1 Translation and interpretation in matters of diplomacy
is tricky. Language enthusiasts particularly enjoy the story
of the Treaty of Wuchale, signed between Ethiopia and Italy
4 in 1889. The text didn’t read the same in Amharic and
Italian. The former guaranteed Ethiopia’s king Menelik II a
good measure of autonomy in conducting foreign affairs.
7 The latter established an Italian protectorate with no
flexibility. The culprit: one verb, forming a permissive
clause in Amharic and a mandatory one in Italian. Six years
10 later, the differing interpretations led to war. Ethiopia won.
If only the Ethiopians and Italians had modern
translators at their side. Treaty translation is big business
13 today. The European Union, for example, spends an
estimated €300m annually on translating between its 23
official languages. (While this is a big chunk of money, it’s
16 less than 1% of the EU’s annual budget.) Three of those—
English, French, and German—are working languages in
most meetings. In reality, English is most commonly used.
But because each document must be faithfully recreated in
each of the EU’s 23 languages, creating authentic versions
can be expensive and time-consuming. Thankfully, most
22 problems are dealt with in procès-verbal, a way to introduce
technical corrections to treaties without revisiting
negotiations. It might still delay matters. Last year, for
25 example, Ireland’s ratification of an EU treaty was delayed
by grammatical errors in the Irish version. There are obvious
trade-offs to language equality, but the EU has calculated
28 that the delays and costs are worth it.
The United Nations should revisit its own calculations.
It has just six official and two working languages. The task
31 of translation here in Geneva, home to most UN organs, is
thus decidedly simpler. The UN’s official languages are
geographically diverse—combined, native speakers of
34 Arabic, English, French, Mandarin, Russian and Spanish
number over 2.2 billion. But the two working languages are
bound to tradition. The persistence of French is attributed to
37 its history as the “language of diplomacy”. In the hallways
of the New York headquarters, English is (naturally)
favored, and French is preferred in Geneva. Treaties
40 registered with the United Nations Treaty Series are always
translated into French and English. Documents are always
provided in French and English. This city’s Geneva
43 Conventions, written in equally authentic French and
English versions, laid part of the groundwork for the
45 international system.
Towards a fairer distribution. Available at: <www.economist.com>.
Retrieved on: Aug. 15. 2019, with adaptations.