International: How to Understand

Therefore, if I know not the meaning of the voice, I shall be unto him that speaketh a barbarian, and he that speaketh shall be a barbarian onto me.—Corinthians I, 14:11.

Last week, U.N.'s weary interpreters could eat big lunches again—a luxury strictly prohibited while they were on duty. It had been quite a job, preventing diplomats from sounding like barbarians to each other, but they had carried it off with astounding smoothness. Chiefly responsible for their brilliant performance was a sad-eyed, grey-maned Frenchman called George J. Mathieu—a veteran of the League of...

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