The millionaire shifted in his chair.
Third discrepancy.
English:
Management anticipates a workforce reduction of approximately 12–18 percent contingent on automation deployment.
Mandarin:
Management anticipates productivity improvements through automation.
The chairman stopped the meeting.
The millionaire spread his hands.
“These are summaries.”
The chairman’s general counsel replied:
“They systematically summarize away negative information.”
“That is not translation.”
The millionaire looked toward the waitress.
“You’re editorializing.”
Her pulse accelerated.
She kept her voice level.
“No.”
“You’re making judgments.”
“I’m identifying material differences between source and target language.”
“You’re choosing words that make them sound worse.”
“I’m reading the words your team supplied.”
The millionaire leaned forward.
“You clearly have an issue with me.”
The waitress looked toward the chairman’s counsel.
Protocol.
The counsel nodded once.
Permission to answer professionally.
She turned back.
“My personal opinion is irrelevant.”
“If you would like another interpreter, request one.”
The millionaire almost said yes.
His lawyer touched his arm.
“Don’t.”
Too late for appearances anyway.
The chairman closed his binder.
“We’re breaking for thirty minutes.”
The millionaire stood.
“This is becoming absurd.”
The chairman looked at him.
“No.”
“It is becoming clear.”
In the hallway, the millionaire’s lawyer confronted him.
“Did you authorize separate language?”
“They’re summaries.”
“That was not my question.”
He walked faster.
She followed.
“Did legal review the Mandarin deck?”
“Our Asia communications group did.”
“Which group?”
He stopped.
She knew.
There was no dedicated group.
She stared.
“You had investor relations create it?”
“Outside vendor.”
“Who instructed the vendor?”
His silence answered.
The lawyer’s face became pale.
“You understand what this looks like.”
“It looks like translation differences.”
“It looks like you provided materially softened disclosures to a foreign counterparty.”
“They are American.”
“The chairman’s directors requested Mandarin materials.”
“That doesn’t make them foreign.”
“You know what I mean.”
The lawyer lowered her voice.
“Were any representations intentionally altered?”
“No.”
The answer came too fast.
She stared.
“I need access to every translation instruction.”
“You work for me.”
“I work for the company.”
“Same thing.”
“No.”
That was the first time anyone said no to him that morning.
He looked genuinely surprised.
His lawyer continued:
“If there is deliberate discrepancy, I have obligations.”
His expression hardened.
“Careful.”
She almost laughed.
“Do not say that to your lawyer.”
He walked away.
The waitress spent the break alone in a small conference room.
Her hands shook.
That irritated her.
She opened and closed them.
Then her phone buzzed.