Churchill's Interpreter
Hugh Lunghi describes interpreting between Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin
During the Second World War Hugh Lunghi was selected as a Russian interpreter for the British prime minister Winston Churchill. He discusses his memories of the Tehran Conference, the Yalta Conference, the Potsdam Conference.
"Stalin was economical with his words, very precise - seemed to know exactly what he was talking about, in absolute command of his facts, but very quiet and it was very difficult to catch Stalin's words because of his mumbling rather quiet, modest way of speaking. President Roosevelt on the other hand was inclined to ramble and would go on rather longer than his interpreter would have liked him to. Churchill's language was the language of an orator. He prepared what he said very carefully."
