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PREFACE Somewhere in the chronicles of political history there hides a "missing link/' Library shelves overflow with accounts of bilateral and multilateral conferences, meetings with heads of state, as well as regular, ongoing political and economic contacts at the international level. Surely, thoughtful readers must often wonder about the practical, functional aspect of intercourse among nations, ofwhich none is more basic than language. According to both the Bible and much of the world's cultural mythology, at one time in the far-distant past, all human beings spoke a single tongue. (The story of the Tower of Babel may be found in Genesis 11:7-9.) But verifiable history does not recall such an idyllic period. In all ages, at all times, relatively few people, not excluding national leaders, have boasted true fluency in a tongue not their own. According to Plutarch, Cleopatra spoke so many languages that she was able to greet most foreign ambassadors in their own tongue, whether they were Arabs, Ethiopians, Hebrews, Medes or Syrians, and Mithradates the Great is thought to have known more than 20languages. But these persons were as exceptional then as they would be today. This being the case, how have mutually incomprehensible humans maintained their ceaseless, intimate contact throughout the ages? We all know the answer. Bilingual or multilingual people, known as interpreters or translators, have been the intermediaries. Without their services, there could have been no "international relations." But how seldom are these invisible yet indispensable persons noted by the historians! 7 INTERPRETERS AS DIPLOMATS When we read, for example, that Sir Percival Englishman was received at the Court of Siam in 1670, in all probability we are left to conjecture how Sir Percival communicated with the Siamese. Clearly, an interpreter was at work. But who was he? Siamese? English? Some other foreigner? Was he a courtier, a professional diplomat, a priest, a merchant? Translators and interpreters have been largely ignored by historians for two reasons. First, there is often a total lack of historical documentation. People of power and influence in centuries past seldom considered a mere interpreter's name to be worth recording. Second, most historians, confined to "important" events and to the limitations imposed by the desired size of their books, cannot be expected to include every intriguing tidbit they may uncover. But might it not be worthwhile to devote some special attention to these key individuals of political history? Such is the intent of this work, which is presented as a tribute to both translators and interpreters. A few disclaimers may be in order. This book is not a study in linguistics. Written not by a linguist but by a political scientist , it is intended for the general reader who may be curious about the work of translators and interpreters, or who may have an interest in international affairs or diplomatic history. But even within this restricted scope, it does not purport to be either comprehensive or definitive. No attempt has been made to cover every part of the world or to encompass within these pages every linguist who ever left his mark on earth. Military interpreters, for example, have been almost excluded exceptin the chapter on linguists of ancient days, when the boundary between military and civil functions was virtually non-existent . To have done otherwise would have taken us too far afield and made the work unnecessarily cumbersome. What we have tried to do is to paint a general view of the world in which the political linguist functions, and has functioned , throughout history. Where we have spied something of particular interest or significance, we have swooped down upon it and claimed it with enthusiasm. It is the author's hope that readers will be left with an enhanced understanding of this very special, too often unappreciated, career field, even—perhaps —that some talented young linguists may be enticed into it. 8 ...

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