Language is a tricky thing. I started talking when I was about 3-years-old, and I’m still talking, usually in what I believe to be English. Other people talk to me in the same language. Yet scarcely a day goes by without some kind of misunderstanding, usually trivial, about what somebody has said, or meant, or implied. Unfortunately I learned an older, more primitive version of the language and, as Oscar Wilde remarked, Britain and America have everything in common except their language, so everything is translation for me. This is a familiar fact, and not interesting in itself, but it gives cause for concern about those big international meetings where hugely important things are decided between people who speak completely different languages, and are linked only by an interpreter. Translation, especially simultaneous translation, is a highly skilled art, and far from infallible. Split second decisions about the meaning of words may make a big difference. Adding to this difficulty,