In a new Ted Ed Lesson, educator Ewandro Magalhaes and animator Andrew Foerster explain the process in which language interpreters are trained to conduct simultaneous translation, what happens within the human brain as the process is refined and what happened when Viktor Sukhodrev, a Russian-to-English translator accidentally miscommunicated what Nikita Khrushchev actually intended to say.
Language is complex, and when abstract or nuanced concepts get lost in translation, the consequences may be catastrophic. Given the complexities of language and cultural exchange, how do these epic miscommunications not happen all the time? Ewandro Magalhaes explains how much of the answer lies with the skill and training of interpreters to overcome language barriers.
