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Trudeau to the rescue: Canadian premier stepped in to fix translation issues at G20

Canadian premier Justin Trudeau saved the day at the G20 when he stepped in to sort out technical difficulties with the translation system.

Mr Trudeau helped fix issues with the system that meant certain leaders’ words to their peers were being lost in translation, including European Commission president Jean-Claude Juncker.

Mr Juncker reportedly appeared to have problems pressing the right buttons on the system that allows translators to relay his words in the different languages spoken at the summit.

<em>Lost in translation – Jean-Claude Juncker seemed to have problems with the translation system at the G20 (Pictures: Getty)</em>
Lost in translation – Jean-Claude Juncker seemed to have problems with the translation system at the G20 (Pictures: Getty)

A western diplomatic source said the repeated failure of failure of the translation system and headsets “kicked in particularly” when the commission president rose to speak.

They added: “He had to stop and wait for a long time as it was going on and off.

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The source added: “Eventually the man who rode to the rescue was one Justin Trudeau, who intervened to explain exactly what buttons he had to press at what stage in order that his comments would be translated in the correct languages.

“The same problem hit when the South Korean leader was talking and (Angela) Merkel, who at this stage was very amused by the whole enterprise, turned to Justin Trudeau and said ‘Justin, you’re the only one who understands this’, so was instructed to help fix it.”