in helsinki at the high level in helsinki during the meeting of george shultz and one shevardnadze in the summer of 1985 years and years ago but now it has become rather common practice at that time it was very new i was thrilled i was fascinated not afraid not scared but certainly i felt a responsibility to say you were on board wearing the. beginning of the end of the cold war started so this is home for us as your important where you allowed to have a political position where you are allowed to have a say in this things. in part that depends on the position that you have in the foreign ministry initially was a member of the department of translation and interpretation and it was only later in early 1987 that i was transferred to the

us a desk to the department of us a and canada ministry of foreign affairs in that position i was involved in the preparations both for ministerial meetings and the summits in that position i dast have maybe much influence but they could contribute but the most important moments are when the principals of the foreign minister or the president actually ask your opinion when that happens you are on your own and you're not just an interpreter you actually have to say what you think and to me with my very limited political prior experience that was not easy but that happened because i know that her intimate with gorbachev and she were nods and know about cherie nazi is my grandfather and i know about gorbachev because you're his advisor up to this day how did you earn their trust. how does

that happen how does that happen the initial process is earning the trust as a professional as an interpreter but then inevitably i work with both of them for 6 years and inevitably you become closer and either trust not only you as a professional translator interpreter but also they begin to trust your opinion because they know that you have been with them through a great deal i think it started in the reykjavik with gorbachev at about the same time. and they did ask for my opinion sometimes difficult moments. during the whole process of ending the cold war it was not actually a smooth and easy process as many people now think it was

a process that had its pitfalls obstacles difficult moments when miss misunderstandings occurred when understanding's seemed to be breaking. i think at that time they asked my opinion just because i was closest to them physically. so you're obviously not only translating but also emotionally and intellectually involved in a process and it was a very difficult process like you pointed out it wasn't all smooth a lot of things were breaking into play together it was like a work of a juror ritual rainmaker and somehow it worked the cold war and it. before we get back to you in your profession i just one hour ask you looking back now and what's happening between us and russia does it does it.

all maybe not does it only because when one has the prior experience of working with. the presidents at the summit level one doesn't the stand that there are and flowed that there are moments story moments that sometimes last more than a moment sometimes last long and look like everything is collapsing but you know she's story clearly that the moments of the past. are never ruined totally and i think that it is a difficult moment the relationship is dismal that would be my word but it's not hopeless and i think that one day a real dialogue will resume and i wish well to those people who

will be resuming their dialogue and who will help them be seen in that dialogue you have translated all these great leaders how important is the personal chemistry between 2 man. i mean i can say gorbachev and reagan baker and sherry nonsectarian love us even if you're ideologically on different sides of the personal chemistry is there things get done would you agree with that oh absolutely i think that personal chemistry is something that is perhaps not all the important but very important i would just add that you have to work to develop personal chemistry and i think that. the soviet side both go. which are and should work on that. for sure regards it was somewhat easier because he hit it off practically immediately for. reagan it was

not as easy because they had very different background because they were i would say more different initially. shots were but they worked on it i think the great merit of those 2 men gorbachev and reagan is that they did so much despite the problems and obstacles does quite some of the things that happened that were extremely unfortunate during that period such as the spice scandals such as the military to military incidents you know overflights by. fighter bombers over navy ships this kind of thing unfortunately the military still seems to like this kind of thing and the military don't want a war but they sometimes do things that are risky and those things happened during

those 6 years and the great merit i think principle of. reagan and gorbachev and bush is that they did not allow the process to be sidetracked to be sidelined to be broken by those unfortunate incidents that happened. still going back to personal chemistry because not allowing to break the process is also partially thanks to the personal chemistry here that's when you can mean a person who translates the words of another person the person who is in charge of relaying the. packaging of either right for us as we see. he is very brazen very unorthodox in his way of speaking a bomber was very academic like a horror professor. bush jr was very foxy then obviously

if a translator just translates that slur this out the edges of the personality and the words do you. take time and start to actually translate the person rather than just the president of the country to really the image that he really carries from within to the person sitting in front well i don't know i did my best i did my best i think they did their best chemistry develop between them. i think it's they who worked on it we tried to help. i had excellent people on the other side all of us really were motivated to help i think that is the most important thing otherwise whether i did try to smooth

the edges whether i did try to perhaps. make certain things smooth or make certain things more neutral and to emphasize other things frankly i don't know but i don't think so i think that i just tried to do my best professionally when moments happen when they were either annoyed with each other or upset as during the final minutes in reykjavik. well i i was perhaps as upset as they were and i was part of it and i don't think that i tried to modify it to module it those things i don't think so but then you know to break the ice in situations like this humor always worked well for gorbachev and sharing our men translating the humor in the right way is essential is clear because i see so much goodness humor mistranslated chris putin has this very

russian specific base humor and when it's translated into english it's just doesn't make any sense now you translate me and sherry who both had an amazing sense of humor and the other side obviously got the humor and laughter how hard is it to correctly translate the humor of the person you're translating all the choices basically between a literal translation between a word for word translation perhaps with a little explanation or finding something in there that would work in english and sometimes you make that choice sometimes you risk and maybe comment a little bit to make it more understandable but i must say that both shevardnadze. were the more improvise ational way shevardnadze prepared for every conversation.

very meticulously but both of them too can to count the cultural differences and they tried not to say too many things that would require a lot of cultural interpretation put in again i think that when she speaks here and when he negotiates. and i did interpret the other side during some of the negotiations with putin i think it's a little different i think is most. folksy she is mote jokey when she talks to russians then when she talks to let's say americans or europeans who then take a break right now when we're back we'll continue talking to. legendary translator better or aides to the how we're going to show we're talking about how not to lose interest place in the course of world politics.

what do you do before you came here where did you work before you came here when you lived. death row i'm in many us states capital punishment is still practiced convicted prisoners can spend years waiting for execution but most of the time the victims' families they are very much in favor the death penalty there are some people that because of what they did have given up their rights as live among us some even proven innocent off 2 years on death row and how many more exonerations is it going to take before we as a society realize that this is not working and we actually do something about.

join me every 1st day on the alex salmond show and i'll be speaking to get off of the world of politics small business i'm show business i'll see of n. o y a paradise with some around turned into a round the experimentation field for agricultural chemicals we know that these chemicals have consequences they are major irritants there's no question otherwise why would that the chemical company workers themselves be geared up that suited up locals attempt to combat the on regulated experiments that often in day you have many of these people who have one foot into the biotech pharma and the other foot in the government regulatory bodies this kind of collusion is reprehensible while the battle goes on the chemicals continue to poison hawaii and its people so one

has to ask the question whether there is a form of environmental research going on in hawaii whether these companies feel they can get away with this because the people have less political power. and we're back with. legendary translator 8 to me how about which of mr allen's wonder when all these great leaders shake hands laughs formally at formal jokes in front of the cameras smile. when it's obviously a mask it's a role that they play in front of the media now you being with them behind closed doors are the masks off once they sit down to the negotiation table are they

different or they keep playing this role for the most part you know in my experience the masks are off and they begin to be very human. they obviously make an effort. to explain they sometimes see the other side doesn't understand they think that the other side doesn't want to understand he can become annoyed they can become upset i saw sometimes tears in the reagans eyes in reykjavik where example but i also saw them in very human situations when the media was present but they were extremely natural and not wearing masks during public moments so i would not agree that during public moments when they smile when they say things that they are playing a role that this is a mask not always some of it is

a mask and that's necessary because you know the heads of state they are also diplomats and diplomats can be totally open but some of it is quite natural how do you know when they're playing and when their real crisis with reagan especially it was impossible to know when it was genuine not the man was acting all the time he was an actor he was an actor absolutely but. he was an actor i think not only because he was an actor during part of his career but because he was kind of theatrical perhaps. histrionic one might say by nature she waited she the 1st thing i saw that i concluded during the very 1st moment when i 1st was interpreter in for shevardnadze and the reagan during the september 1005 meeting at the white house the very 1st meeting was that he was eager to please that he was eager to be liked that was part of his nature and not

just because he was an actor so i know that he happened at least one swearing you were the only translator in the room. during those top high level talks americans didn't take their translator maybe because they were scared that information would be read why does that happen i don't i think that it's happened on the few occasions i think that. they actually reagan and bush trusted the translator they just wanted to indicate to the soviet leaders that this is additional sign that there would be no leaks but absolutely they trust the translators and there were i know that. washington is full of leaks. i also know that

interpreters translators are never ever the source of those leaks because you know these things become known even the famous deep throat the leaker who destroyed president nixon we now know who that was there has never ever been any assumption or accusation. of any one of us of our profession and if you leak something that's. impossible because of the ethics of the job because of the ethic of the profession that i think practically all of us certainly those of us who work at the high level very much observe i just want to ask you a couple of few technical questions about your profession example was wondered phrases i know you once sat that if you hear an obvious mistake for instance a person says iraq instead of iran you just translator but how do you know that he for sure says iran and syria iraq well it's intuition it's intuition that comes

with experience that come with hours and hours of work. on the other hand you take a risk in simultaneous interpretation you cannot ask the person in consecutive interpretation when you sit near him yes it is possible if you have doubts to to ask but it's undesirable you don't want to do it in both cases in simultaneous interpretation the choice is either you're correct when you are 100 percent sure or you say iraq and say that's what the speaker has said even though you assume that probably human iran so this kind of thing people sometimes. misspeak yes. that happens. and then also there must be some difficulties understanding certain accents i'm sure not now

accents are as accessible as american or british i don't you even mention somewhere nigerian action for instance if you're sitting in samuel tennessee translating this top level meeting and we don't we understand why that person has sat what happens. normally you know i was lucky i mostly worked with people who spoke very good russian and very good english frankly so it was who also had it on ca shouldn good good diction but yes it has happened on a few occasions more during my work at the un and subsequently at the council of europe where there are some people who speak with a heavy accent who. is not very good so what do you do for the most part you pause and you don't interpret where you don't understand

hoping and that hope. works most of the time that it will become clear. it will become clear lead in most cases it does become clear later but you don't. sometimes you say what you think she meant but it's better to admit something and then to hope that things will become clearer. it hasn't happened to often for me that i took a risk but it has happened and then there are always. for instance sergey lover who is brilliant in english i remember he was sitting down with clinton and obama in the translator was translating and then turns around and corrects the translator i mean this kind of embarrassing does that happen a lot when you're translating a person who is perfection in

a language that you're translating to the to the to the other reader well sure i mean. deputy foreign minister laurence of the smart had excellent english. i've been corrected but. to my knowledge to my recollection not at that level so fortunately you know maybe they missed something that i missed translated decided not to correct me but i haven't been corrected at that level i have been corrected in my career you know been in this profession for almost 50 years so i have been corrected for the most part i have been corrected correctly but sometimes. people who correct. and they don't know what they're doing it also happens so when they are trying to correct you and you stand by your translation you have to say

so and that happened to me too when they are correcting you and you think that perhaps it's basically a matter of taste. you might want to repeat what they said it's a matter of taste it's not very important but you don't quarrel with them but when you are sure then you have to stand by your translation that has happened to me fortunately not at the highest level because you don't want that kind of bickering happening well as one very few have in your arsenal of memory is something maybe who areas or something that one horribly wrong for instance i remember. recently putin said about. the cheering it is a bright man meaning he's unorthodox he is someone you know that believes in mark as a person and then the american media translate as bright in terms of mastery of stock

which is a mistake yeah it is a mistake but if the interpreter had said colorful that would have been a way but it's not the world it would have been a bright of course means he's smart and the world will not work there and works out the mistranslations like crew shows translations or we will bury you that's when the translator all these you know mystery ideas from the language have you ever had that when you missed that idea that went wrong or horary 3 it never happened i let the guy down but i was sometimes quite happy. with the rendering that i gave that happened. if it was repeated. in another conversation normally i would be ready i would be ready because i thought while he said this funny phrase.

and. my rendering initially was not quite good then i thought about it was there enduring now you would say well. 2 ways of doing it closer to the. original you would say you can break people like a stick. but more idiomatic would be you can break the people's back. because that shows the sense of it that you should understand. that the raw things that have to be done carefully when you're dealing with the destiny of nations so there were moments when i felt but but there were also moments when. i mean i i was surprised myself that i found a practically perfect rendering on the spot and that's what makes the interpreter

happy but you shouldn't be too happy because when you're too happy with the excellent rendering that you have come up with then you can lose concentration and the most important thing in simultaneous interpretation in translation is concentration. that pricing can sink in so i swear it's wonderful interior wish it were the best of luck thank you i had a good time because it was. most people think to stand out in this business you need to be the 1st one on top of the

story or the person with the loudest voice or the biggest raid in truth to stand losing distance just the dance the right questions and demand the right answer. questions. cass calendar is drawing alfonzo along his darned this changing page change guard service or. his 1st words were at a low a c. or a challenging post you've got 2 years to live. i have no doubt that what happened was criminal. defense concentrate market is a 1000000000 dollar industry these companies have a huge financial motivation to solve these problems there are numerous stuff

showing that doctors who are keen to chest x. ray concentrate straight infectivity on the patients won't give them doctors the raunch to play long term stuff why they would keep me from sick each of those years day. and people still die and i'm always question or so i tried being hard to live when so many have. so what we've got to do is identify the threats that we have it's crazy confront dacian let it be an arms race off and spearing dramatic development only personally i'm going to resist i don't see how that strategy will be successful very critical time time to sit down and talk.

the good from the streets of this twosome it was. my little course on the syria. rolls here visiting the board of business with the most into it with. us. this is new with a. lot of fellows on the shuttle bus out i'll show you i am. going to see that because the way that nobody else busy to look at them are your buddies diplo it's almost the same so much more of

a show such as the fluid souls of. the moon doing you must. be. a lot of the smalling those 2 russian pilots praised for saving the lives of the passengers off the executed. of the plane. i would like to express my gratitude to the pilot who was flying the plane i think we are all alive thanks to him the pilots did a great job landed the plane on its belly to run accuses the u.s. of a piracy attempt off the justice department trying to block the release of iranian old tanker impounded. and the home office attempts to topple a knife epidemic now by printing warnings on chicken takeaway boxes in an initiative the.