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<title>RE: Response to Commentary: Bush's translator in Romania</title>
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<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> </span></font><st1:PersonName><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>Dumitrescu,
Domnita</span></font></st1:PersonName><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
[mailto:ddumitr@exchange.calstatela.edu<span class=GramE>] <br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent</span></b></span><b><span
style='font-weight:bold'>:</span></b> </span></font><st1:date Month="12" Day="4"
Year="2002"><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:
Tahoma'>Wednesday, December 04, 2002</span></font></st1:date><font size=2
face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'> </span></font><st1:time
Hour="15" Minute="20"><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Tahoma'>3:20 PM</span></font></st1:time><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'><br>
</span></font><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>I am
sorry, but if "standind hip to hip" instead of "shoulder to
shoulder" with somebody is not a substantive error, then what is it? A
whole country is laughing and making jokes about this. Why are we always so
tolerant of language mistakes, even at high levels of governance? It's
like the media that, on the occasion of the visit, wrote that </span></font><st1:country-region><st1:place><font
size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Romania</span></font></st1:place></st1:country-region><font
size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> is a Baltic country, and that its
president is Constantinescu (actually, this is its ex-president), not Iliescu.
I am a professor, and I wouldn't accept such mistakes from my students, who
anyways make them for free. But these people are paid salaries to do their job,
and to do it well, so why should we be so tolerant, after all? Just because
it's language,and not corporate business? In other fields, mistakes are much
less tolerated, I suppose, becauase they cost money. Here, they cost image,
reputation, prestige, call it as you like, but they are not completely
costless.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Domnita
Dumitrescu</span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>-----Original
Message-----</span></font> <br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'><span
style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span>Date: </span></font><st1:date Month="12"
Day="3" Year="2002"><font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Tue, 3 Dec 2002</span></font></st1:date><font
size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> </span></font><st1:time Hour="11"
Minute="28"><font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>11:28:30</span></font></st1:time><font
size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'> -0500 </span></font><br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>From: "Bernhardt, James
E" <</span></font><st1:PersonName><font size=2><span style='font-size:
10.0pt'>BernhardtJE@state.gov</span></font></st1:PersonName><font size=2><span
style='font-size:10.0pt'>></span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Ray's
e-mail is a little surprising since it seems to assume that the</span></font> <br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>American translator or interpreter
must have been a native speaker of</span></font> <br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>English. Of all places, I
would think at the Heritage language list</span></font> <br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>would</span></font> <br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>be a place where speakers of all
languages could be considered American</span></font> <br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>and</span></font> <br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>Americans would not be assumed to
be English speakers. My guess is that</span></font> <br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>the</span></font> <br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>translator was a native speaker of
Rumanian and that while 'mistakes</span></font> <br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>were</span></font> <br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>made,' the ones mentioned so far
were not substantive. An elegant</span></font> <br>
<font size=2><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>translation would have been better,
of course.</span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p><font size=2 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:10.0pt'>James E.
Bernhardt</span></font> <o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><span style='mso-spacerun:yes'> </span><o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
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