Last week, as one does, I was peeping some UN pics, and I noticed something: Big. Boxy. Earpieces. Everywhere.
I put my outside correspondent Amy on the case and turns out these things are how diplomats get reliable, real-time translations for every sentence spoken on the UN floor.
But where do those translations come from?
Whose voice is in the earpiece?
And how do they do it so fast?
The first thing you need to know is that the UN has six official languages: Arabic, British English, French, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, and Spanish.
That means, among other things, that if you're sitting at a meeting in the General Assembly, anything you read or hear will be available to you in all six.
It does not, however, mean that all the signs around you will be in Arabic—those are in English and French, the two working languages of the UN's executive branch, i.e. the ones the operation gets managed in.
But if you're actually doing peace talks rather than communicating what's on the second floor, all six are in play.
Every seat in the GA and Security Council—from the nosebleeds to the big ones— has an earpiece and some little buttons you hit until you hear your language of choice, or the ever-mysterious "Unknown…" which I'm guessing is either Simlish, Toddler, or Marshmallow-In-Mouth.
