Come from Babylon

Directed by Mikhail Orkin

The world of simultaneous interpreters looks absolutely hermetic, and they themselves are representatives of the “old” cultural elite. It began as almost secret knowledge, Soviet diplomatic staff and brilliantly educated Russian émigrés, forced to earn extra money as taxi drivers, largely created simultaneous translation on both sides of the Iron Curtain. Since the Nuremberg trials and the first UN meetings, simultaneous translation has been an important part of world diplomacy. But it won't always be like this. Perhaps, even during the lifetime of those who witnessed his birth, simultaneous translation will give way to machine translation.