The Nuremberg Trials of Nazi war criminals in World War II ended on October 1, 76 years ago, and as a memory of introspection and the continuation of the past, a historical milestone is rarely mentioned – the birth of simultaneous interpretation.
At the end of World War II in 1945, the European International Military Tribunal opened in Nuremberg, Germany, with 22 former nazi high-ranking officials in the seat. The Nuremberg Trials, which included dozens of military trials of the military and political leaders of Nazi Germany, as well as six organizations, including the Cabinet of Nazi Germany, lasted one year (November 21, 1945 – October 1, 1946).
The Nuremberg trials set many precedents in areas such as law and international organizations, one of which is often overlooked is simultaneous simultaneous interpretation. The International Military Tribunal for Europe is in English and simultaneously interpreted in French, German and Russian.
Emerged
Kimberly Guise, deputy director of the Curatorial Services division at the World War II Museum, wrote an article recalling the key role that simultaneous interpretation played in the Nuremberg trials.
After the end of World War II, there was an urgent need to create a speedy and fair judicial process to try captured Nazi leaders and senior generals, with judges and prosecutors from the United States, Britain, Russia and France, defendants and their defense lawyers from Germany, and the trial process needed to be conducted in english, Russian, German and French.
Some Nazis, who played or played an important role in the Holocaust, were tried at the Nuremberg tribunal after the war
If four languages are interpreted consecutively, it will take four times as long, for example, when one person speaks German, the translator of the other language takes notes, and then translates in turn, Followed by French followed by Russian, followed by English.
Lawsuits against Nazi war criminals need to end as quickly as possible and need to be as open and transparent as possible. Is there any way to synchronize interpreting in different languages? Is the technology in place? Can translators take on this unprecedented task?
At that time, there were people who could do interpreters, but there were not strictly speaking people in court and conferences. The Nuremberg trials changed all that.
Philip Wiedemann, a professor of translation and interpretation at the European University of Valencia, said in an interview with the BBC that the Nuremberg trials were a major experiment in the history of simultaneous interpretation, as there were no interpreters specially trained in simultaneous simultaneous interpretation.
At the Nuremberg Trial Court, the witness testified in French and was simultaneously translated into English, German and Russian.
Technology first
Interpretation from "one-to-one, ear-to-ear" to "one-to-one" is inseparable from professional talents and technical equipment, including innovative venue audio facilities, so it not only gave birth to the conference simultaneous interpretation profession, but also promoted the related audio technology revolution.
Leon Dostert, the chief interpreter at the Nuremberg trials, was born in France and fluent in English and German, and was recruited to New York after the trial to help form a Team of United Nations interpreters.
Simultaneous interpretation technology dates back to the early 1920s when two people, American businessman Edward Filene and British engineer Gordon Finley, came up with the idea for a simultaneous translation machine.
Nuremberg Tribunal
This invention laid the foundation for IBM to develop its first translation system in 1927. According to IBM's official website, this set of devices consists of "headphone and dial audio settings" for users to listen to "real-time translated voices".
In 1931, the headquarters of the League of Nations in Geneva was the first to install ibm's simultaneous interpretation system. Participants use the dial to select their own language to hear the simultaneous recitation of the speech translation; the speech is translated in advance.
The set was later improved for simultaneous interpretation at the post-World War II Nuremberg trials and united Nations conferences.
Simultaneous interpreter
Francesca Gaiba, in Her Book Of Simultaneous Interpretation, mentions that the Nuremberg Tribunal, France, and the Soviet Union were responsible for arranging French and Russian translators, respectively, and that the United States and Britain translated into German into the various languages of the courtroom.
The first specialized school in human history to train professional interpreters was opened in Geneva, Switzerland, in 1941, four years before the Nuremberg Trials. One of the main reasons for the establishment of this school in Geneva is that the headquarters of the Multinational League of Nations (League of Nations), which was established after the First World War, is located there.
Students at the Specialist School of Interpretation in Geneva are essentially learning-by-training, training on the teaching system for weeks or months.
In the courtroom of the Nuremberg trial, the simultaneous interpreters sat side by side at the table, each wearing headphones, a microphone, and a glass partition in front of him. They could hear everything in the house.
If the defendant speaks German, then the German simultaneous interpretation remains silent, and the other simultaneous interpreters immediately translate the German into French, English, and Russian, and interpret it through the microphone.
Today, simultaneous interpreters usually work in soundproofed huts. This simultaneous interpretation studio can be easily set up and disassembled. At least 20 soundproof rooms can be seen in a hall at the United Nations, the European Commission or the European Parliament, and the working conditions of simultaneous interpretation are very different from those of 76 years ago.
Simultaneous biography of the Nuremberg Trial Court
Five channels
The Nuremberg Trials' court simultaneous interpretation system had five channels, one of which was the original audio and the other four of which broadcast English, Russian, French and German interpretation audio. Those present listened to the language channel of their choice with headphones.
There were 6 microphones at the scene, one for each of the four judges, one for the witness seat and one for the defendant seat.
The simultaneous interpretation team for each language consisted of 6 interpreters, 12 translators and 9 shorthanders, for a total of 108 people, under the command of two U.S. military officers, Leon Dostert and Alfred Steer.
According to the Holocaust Memorial Museum in the United States, interpreters were divided into four groups, two working alternately in courtrooms, with the third group acting as a backup room in another room.
The fourth group, consisting of assistant translators and 2 interpreters in other languages such as Polish and Yiddish, sat behind the judges.
They work in groups on a daily and weekly basis.
The court opens at 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. with two 15-minute breaks in between, one hour for lunch. Each interpreting team worked 85 minutes; today simultaneous interpreters usually work 30 minutes in a row.
Francesca Gaiba devoted a chapter to the book "The Origins of Simultaneous Interpretation" to introduce the welfare benefits of simultaneous interpreters at the Nuremberg Trial Court, who were several times more than the salaries of the U.S. troops stationed in Germany, and far higher than the salaries of ordinary interpreters at that time, enjoying accommodation and the privilege of buying luxury goods in the U.S. military stores.
This expenditure was finally borne by the deep-pocketed United States, and the Nuremberg Trials were successfully translated in four languages, setting a precedent in history, and then the international conference basically followed this method.
Simultaneous interpretation today
Pass the test
The system sets the interpretation speed to translate 60 words per minute, and when the translator is too fast, the monitor will flash a yellow light, and if the red light flashes, it is to make the translator pause and repeat the words just now.
IBM provided the equipment for free for the Nuremberg trials, sent technicians to install it on site, and the U.S. government paid for shipping and installation costs.
Robert Jackson, the U.S. attorney general at the Nuremberg trials, said: "The success and success of this trial is largely due to a high-quality simultaneous interpretation system and excellent high-quality interpreters. ”
Based on the experience of Nuremberg, the United Nations General Assembly has adopted simultaneous interpretation, and in other cases, such as the Security Council, simultaneous interpretation and consecutive interpretation are used together.