Martin Meenagh blog

Summit Translations

I wonder about the Foreign Office sometimes. I met with a friend tonight who told me--and they should know--that there is no British booth at the London conference for translators. Everyone else has a booth.

Booths are where translation and interpretation goes on. When ministers push a button to hear what someone is saying, they either listen to their own booth or to that provided by others.

It is a basic rule of diplomacy, and has always been, forever, that one does not rely on an interested party's translation. Havoc can result.

Even if the delegates all speak English, when it comes to nuance they will speak a form that cannot bear the weight. Britain is relying on America, or trusting foreign states, when everyone has a reason to sideline, constrain or replace the City of London.

I don't bear the city goodwill, but I would have thought the British government wouldn't want to risk making things easy for the badness of a diplomatic crowd. The City's future imprisonment should surely be on British terms.

They seem barely competent.

This summit, it seems,--not that it matters--is already lost in translation, if my friends from a small delegation are right.

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