In an FT piece a couple of days ago (via) we learn that "As Benoy discovered to its cost, interpreters need to be close to the subject matter as well as competent linguistically". I didn't catch the Zapatero Snakeoil Show chez les Obama the other day, but I did see most of Hillary's slot on RTVE and listened with steadily increasing interest to the interpreter's version. At first I thought that his pauses during her mentions of the importance of Methodism in her life and her Biblical references might be part of Spanish state TV strategy to help the boss--who domestically appears to take particular delight in assaulting the church--by downplaying the importance of religion. But then he repeatedly translated John Wesley as "Wezli", and I knew that he had simply never heard of the founder of the faith which George W Bush spent so long trying to find. Pretty voice, fucked interpreter, IMHO.Labels: RTVE