Chinese is written in both traditional and simplified characters and varies between the mainland and Taiwan. Japanese is written in three different ways, depending on the origin of the word. A word taken from China is written in Kanji , a native Japanese word is written in either Kanji or Kana , while a word which originated in the West is written in Katakana . Translation problems continue to embarrass today's politicians. This wasn't the first time Gore's passions took center stage at a Hispanic gathering.
Republicans also run into translation problems.
Goodness knows that even lifelong English speakers, myself included, make mistakes in their native tongue and misunderstand other English speakers. But in general, personal-injury lawyers are not lining up to file costly lawsuits when you or I misuse an English word. A government which attempts to function in the 300 tongues spoken in America is an open invitation to hours of quarrels among translators and years of costly litigation over those translations. Bill Clinton and Bill Lann Lee are gambling on congressional Republicans being afraid to challenge Executive Order 13166. If Governor Keating's remarks are any indication, it looks like they have placed a winning bet.