The Strange， High-Pressure Work of Presidential Interpreters
Ahead of President Trump’s meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin Friday， some of the White House’s critics lamented the lack of experience among the Americans in the meeting。 The group included was extremely small—just six people， including Secretary of State Rex Tillerson， Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov， and interpreters。 Ivo Daalder， the U.S。 ambassador to NATO under Barack Obama，tweeted， “Total government experience in the room？ Russia： 80+ years US： Less than 12 months。”
周五特朗普总统和俄国总统弗拉基米尔·普京会晤前，有白宫批评者哀叹与会的美国人缺少经验。参会的人很少，只有六个人，他们是国务卿雷克斯·蒂勒森、俄国外长谢尔盖·拉夫罗夫和两名译员。奥巴马政府时期美国驻北约大使伊沃·达尔德发推文说：“屋子里执政经验的总和？俄罗斯：大于八十年。美国：不足12个月。”
But Daalder overlooked one essential part of the U.S。 team： the interpreter.In any meeting with a foreign leader， the usually anonymous figures who facilitate communication aren’t just there to mechanically transfer words between languages。 Interpreters can also function as failsafes， fact-checkers， and even as confidants—especially for inexperienced presidents like Trump。
可达尔德忽视了美国团队的重要组成部分：译员。与外国领导人的任何会晤中，通常那个无名无姓的人就坐在那里，机械地在两种语言间互译，使交流成为可能。译员还是错误保险、事实核实人甚至知己，尤其像特朗普这么没有经验的总统。
“When you come in as a new president， you’re sometimes dealing with a leader who’s been in office for 10 or 20 years， who has been visited by other American presidents before，” says Harry Obst， who translated for seven U.S。 presidents。 Obst， a German native who eventually led the State Department’s Office of Language Services， isthe author of a book about his own experiences and the art of interpretation。
“你刚当总统，有时可能要应对一位任职十年或二十年的领导人，后者见过很多美国总统，”为七位美国总统担任翻译的哈利·奥博斯特说。他是个德国人，如今领导美国国务院语言服务处，他把自己的经历和口译技巧写成一本书。
The interpreters， however， are career State Department staffers， who often bring years of experience to a summit。 Obst said that Lyndon Johnson， who ascended to the presidency suddenly when John F。 Kennedy was killed， was particularly eager to tap interpreters’ wisdom。
相比而言，口译员则是国务院的职业雇员，上峰会有多年经验。奥博斯特说，约翰·肯尼迪遇刺后，林登·约翰逊总统突然继位，约翰逊就特别想借助口译员的智慧。
“Johnson would caucus with me before the meeting， and he would say， ‘Look， do you know this person？ What is he like？ Is he devious？ Is he straightforward？ Is it best to raise a subject straight on or fish around it a bit？’” Obst says。
“开大会前，约翰逊会和我开个小会，他说，‘瞧，你认识这人吗？他什么样？他拐弯抹角还是正大光明？直截了当地问还是弯弯绕，哪一种最好？’”奥博斯特说。
By the time an interpreter gets into a room with the president and a foreign leader， he or she brings in more than simply past meetings。 The first， essential foundation is a wide range of general knowledge。 White House interpreters are provided by the Office of Language Services， which tests would-be interpreters on general knowledge。
等译员与总统和外国领导人走进屋子，他或她带来的不仅是以往参会的经验。首先，最基础的是广博的知识。白宫译员由语言服务处提供，服务处会就一般常识对译员进行测试。
“To work at the very top， you have to have an incredible arsenal of general knowledge， because the president will get into every damn topic you can imagine， from nuclear submarines to agriculture to treaty problems to labor problems to God knows what， jellyfish in the sea，” Obst says。 “If you don’t know how an airplane flies， if you don’t know how a nuclear reactor works， you’re going to make mistakes。”
“在高层工作，你必须掌握大量的常识，因为总统会谈及你能想象到的每个该死的话题，从核潜艇到农业，从条约问题到劳工问题，甚至天知道，还有海里的水母，”奥博斯特说。“如果你不知道飞机是怎么飞的，不知道核反应堆如何工作，你就要出错。”
Like anyone else in a sensitive meeting， an interpreter must have high security clearance。 He or she will also have received all the same briefing books as the president。 That’s essential so that the interpreter can understand the nuances of the information discussed and knows the vocabulary。 But it also means that the interpreter can serve as a crutch for the president， catching minor factual errors or slips of the tongue。
和所有其他参加敏感会议的人一样，译员必须通过严格的安全审查。他或她也和总统看一样的内部参考。这对译员很关键，他们要能理解所讨论信息的微妙之处，知道如何表达。但这也意味着译员可以成为总统的拐杖，发现小的事实性错误或口误。
Once in the meeting， typical protocol calls for a principal to speak， followed by an interpretation by his or her interpreter—so， for example， Trump would speak， and then his interpreter would pronounce what he said in Russian。 That helps insulate the principal from factual errors， but it also helps avoid problems of idioms lost in translation。 American presidents might be tempted to discuss “punting，” a football metaphor that would make little sense to a non-native English speaker； likewise， a European leader who referred to the “89th minute，” as in the final moments of a soccer game， would only confuse an American counterpart。
开会时，一般性礼节是发言人先说，译员再翻译，例如特朗普说话，然后译员用俄语再说一遍。这有助于把发言者的事实性错误滤掉，也有助于避免“迷失在翻译中”的用法问题。美国总统可能会说“踢空中球”，这一橄榄球用语对不说英语的人而言没什么意义；同样欧洲领导人可能会说“89分钟”，即足球比赛的最后时刻，这只会让美国领导摸不着头脑。
“The interpreter will help the principal if he wants to be helped，” Obst says。 “Usually you say， ‘Mr。 Secretary， did you really mean to say such and such？’ Then he has a chance to correct himself。 ”
“译员会帮助发言者，如果发言者需要的话，”奥博斯特说。“通常你会说，‘国务卿先生，你的意思是这样吗？’于是他就有机会改正。”
A figure like Trump， who sometimes mangles the English language and offers his own array of peculiar phrasings and usages （sad！ bigly！） can present a different set of challenges for an interpreter。
像特朗普这样的人，有时会胡说一通，自造用法（sad！ bigly！），这对译员而言着实是非同一般的挑战。
“People misspeak， and some very frequently， people like Alexander Haig，” Obst said， referring to the retired general who was chief of staff to Richard Nixon and secretary of state to Ronald Reagan。 “He had a very crazy knowledge of the English language。 He would not say what he really meant to say。”
“人们会辞不达意，有人经常如此，例如亚历山大·黑格，”奥博斯特说的是退休将军、理查德·尼克松的幕僚长和罗纳德·里根的国务卿黑格。“他会说的英语多极了，他说的话偏偏不是他要表达的。”
Not that interpreters are immune to making their own errors。 Obst began working as an interpreter after just six months of training， and was helped out by the kindness of his more experienced counterparts。
译员自己也难免出错。奥博斯特接受了六个月的训练就开始做译员，很多更有经验前辈好心帮他提高。
“If I would make a minor mistake， they would just not react at all， because it was not important。 If I would make a serious substantive mistake， they would stare at me and raise their eyebrows：Harry， you’ve just made a bad mistake。 They give you a chance to look back into your memory and correct it yourself。 If you can’t， you look back at them and shrug you shoulders：Help me！”
“我要是犯了个小错，他们压根不会吱声，因为那不重要。可要是犯了个实质性错误，他们就会盯着我，瞪大眼睛：哈利，你犯了个大错。他们给你机会回想一下，自己纠正过来。如果没办法纠正，你就看着他们，耸耸肩说：帮个忙吧！”
But Obst said he was lucky enough to avoid serious errors in his career。 Interpreters who make a major gaffe tend to be quickly dismissed， he said。 （My colleague James Fallows on Thursday mentioned agaffe-ridden translation from English to Polishduring a trip by President Jimmy Carter。）
可奥博斯特说他很幸运，职业生涯里没犯过大错。犯了大错的译员很快会被解雇，他说。周四，我的同事詹姆士·法洛斯还说道吉米·卡特总统出访中有一次错误百出的翻译，英语对波兰语。
Others become the story in other ways： Fred Burks was a talented linguist who resigned over complaints about secrecy in the Bush administration； he latertestifiedon behalf of an accused terrorist in Indonesia， and nowcontributesto a conspiracy-theory website。
也有人以其他方式出名：弗莱德·博克斯是个很有天分的翻译，因对布什政府的保密规定感到不满而辞职，后来他在印尼代表一名被控为恐怖分子的人作证，现在建了一家阴谋论网站。
Those who stick around end up being the witnesses—though sworn to secrecy—to pivotal moments of history， likeGamal Helal， an Egyptian-born American who interpreted decades of Middle Eastern diplomacy between Arabic and English。
那些坚持下来的会成为关键历史时刻的见证者，尽管他们发誓保密。埃及出生的美国人贾马尔·希拉勒就是其中一员，他做英阿翻译几十年，见证了中东外交进程。
Interpreters also serve an essential role as record-keepers， taking notes that end up in the National Archives， Obst said。 Of course， interpreters are not always asked to take notes。 It’s unclear who the U.S。 interpreter in Friday’s meeting was and whether he or she took notes， and the White House did not respond to a request for comment。 While such a record would not immediately become public， it does create an account for posterity。 Within an hour after the Putin-Trump meeting， differing accounts had already begun to emerge about what the two men discussed。
译员还可以成为记录者，他们的笔记最后会保存在国家档案馆，奥博斯特说。当然，不是总允许译员做笔记。周五的美国译员是谁还不清楚，是否允许做笔记也不清楚，白宫没有答复。即便笔记无法马上公开，至少也能为后世做些记录。普京和特朗普会晤后一小时内，两人谈了什么就有不同的说法冒了出来。
One reason the Putin-Trump meeting was limited to such a small group was that the Trump team was reportedly concerned about the possibility for leaks， which have bedeviled this administration more than perhaps any other。 The idea of limiting meeting sizes in order to control information tightly is not entirely new。
普京和特朗普的会晤范围如此之小，其中一个原因是特朗普团队很担心泄露，他们认为本届政府被泄密的可能性尤甚。控制会见规模以严控信息的想法并不新鲜。
Obst recalls that Nixon and Henry Kissinger， who distrusted the State Department and had a rocky relationship with Secretary William Rogers， sometimes kept U.S。 interpreters out of meetings， for fear that they would brief Rogers on what had been discussed。 （This also meant that Obst sometimes found himself assisting Rogers in conversations with foreign leaders on topics about which the White House had kept him in the dark。）
奥博斯特回忆起尼克松和亨利·基辛格，基辛格不信任国务院，和国务卿威廉·罗杰斯关系紧张，有时他们甚至不让美国译员参会，担心译员会向罗杰斯汇报讨论内容。（这也意味着奥博斯特有时要协助罗杰斯参与同外国领导人的对话，因为话题内容是白宫不想让他知道的。）
But Obst said the Trump administration need not worry that the linguist will speak out about what occurred between Trump and Putin。 “Our top interpreters will never reveal anything to anyone to anybody who was not a participant，” Obst says。 If so， he or she might be the only staffer who isn’t leaking。
但奥博斯特说，特朗普政府不用担心翻译会说出特朗普和普京之间的对话。“我们的顶级翻译不会向未参会的任何人透露任何事，”奥博斯特说。果真如此，译员可能是唯一不泄密的工作人员。
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