proved to be perfectly suited to
the fast pace of modern life, the abolition of distances and the
increasing number of international forums. The 20th century
has been the age of rapprochement among nations. The global
village would not have been conceived of without the cohort
of translators and interpreters who give a voice to the main
players on the international scene.
The invisible men and women wearing headphones, sit-
ting in a dimly lit booth the size of a confessional and who
look like they are talking to their microphone, actively partici-
pate in turbulent peace talks, in war crime trials, in somewhat
calmer trade negotiations and in all kinds of international
meetings of experts. Their presence is also required at impor-
tant gatherings of diplomats endeavoring to settle interna-
tional disputes. In their own way, modern interpreters con-
tribute to world harmony.
The brief historical overview presented to us in Roland's
book clearly shows that language has always been more than a
simple communication tool: it has also been a mark of national
prestige, and interpreters have brought this prestige to the
international arena.
As everyone knows, language is also a tricky, difficult tool
to handle. People can get offended if breakdowns in commu-
nication, often unforeseeable, occur. Experienced interpreters
know this. Instinctively they put up their guard when tension
is in the air, discussions are lively and passions are unleashed.
A harmless phrase can provoke a diplomatic incident. "II y a
anguille sous roche," a Soviet delegate once said in a speech at
the time of the Cold War. With no malice aforethought, the
interpreter translated this expression by "There is a nigger in
the woodpile." A black man got up immediately and left the
room. He was the leader of the American delegation: he
thought the Russian was insulting him. If the interpreter had
said "There is more than meets the eye" instead, which means
the same as "There is a nigger in the woodpile," he would not
have offended the sensitive American delegate and would

2
 INTRODUCTION

have avoided an international incident. Interpreters are lin-

guistic acrobats constantly walking on a tightrope.
The interpreter is as much Dr. Jekyll as Mr. Hyde. One day
he may have to put himself in the shoes of a Russian foreign
minister; the next, in those of a famous surgeon from New
York, an oil tycoon from Riyadh, a top-ranking army comman-
der from Brussels or a banker from Geneva. A good interpreter
does not settle for a mechanical rendering of the spoken word.
Before him stands a living being, sometimes placid, at other
times raging with anger, indignation or impatience. The inten-
sity of such feelings, which become one with word meaning,
needs to be rendered to a certain degree by the interpreter.
However, there are certain risks in doing so, as an American
interpreter learned the hard way. At a time when tension
between the United States and the USSR was at its highest,
he was accused of being a "card-carrying communist" for hav-
ing enthusiastically interpreted in front of television cameras a
virulent condemnation of the West by the Soviet ambassador
to the United Nations. Our perception of the interpreter is
not entirely independent of the person to whom he lends
his voice.
Dr. Roland's well-documented history takes us not only to
the West and the Middle East but also—and this is yet another
aspect of the originality of this piece—to little explored areas
in the general history of translation and interpretation such as
China, Japan, India, the former USSR and the United States.
The fact that the author is a specialist in political science, and
is very familiar with the situation in Southeast Asia, no doubt
explains why her book focusses on these countries. It is a mine
of new information on the social class of certain groups of
interpreters, their working conditions, the esteem in which
they were held or, at the other end of the spectrum, people's
mistrust of them. We also learn that many interpreters met a
tragic end, and that others were punished for their incompe-
tence or dishonesty (fig. 2).
The first Macedonian interpreters were principally
recruited from the nobility. Slaves, emancipated or not, could
be interpreters too. Was this a sign of democratization of
the profession? In the 16th century, interpreters were also

3
 INTERPRETERS AS DIPLOMATS

recruited among barbers, alchemists and merchants. Many an

interpreter in antiquity was beheaded by a capricious king or a
prince who confused "messenger" with "message." But by the
early years of the 20th century, interpreters who worked for
the League of Nations enjoyed diplomatic privileges, includ-
ing diplomatic immunity. Conditions had definitely changed
for the better.
Interpreters as Diplomats provides proof that high-level,
experienced interpreters exert a certain power in the practis-
ing of their profession. With judicious intervention, they can
help naive, ignorant clients avoid otherwise costly blunders.
Although their skills are linguistic and their principal function
is to facilitate communication, interpreters are far more than
simple relayers of speech.
This power stems from the considerable credibility
enjoyed by the competent, reputable, neutral and impartial
interpreter. The best example of the enormous trust that can be
placed in a translator or interpreter is the remarkable case of
the German Friedrich von Gentz (fig. 3). An observation of
his on translators of diplomatic documents is quoted and
explained in Dr. Roland's text. At the peak of his power,
Gentz, brain of the Holy Alliance, combined the offices of
Metternich's secretary, Secretary-General of the Vienna
Congress, agent of a number of foreign powers and very much
sought-after interpreter and translator of diplomatic docu-
ments. In February 1801, he noted: "Lord Carysfoot entrusted
me with the translation into French of the publication of the
English note against Prussia on the one hand, and shortly
afterwards Graf Haugwitz with that into German of the
Prussian note against England." This is indeed a great testi-
mony of trust.
Interpreters as Diplomats is a reproduction of a 1982 work
entitled Translating World Affairs (Jefferson, N.C., McFarland &
Company). As director of the Perspectives on Translation
series, I concluded that republishing this study in a revised,
up-to-date edition would be useful. The original work went
practically unnoticed in translation and interpretation circles.
To my knowledge, neither newsletters from professional asso-
ciations nor translation reviews discussed it. This book has

4
 INTRODUCTION

been unduly omitted in the references of most of the special-

ized works on the subject. Yet, this well-documented piece of
research—proven by the extensive bibliography—is the only
book-length study that paints a truly comprehensive history of
interpretation, which was practised even before the birth of
translation and writing. It was thus necessary to make this
contribution to the history of interpretation known to transla-
tors, interpreters and historians, particularly since this book
can be considered as the follow-up to the collective work
Translators through History (1995), which focussed on the his-
tory of translation and which I also co-directed. Incidentally,
the last chapter of this book, a UNESCO and John Benjamins1
co-publication, is devoted entirely to interpreters and is enti-
tled "Interpreters and the Making of History."
The unique angle used to approach the subject—the role of
interpreters in diplomatic and political history—doubly justi-
fies the publication of a new edition of Roland's book. A curi-
ous reader, a professional interpreter or an interpretation stu-
dent wishing to learn about the history of the profession will
find in it the main historical events in which interpreters dis-
tinguished themselves. Many periods are covered, including
the Greco-Roman period, the conquistadors (Cortes and his
native interpreter Dona Marina), the discovery of the New
World (Samuel de Champlain's residents-interpreters in New
France) and even Colbert's institute for the Jeunes de langue or
Enfants de langue, established in 1669 to train young children as
interpreters for work in the Levant. The book also deals with
interpreters who were instrumental in the signing of impor-
tant international treaties, who worked in the interpretation
services of the Chinese, Indian or Japanese bureaucracies, and
the League of Nations, and others who played a key role dur-
ing both world wars, the Nuremberg trials and the United
Nations assemblies. Readers can become familiar with the
great names in the profession—founders of a new style of
interpretation, such as Leon Dostert (fig. 7) or exceptionally
talented practitioners, such as Ernest Satow, Paul Mantoux
(fig. 5), Andre Kaminker, Arthur H. Birse (fig. 8), Eugen
Dollmann (fig. 9) and Vernon Walters.
By pulling together a mass of scattered documents about
interpreters and publishing her work, Ruth A. Roland has

5
 INTERPRETERS AS DIPLOMATS

made an invaluable contribution. We hope to match this by

giving her book a new lease on life and by helping it to get the
readership and recognition it deserves.
JEAN DELISLE
University of Ottawa

Note
1. Also available are a French edition, Les Tmducteurs dans I'histoire (Paris/Ottawa,
Les Editions UNESCO/Les Presses de 1'Universite d'Ottawa, 1995), and a
Portuguese edition, Os traductores na historia (Sao Paulo, Editora Atica, 1998). A
translation into German is being prepared by a team of translators working
under the supervision of Hannelore Lee-Jahnke (University of Geneva). This ver-
sion is due to be published in 2000.

6
 PREFACE

Somewhere in the chronicles of political history there hides a

"missing link/' Library shelves overflow with accounts of bilat-
eral and multilateral conferences, meetings with heads of state,
as well as regular, ongoing political and economic contacts at
the international level. Surely, thoughtful readers must often
wonder about the practical, functional aspect of intercourse
among nations, of which none is more basic than language.
According to both the Bible and much of the world's cul-
tural mythology, at one time in the far-distant past, all human
beings spoke a single tongue. (The story of the Tower of Babel
may be found in Genesis 11:7-9.) But verifiable history does
not recall such an idyllic period. In all ages, at all times, rela-
tively few people, not excluding national leaders, have
boasted true fluency in a tongue not their own. According to
Plutarch, Cleopatra spoke so many languages that she was
able to greet most foreign ambassadors in their own tongue,
whether they were Arabs, Ethiopians, Hebrews, Medes or
Syrians, and Mithradates the Great is thought to have known
more than 20 languages. But these persons were as exceptional
then as they would be today.
This being the case, how have mutually incomprehensible
humans maintained their ceaseless, intimate contact through-
out the ages? We all know the answer. Bilingual or multilin-
gual people, known as interpreters or translators, have been
the intermediaries. Without their services, there could have
been no "international relations." But how seldom are these
invisible yet indispensable persons noted by the historians!