A Canadian resident spent several months under warrant for arrest in Italy because of a poorly translated phone conversation.

A February 27 news story from The Toronto Sun reveals that area businessman Salvatore Oliveti has been exonerated from all charges of Italian Mafia dealings – but only after a re-examination of a telephone transcript pointed up a glaring error.

“An intercepted phone conversation between Oliveti and a man named Carmine -- conducted in English on Aug. 26, 2008 -- is key to what transpired…” writes journalist Rob Lamberti in the article Mistaken Translation links man to mob. “An Italian translator who dealt with the intercepted message mistook the word ‘draft’ as ‘drug.’”

The story is more complex than that, but I’m sure you get the upshot.

To get an idea of the ramifications of this type of error, however, it is relevant to look back to The Toronto Sun’s article on the subject published on December 18, 2010 which announced that Oliveti was “wanted in Italy for Mafia association…following an anti-Mafia sweep.”

Salvatore Oliveti clearly spent two traumatic months as the “news” of this accusation circulated both in Italy and Canada…and all because of a mistranslation.

The phone conversation that started all of the commotion took place in English, but was misunderstood by an Italian translator.

This incident underscores the importance of using highly-qualified language service professionals for all types of legal documents, such as, in this case, transcriptions used to support litigation efforts.

In legal translation, one word can make all the difference.

Betty Carlson

See Also

• Language Translation, Inc.
  A leading language translation and interpretation service provider for more than 20 years.

A Canadian resident spent several months under warrant for arrest in Italy because of a poorly translated phone conversation.

A February 27 news story from The Toronto Sun reveals that area businessman Salvatore Oliveti has been exonerated from all charges of Italian Mafia dealings – but only after a re-examination of a telephone transcript pointed up a glaring error.

“An intercepted phone conversation between Oliveti and a man named Carmine -- conducted in English on Aug. 26, 2008 -- is key to what transpired…” writes journalist Rob Lamberti in the article Mistaken Translation links man to mob. “An Italian translator who dealt with the intercepted message mistook the word ‘draft’ as ‘drug.’”

The story is more complex than that, but I’m sure you get the upshot.

To get an idea of the ramifications of this type of error, however, it is relevant to look back to The Toronto Sun’s article on the subject published on December 18, 2010 which announced that Oliveti was “wanted in Italy for Mafia association…following an anti-Mafia sweep.”

Salvatore Oliveti clearly spent two traumatic months as the “news” of this accusation circulated both in Italy and Canada…and all because of a mistranslation.

The phone conversation that started all of the commotion took place in English, but was misunderstood by an Italian translator.

This incident underscores the importance of using highly-qualified language service professionals for all types of legal documents, such as, in this case, transcriptions used to support litigation efforts.

In legal translation, one word can make all the difference.

Betty Carlson

See Also

• Language Translation, Inc.
  A leading language translation and interpretation service provider for more than 20 years.