He grew up in Taiwan with American diplomat parents. He is a beast. He has been interpreting since the 1960s. He is a legend. When President Hu visited the White House he was the English to Mandarin interpreter. President Obama thought they had a simultaneous feed going so he gave an exceptionally detailed and well crafted multipart answer to a question about balancing American values and engagement with China. Unfortunately for Jim, it was still a consecutive interpretation format. So President waited rather patiently and sheepishly realizing he just handed a massive ball of yarn to Jim. He crushed it. He lays out the multipart questions and then interprets the massive, nuanced, 3 minute answer.
Question from reporter starts at 17:15.
President Obama begins to answer the human rights question at 18:45.
President Obama finishes answer at 21:30
Then the magic happens...
Jim wraps up at 24:45 and then the President smiles, realizing the mistake, and apologizes for the chunky answer.
No comments:
Post a Comment