Categories: life, translation
Date: 14 July 2009 08:52:49
that some people are doing their bit for international understanding and harmony.
I was told this story by a Scottish lady I met at a party last week. She said it was true - she works in the field, so she may be right.
A German was arrested for speeding offences in Scotland. He appeared in court the next day. The presiding official asked him to state his name and address. This met with a blank response. The official asked the police officer if the defendant could speak English. The officer replied rather sheepishly that he couldn't. The official blew his top pointing out that the whole case was a waste of court time and money without an interpreter. Not wishing to waste more time, he turned to the courtroom and asked if anyone present could speak German and would be prepared to act as interpreter. A man at the back of the room volunteered his services. The official started again and asked the interpreter to ask the man to state his name. The volunteer turned to the defendant and shouted:
Vot iss your name?
He was jailed for contempt of court.
One may laugh - but it is actually quite a serious situation. In my line of work I hear lots of this type of story - (they often seem to revolve around courts) - one was a Chinese takeaway assistant drafted in to interpret for a serious case involving a Chinese defendant.... only to find that neither Chinese understood the other because they spoke different dialects; young people with a GCSE in a language asked to translate complex documents (argh...) INTO the foreign language. The list is endless.
Britons are not known internationally for their language prowess - such as perhaps the Dutch or Scandinavians possess - but I should like to point out that there are in fact thousands of professionally qualified British translators and interpreters (other nationalities, too, of course) who would be only too pleased to offer their services.
Ha. This started off with the intention of being a mildly amusing story and has turned into the draft of a speech to convert the masses. I could go on at some length on this topic but I'll save the rest for a second instalment. You have been warned ;-)