UAE royal's Arabic speech leaves PM Modi, officials guessing

New Delhi: An embarrassing situation developed on Wednesday during the media briefing at the Hyderabad House in New Delhi on Wednesday afternoon when there was no Arabic to English translation of the address of visiting Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan which meant that those who did not understand Arabic, including Prime Minister Narendra Modi and top MEA officials, had no clue what the United Arab Emirates (UAE) leader was saying.

Indian government sources said the UAE side had informed the protocol division of the Indian ministry of external affairs (MEA) that the Crown Prince would be speaking in English. But it turned out that the Crown Prince decided to speak in Arabic. An Arabic interpreter who would have translated the speech for the media and Indian dignitaries was apparently summoned immediately but he could reach only when the Crown Prince’s speech was over. Speeches are translated, with the media and dignitaries hearing the translated version of the speech through head-phones.

Finance minister Arun Jaitley was seen pressing keys on the small remote control in the hope of landing on a channel where the Prince’s speech in Arabic was being translated. To no avail. No headphone, including PM Modi’s, had a translation on it, reported a TV news channel. As soon as Indian journalists covering the event found that they were not able to hear the Arabic to English translation on their head-phones, they looked around perplexed only to swiftly realise that probably none of the Indians present, including Prime Minister Modi, could also understand what was being said by Sheikh Al Nahyan.

The MEA, later in the day, made available the English translation of what the Crown Prince had said in Arabic. Indian Government sources said the Arabic interpreter was present during the delegation-level talks that the two countries had held earlier in the day on Wednesday ahead of the media briefing.