I speak and write only one language fluently. I know about a hundred words of Spanish and can pronounce it flawlessly. I can read German with the occasional help of a dictionary and speak it perfectly but never learned to converse in it fluently having never mastered using my limited vocabulary to convey what I mean rather than trying futilely to translate the thoughts I formulate in my head in English. In my retirement, I spend a few moments almost each day translating the captions of a friend’s comic strips from German to English just for the fun of it because I can. I will never be a real translator, but I have learned a few things. One of the main things is that literal translations frequently don’t convey the speaker’s real meaning to the listener. Sometimes one language has no direct counterpart in another language that can convey the proper meaning.
One instance is the word “Herr” in German. Literally, it can mean Sir or Gentleman. Most of us have heard it in the movies with the standard military phrase, “Jawohl, mein Herr!” accompanied by a salute and sometimes a clicking of the heels. In the military context, we can easily translate it by, “Yes, Sir” accompanied by a salute. In non-military contexts however it still conveys a sense of underling to superior or, as an American might put it, “Yes, Boss.” But the American version carries with it a more congenial and less subservient tone. It’s the kind of thing a man might say to his wife with a twinkle in his eye as in “Whatever you say, Dear,” acknowledging that he’s doing as told if only because he loves her. “Jawohl mein Herr,” as “Yes Sir,” might still translate closely to a Brit, but Americans have no titles of nobility. The Brits still do, even if the power dynamic is not as real as it once was. Americans just don’t see things the same way. Famously, Yogi Berra on being introduced to the Pope, supposedly said, “Hi Pope!”
My first German teacher said that a translator should always be a native speaker of the language he is translating into as well as very knowledgable about the language he is translating from. This is particularly important for dealing with President Trump in diplomatic settings. Trump is a New Yorker from Queens, not Manhattan, and believe it or not for those of us raised in the Midwest or the West, that is a world of difference. Trump may have made his fortune in Manhattan real estate, but he did it as an upstart slumlord from Queens who had to work his way into the corridors of the New York power brokers. He’s more comfortable with the world of wrestling than that of polo. Trump speaks the language of the boardroom rather than the language of diplomacy, and a potentially poor translation might have contributed to the brouhaha with Zelensky.
“You don’t have the cards right now,” Trump told Zelensky.
“We’re not playing cards,” Zelensky shot back angrily via his translator, and things descended into a loud argument in front of the cameras.
From that exchange, it’s clear to me that Trump’s words were conveyed literally to Zelensky who may not have understood the American cultural context. What if it had been translated, “You don’t have the leverage right now,” instead?
It’s clear to most of us that Zelensky indeed doesn’t have the leverage. Ukraine, like Israel and Iran is still a bit player in the great power game, and the only leverage such a country has, is to threaten to switch sides. The great powers right now are the US, China, and to a lesser extent, Russia. India looms as an eventual great power, but currently hasn’t made that step up to flexing power beyond its borders. Europe may mouth the words, but they don’t really have the weapons and certainly not the troops to back up Ukraine’s fight especially as they continue to fund Russia’s war by buying their oil. Militarily, Europe is only a paper tiger, trading on its past reputation, and Zelensky should know better than to hitch his wagon to that fading star, to use another difficult to translate phrase. The interests of both Europe and China are unfortunately best served by just making the conflict continue, so that Russia is weakened in power and influence. For them it’s a matter of, “Let’s you and he fight.” Neither Europe nor China wants to support unconditional victory for “their” side, leaving an increasingly hollowed-out Ukraine to fight on against an aggressor who has many more bodies to sacrifice on the conflagration no matter how many the Ukrainians can kill. In World War II, the Finns played the same game, humiliating the USSR militarily and inflicting many more casualties than they took, but, in the end, had to settle for what they could salvage. This is that moment for Zelensky, and his best move is, as my father-in-law put it, “If you’re being run out of town, act like you’re leading a parade.”
Musings of a Restless Mind 