There is a saying that interpreters, like checks, are noticed only when they are bad. In view of the historic significance of the summit meeting between President Roh Tae-woo and President Mikhail Gorbachev and the fact that Russian is an exotic language, the recruitment of the interpreter employed during President Roh’s recent visit to Moscow was based sloely on documented credentials.

Unfortunately, they were not those for an interpreter. Branded a “fake,” she discontinued her employment, causing quite a stir.

The main cause of this incident is the inherent lack of Russian-speaking pelope in Korea, which spurred a search abroad. The search ultimately led to the United States, where the interpreter was living. Not possessing an alternative plan, a risk was taken. But as feared, the gamble could not be pulled off.

What has come to light through this incident might in the long run be for the better. There is lack of fundamental understanding as to what interpretation and interpreters are. Just as the ability like being able to hold a scalpel does not make a surgeon, the ability to speak a foreign language fluently does not constitute an interpreter. Expressing oneself with relative ease in a foreign language is a completely different matter compared to communicating the meaning of words between two interlocutors by means of foreign language.