Simultaneous interpretation of foreign politics is bound to be a difficult task, regardless of country or nationality. Three Japanese interpreters learned the hard way when their attempt to translate the 2020 US Presidential Debate went viral… and left many Japanese listeners scratching their heads.
The Viral Tweet
The following tweet went viral soon after the US Presidential Debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden aired in Japan through public broadcaster NHK on September 29, 2020.
The short clip walks a fine line between hilarious and downright painful as the listener struggles to hear six different voices talk over one another. Many were baffled. But it wasn’t because of the skill of the Japanese interpreters.
Japanese Twitter Reacts
"Why do the simultaneous interpreters keep stopping mid-sentence?" Click To TweetJapanese Twitter wasted no time reacting. Responses were all over the place. Some criticized the candidates, saying it wasn’t “a debate at all, ignoring the rules of a debate with interruptions, lies, and people screaming over each other”.
Some criticized the moderator, musing, “Wouldn’t it be funny if the moderator could just turn the microphone off?”
And some criticized the interpreters themselves:
“Neither Trump nor Biden are answering the questions straight. Are the interpreters using the correct words? The responses seem quite different from what the other party is asking.”
“Why do the simultaneous interpreters keep stopping mid-sentence?”
Many seemed to doubt the Japanese interpreters’ ability to understand the debate at all. At the end of the spectacle, many were scratching their heads, wondering what they witnessed and who was to blame for the confusion.
The Japanese Interpreters’ Dilemma
Simultaneous interpretation is the skill to translate a foreign language instantaneously into your own, while anticipating the flow, maintaining the syntax, and keeping up with the pace of the speaker. One must convey not only literal translations, but subtleties, implications, and intentions. This leads to one of the biggest dilemmas for Japanese interpreters: how to translate controversial speech?
Many believe interpreters should convey a message exactly as the speaker intended it – bad language and all. This puts many Japanese interpreters in a lose-lose situation. Click To TweetJapan’s public and political sphere is no place for emotion. Honne and tatemae are king. Regardless how much two parties disagree, expressing personal emotions and opinions in public is immature, incompetent, and unprofessional.
Because of this, many Japanese interpreters paraphrase and tone down strong language for Japanese national TV. A simultaneous interpreter, struggling to find a Japanese equivalent for the word “nut-job” at a previous Trump speech, used 変人 (henjin – literally “strange person”). However many argued that this TV-friendly translation failed to convey Trump’s insult.
A Lose-Lose for Japanese Interpreters
This dilemma has affected Japanese interpreters in more ways than simple embarrassment. It’s what drove former interpreter, Torikai Kumiko, to early retirement in the 1980s. After simultaneously interpreting a speech riddled with racist and misogynistic terms, she decided to call it quits.
Many believe interpreters should convey a message exactly as the speaker intended it – bad language and all. This puts many Japanese interpreters in a lose-lose situation. If they paraphrase or use their own words, they may lose credibility. On the other hand, if they repeat vulgarities or derogatory expressions on national TV, they may lose respect, or even their jobs.
“Trump Makes Japanese Interpreters Cry”
At the end of the day, interpreters agree that Trump is just someone you cannot translate literally. Click To TweetAccording to past coverages of US political speeches in Japan, Trump “makes interpreters cry”. And it has nothing to do with political affiliation or the difficulty of his speech.
A Carnegie Mellon University Language Technologies Institute (LTI) “readability analysis” of presidential campaign speeches ranked Trump at the lowest level of linguistic complexity of all past candidates and US presidents. In other words… it’s hard to understand because it’s too simple!
Interpreters study synonyms, complex vocabulary, and related nuances in order to anticipate the flowing dialogue of professional orators. Speakers use synonyms to emphasize points, clarify meanings, and identify tones. When a speaker uses the same word over and over, it eliminates the ability to detect tone and context from the words alone. This is where many interpreters trip up.
Trump likes to repeat simple words many times in a single speech (“great”, “big”, “beautiful”, etc). He frequently changes topic mid-sentence, makes sudden references out of context, and even cuts off his own sentences without completing them.
Interpreters risk looking foolish by leaving thoughts unfinished. Listeners can’t tell if the interpreters stopped because the speaker cut off the sentence or because they simply couldn’t keep up. One Japanese interpreter jokes, “If we translated his words as they are, we would end up making ourselves sound stupid”. At the end of the day, interpreters agree that Trump is just someone you cannot translate literally.
Ready for Round Two?
This now begs the question: are interpreters ready for the next round? While nobody can guarantee the next debate will be any more (or less) bearable to watch, we can probably guarantee it will be no walk in the park for the interpreters. Maybe we should give the interpreters a break and just wait for the fan-subs.
