Politicians are required to be diplomatic, courteous, and of course, knowledgeable, especially when it comes to interacting with leaders from other nations. However, there have been numerous times when this hasn’t been the case, and instead the politician’s message has become lost in translation.
The French president, Emmanuel Macron, is the latest to fall foul of a translation blunder when he described the Australian Prime Minister’s wife as “delicious”. Although he may have been referring to the word “delicieux”, meaning “lovely” or “delightful”, it was still noted by many reporters as another faux-pas to add to his already rather long list.
He shouldn’t feel too concerned though, he is in good company; there are many other world leaders that have made similar blunders when communicating through translators and interpreters, or when attempting to address others in their native tongues as the list below highlights:
Tony Blair
Tony Blair recalled a translation mistake he made while visiting France, during a speech in 1998 at the Blackpool Labour Conference. He explained how he had received a standing ovation when he became the first British Prime Minister to address the National Assembly, and had delivered the speech in French.
He later admitted that the praise may have made him slightly overconfident about his abilities with the French language, as he readily agreed to conduct a press conference in French on his next visit.
Apparently, he became a bit “cocky” about his linguistic skills during the interview and instead of saying “I admire Lionel Jospin in many ways” he said “I desire Lionel Jospin in many different positions”. Blair claimed that the French were, thankfully, “quite relaxed” about that sort of thing!
John F Kennedy
In 1963 J.F.K visited West Berlin, uttering the now immortalised words “Ich bin ein Berliner” meaning “I am a Berliner”. He was emphasising the solidarity between America and West Germany following the construction of the Berlin Wall.
However, since then, some linguists have suggested that use of the word “ein” in the sentence means that it could be literally translated as “I am a doughnut”.
Jimmy Carter
When Jimmy Carter became the US president he chose Poland for his first trip abroad. Upon arrival in the country on New Year’s Eve he gave a speech to the people of Poland suggesting he would like to understand the country’s “desires for the future” however, his interpreter used “very rustic” Polish and translated the message in a way that suggested Carter carnally desired the Polish people.
Steven Seymour, the interpreter for the speech made by Carter, was publicly chided by the media for numerous mistakes including one that should have read “when I left the United States this morning” but instead became “when I abandoned the United States”.
Seymour said in his defence that he had waited for three hours in the snow for the president to arrive, and only had 15 minutes to study the speech before it was delivered.
Hilary Clinton
The US Secretary of State in 2009 was Hilary Clinton, and when she met with her Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, she presented him with a “reset button” as a symbol of the new diplomatic era between the two superpowers.
Unfortunately, the button had been made with the word “peregruzka” meaning “overcharged”, as opposed to the word “perezagruzka” meaning “reset”.
When Lavrov pointed out the translation error Clinton replied “We won’t let you do that to us, I promise.”
Pierre Lellouche
France’s Europe minister in 2009, Pierre Lellouche, stocked the already smouldering tensions between France and the UK when he told The Guardian “It’s pathetic…it’s very sad to see Britain, so important in Europe, just cutting itself out from the rest and disappearing from the radar map.”
He went on to say ““They have one line and they just repeat one line. It is a very bizarre sense of autism.”
A spokesperson for the minister later backtracked on the statement, and clarified that the term “autistic” in French has been trivialised through overuse, but he said he realised it would be a shocking statement in Britain. He claimed it was a mistake due to mistranslation.
These instances of mistranslation may appear humorous and amusing, but when politicians, diplomats and peace envoys make mistakes, it can literally be the difference between life and death for some.
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