El Hadj Malick SY: Interprète de Conférence. L’interprétation n’a rien avoir avec les langues...

My long years of service to Africa have given me a better understanding of the difficulties associated with the dynamics of African integration. People often talk about the Organization of African Unity (AU) without knowing what it has achieved. I am outraged when I hear people say it serves no purpose. The African President who has had the greatest impact on me is Julius Nyerere of Tanzania. I had a close relationship with him. I already had great admiration for him and his writings. However, I had a rather unusual experience with President Senghor. I was a student and fiercely anti-Senghor, who terrorized the interpreters. Before, we would sit at a table among the heads of state to take notes and then interpret consecutively. The president had a habit of interrupting the interpreters, which was very annoying and could easily unsettle even the most confident interpreter. Besides, the interpreters always refused when, as chief interpreter, I assigned them to a consecutive meeting where President Senghor was present. So, I volunteered. I went to a meeting and I admit that I played on the fact that I knew he didn't have a good command of English. So, when it came time to interpret, I switched the sentence. I used a negative interrogative sentence and the affirmative sentence was to follow. As soon as I used the interrogative sentence, he interrupted me. And he said to me: "Ah, no, no, no." I remained very calm. I turned to him and I said to him: "Mr. President, would you allow me to finish?" So, I finished my interpretation, and very calmly, I turned to him. I said to him: "Yes, Mr. President; you were saying." And he said to me: "Ah, no, no, no." You expressed my thoughts very well. That's what I wanted to say." At the end of the meeting, my Gambian colleague and I stepped back to allow the president to leave. And my friend told me that the old man was waiting for me at the exit door. We decided not to leave. But he continued to wait. So we went out. He came up to me and asked if my name was Sy. I answered in the affirmative. Then he asked me if I was Toucouleur; I said, "Yes, Mr. President." And he said, "Toucouleur foko fek daafay degeur bopou" (Toucouleurs are known for being stubborn). Then he left... So, he stayed there all that time just to tell me that. I found it all absolutely fabulous: first, his cultural values, then his way of solving problems.