quote from the article: Nikita Khrushchev’s infamous statement in 1956 — “We will bury you” — ushered in one of the Cold War’s most dangerous phases, one rife

quote from the article: Nikita Khrushchev’s infamous statement in 1956 — “We will bury you” — ushered in one of the Cold War’s most dangerous phases, one rife with paranoia and conviction that both sides were out to destroy the other. But it turns out that’s not what he said, not in Russian, anyway. Khrushchev’s actual declaration was “We will outlast you” — prematurely boastful, perhaps, but not quite the declaration of hostilities most Americans heard, thanks to HIS interpreter’s mistake. The response of Kantaro Suzuki, prime minister of Japan, to an Allied ultimatum in July 1945 — just days before Hiroshima — was conveyed to Harry Truman as “silent contempt” (“mokusatsu”), when it was actually intended as “No comment. We need more time.” Japan was not given any. Whenever I see interpreters on footage of trials or negotiations, I have the impression the interpreter is a native to the target language, and is there on authority of his government, i.e. A Soviet interpreter working for Kruchev translates from english to russian, and a US translator working for USA translates from russian to english. I could be wrong though, but I always thought the responsibility of correct translation was placed at the receiver of information (otherwise, the non-elected interpreter would have the final word on phrasing a comment!) The 2 examples of Kruchev, and the failed pre-Hiroshima bomb are phrased in a way that insinuates the problem to have been at the foreign side!