The problem of translation error in the process of simultaneous interpretation of political speeches

This article is devoted to the analysis of translation errors arising in the process of simultaneous interpreting of the summit of political leaders. The research material was a video of the meeting and press conference of the President of Russia Vladimir Putin and of the President of France Emmanuel Macron on August 19, 2019, accompanied by simultaneous interpretation into French and Russian, respectively. The authors focused on translation errors which in one way or another cause the distortion of the information in the text transmitted to recipients on the respective sides. Identified errors were assigned to three types: errors of the factual information aspect; errors leading to logic distortions of the original; errors leading to stylistic distortions. It was determined that in the simultaneous interpretation of introductory speeches, a large degree of distortion was caused by errors of the factual information aspect. At the same time, in the process of the interpreting of journalists' questions, the majority of errors was associated with the distortion of the logic of the original text. It was found that factual and logical errors arise when the interpreter fails to use various translational transformations and techniques correctly - first of all, omission and semantic development - as well as when using the “false friends of a translator”. A select part of the errors was studied in the context of the original texts belonging to the field of international relations where the errors described break the norms of diplomatic discourse. In general, simultaneous interpretation is largely susceptible to the occurrence of translation errors due to its specific nature. At the same time, most likely, the interpreter in the field of international relations has a special status and diplomatic capabilities that allow him in some cases to deviate from the contents of the original in order to maintain a productive international dialogue.