Dear Ms Norris, The country was Poland, the President was Carter, and the translator's name was Steve. He was not an official State Department interpreter. His faux pas was to translate Carter's description of "leaving the United Staes for Poland" as "emigrating from the United States to Poland" which, quite naturally, caused the Polish military commanders on the dias behind Carter to glance at one another in disbelief. The news commentators got a lot of mileage out of "Polish jokes" the next day when the error was pulicized. Barbara Reeve, Australian National Maritime Museum ______________________________ Reply Separator _________________________________ Subject: Re: Communication trivia Author: Museum discussion list <[log in to unmask]> at -Internet Date: 11/27/96 1:14 PM At 01:54 PM 11/26/96 EST, Lynn Norris wrote: >We've got a continuing discussion on miscommunication >going. Does anyone remember the incident where Jimmy >Carter was with a foreign dignitary and the translator >was speaking an archaic version of the language? >Breznev? maybe. We can't decide whether is was Carter or >Reagan. I remember being told a story about Kruschav's (sp) famous visit to the United Nations. K spoke a colorful and vernacular Russian filled with colloquial expressions. At one moment in his talk he wished to express the idea that one idea had nothing to do with another, and used an expression which translated literally something like "My mother has roses is her garden and your wife has an aunt in Kiev." The translator, attempting to make sense of this, translated it as "Something is Fishy in the State of Denmark." At which point the representative from Denmark rose in objection asking K to explain why he was insulting Denmark. At another UN session, this one on insect damage to African crops, the assembly was being told about the Rhinoceros beetle infestation. But the translator goofed and told the audience that trees were being destroyed by swarms of Rhinoceroses who were climbing trees and eating all the leaves. =========================== Robert A. Baron Museum Computer Consultant P.O. Box 93 Larchmont, NY 10538 (USA) [log in to unmask]