– 100 --
The Interpreter as Intervener
Sanda Kaufman
Editors’ Note: You’re about to start negotiating in a language where you can’t even read the alphabet. What to do? This chapter is essential for anyone about to engage in a negotiation involving multiple languages—which could include many “domestic” negotiations in Singapore or Chicago or London or Paris. Kaufman explores how translators are neither perfectly neutral third parties, nor part of a team (contrary to common assumptions). She then shows how they are often powerful and autonomous actors in the negotiation, and demonstrates how important it is to think about the use of interpreters before the day they are hired.
-----
The most dangerous of all falsehoods is a slightly distorted truth.
G.C. Lichtenberg, physicist (1742-1799)
Any translator who intends to render a work from one language to another merely by rendering word for word, and slavishly following the order of the chapters and sentences in the original, will come to grief. The product of his labor will be unintelligible and ludicrous.
Maimonides1 (1135-1204)
-----
Language Barriers to Negotiations
The word “ceasefire” carries critically different meanings in Arabic (hudna), in Hebrew (hafsakat esh) and English, in which negotiations are often conducted in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The parties to this conflict also differ over the meaning of tahdiah, designating in Arabic the period of calm on which sides agreed informally in 2005, in Sharm el Sheik (Al-Ahram 2005). The hudna example led Micah D. Halperin (2003) to observe that:
One of the most significant obstacles to be overcome in the Israeli-Palestinian peace process is language. The cultural, conceptual and language barriers that separate the negotiating partners are greater than their negotiation over land and far more difficult to resolve.
UN Resolution 242 (1967) famously carries significantly different meanings in English, Russian, French, and Spanish, hinging on one word....
----
For full contents please purchase The Negotiator’s Desk Reference.
----
References
Al-Ahram (Egypt), March 30, 2005. Translated in MEMRI Special Dispatch #894, April 19, 2005.
Avruch, K. and Z. Wang. 2005. Culture, Apology, and International Negotiation: The Case of the Sino-US “Spy Plane” Crisis. International Negotiation 10: 337-354.
Brett, J. M. 2007. Negotiating Globally: How to Negotiate Deals, Resolve Disputes, and Make Decisions Across Cultural Boundaries, 2d edn. San Francisco: John Wiley & Sons.
Cole, R. 2010. Survey of the State of the Art in Human Language Technology. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Dateline NBC television broadcast 2005. Keith Morrison’s report on Northern Uganda. Aug. 21.
Griffin, T. J. and W. R. Daggatt. 1990. The Global Negotiator: Building Strong Business Relationships Anywhere in the World. New York: Harper.
Halperin, M. D. 2003. What You Need to Know About: Terror. Jerusalem: Toby Press.
Hutchins, W. J. 1978. Machine Translation and Machine-Aided Translation. Journal of Documentation 34: 119-159.
Kakaes, K. 2012. Why Computers Still Can’t Translate Languages Automatically. Accessed Sept. 9, 2015, http://www.slate.com/articles/technology/future_tense/2012/05/darpa_s_transtac_bolt_and_other_machine_translation_programs_search_for_meaning_.html.
Kaufman, S. and G. T. Duncan. 1988. The Role of Mandates in Third Party Intervention. Negotiation Journal 4: 403-412.
Kelly, N. “Why Machines Alone Cannot Solve the World’s Translation Problem.” Accessed Sept. 14, 2015. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nataly-kelly/why-machines-alone-cannot-translation_b_4570018.html.
Lewicki, R. J., A. Hiam and K. W. Olander. 1996. Think Before You Speak: A Complete Guide to Strategic Negotiation. New York: John Wiley & Sons.
Lewis, B. 2004. From Babel to Dragomans, Interpreting the Middle East. London: Oxford University Press.
Nolan-Haley, J. 2006. Agents and Informed Consent. In The Negotiator’s Fieldbook: The Desk Reference for the Experienced Negotiator, edited by A. K. Schneider and C. Honeyman. Washington, DC: American Bar Association.
Petri, A. 2014. Spanish version of Healthcare.gov apparently used computer translation? Accessed Sept. 14, 2015, https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/compost/wp/2014/01/13/spanish-version-of-healthcare-gov-apparently-used-computer-translation/.
Pinker, Steven. 2003. The Blank Slate: The Modern Denial of Human Nature. New York: Penguin.
Putnam, L. L. and M. E. Roloff, eds. 1992. Communication and Negotiation. Vol. 20. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publications.
Putnam, L. 2006. Communication and Interaction Patterns. In The Negotiator’s Fieldbook: The Desk Reference for the Experienced Negotiator, edited by A. K. Schneider and C. Honeyman. Washington, DC: American Bar Association.
Rosenne, S. 1971. On Multilingual Interpretation, Israel Law Review 6:360-366.
Rubens, P. Building Babel: Lost in Machine Translation. Accessed Sept. 14, 2015, http://www.bbc.com/future/story/20120306-lost-in-machine-translation.
Rubin, J. Z., ed. 1981. Dynamics of Third Party Intervention: Kissinger in the Middle East. New York: Praeger.
Salacuse, J. W. 1999. Law and Power in Agency Relationships. In Negotiating on Behalf of Others: Advice to Lawyers, Business Executives, Sports Agents, Diplomats, Politicians and Everybody Else, edited by R. Mnookin. New York: Sage.
Salus, P. H. The History of Computer Language Translation. Accessed May 13, 2016, http://blog.smartbear.com/testing/the-history-of-computer-language-translation/.
The Economist Johnson: The Rise of the Machine Translators. Accessed Sept. 14, 2015, http://www.economist.com/blogs/prospero/2014/06/computer-aided-translation.