Mr. Li and His Beautiful Interpreter

As an interpreter, it is always a nerve-racking job to interpret for a press conference, let alone the speaker is an important political figure. Have you ever being corrected by a speaker like that in front of the audiences? I agree that the speaker has the final interpretation power in terms of how his or her words should be interpreted. What if the translation that the speaker suggested or imposed on cannot top the translation you previously delivered? To fight with such a speaker, you are actually fighting a losing battle.

It happened to me once in the past. Lately, when I was watching the press conference on CCTV4, Mr. Li Zhaoxing did it to his interpreter. I found it was totally unnecessary. His interpreter was so beautiful and superb with her interpretation job. I was very impressed that China has such a wonderful interpreter. She was so professional and polite and simply let Mr. Li run over her. I think she was very smart, too. What could you really do in a situation like that? Keep mouth shut perhaps was the best solution.

Here is the sentence that Mr. Li had a problem with:

“山不在高，有仙则名，国不在大，热爱和平、主持公道就好。”

The lady interpreter: “A mountain, no matter how high it is , if it is blessed with the touch of divine, it would be well-known. A country, no matter how big it is, if it can uphold peace and justice in the world, it would be a good country.”

Then, Mr. Li made a quick and partial "correction": “What the matter of a mountain is not its height, what the matter of the country is not its size.”

As you see, Mr. Li’s version is an incomplete and partial translation. Personally, I found Mr. Li’s translation sounding awkward and lacking the style. It would be something that made the audiences wondered what he was trying to say here. Don’t take me wrong. I always admire Mr. Li’s work style in his line of work. His kick-butt attitude made me so proud to be a Chinese. But, I cannot applause to his English, especially this “correction” he made during his press conference. A translator friend of mine even asked "Would the former Premier Zhou also handle it the same way?"

With great interest, I translated this sentence myself. Here comes my version: “The height of a mountain does not matter. What matters is if there is an immortal dueling there. The size of a country does not matter. What matters is if this country can uphold peace and justice.”

What do you think?