Lee Seng Giap: Translator was voice of Singapore leaders

79-year-old helped to project S'pore's image on global stage

By Kash Cheong, The Straits Times, 31 Mar 2014

MR LEE Seng Giap was by the side of then Permanent Secretary Ngiam Tong Dow in early talks with China that paved the way for the establishment of bilateral ties in 1990.

He was also there in 1994 when Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who was Deputy Prime Minister at the time, met former Chinese Vice-Premier Li Lanqing to discuss the Suzhou Industrial Park.

His was the voice heard on television in the 1980s and 1990s when then Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew delivered his National Day Rally speech.

"As long as they don't come back and tell me I've done a bad job, I'm very lucky," said the veteran translator and interpreter, now 79.

Earlier this month, Mr Lee was honoured by Minister of State for Communications and Information and Education, Ms Sim Ann, for being one of Singapore's pioneers in the field of translation.

"He has helped to groom many outstanding translators... We need more of such translators in public service," she said then.

Translator Lee Hui Huan, who is in his 60s, said: "Seng Giap does not hesitate when he interprets, he does it confidently.

"This helps the image of a small country on an international stage - that is how you want to come across to foreign counterparts."

But little do many know that one of Singapore's brightest translation stars was once teased for his language skills.

When Mr Lee first switched from then Chinese-medium Chongzheng Primary to the English-medium Beatty Secondary, fellow schoolmates called him "Chinaman".

"I was determined to prove them wrong and show them I could do well in English," said Mr Lee, who listened to broadcasts from the British Broadcasting Corporation and read Chinese and English dailies.

His efforts paid off - he scored distinctions in both English and Chinese in what would be the equivalent of today's O levels.

"It was one of the best moments in my life," said the man who still keeps the book prizes he received almost 60 years ago for topping his class.

He trained to be a teacher after graduating from Beatty in 1956, but jumped at the chance to be a court interpreter four years later.

After all, translation was second nature to him.

The eldest of five siblings from a Hokkien family, he translated articles from The Economist and Readers' Digest for Chinese dailies such as Sin Chew Jit Poh to earn pocket money during his secondary school days.

"I knew I had a flair for the languages, but it took a lot of hard work and practice," he said.

As a newly minted court interpreter, he was selected in 1962 with about 20 others to interpret for a Commission of Inquiry that was investigating a 1961 incident where hundreds of Chinese school students boycotted Secondary 4 exams, in protest against school system changes.

"It involved the underlying politics in turbulent pre-independence Singapore," said Mr Lee, who recalled the mental fatigue of interpreting technical subjects in front of a "packed public gallery".

But in hindsight, it was a great honour to be part of this event that shaped Singapore, he said.

After nine years at the Supreme Court, he pipped dozens of applicants, including university graduates, to be picked as head of translation at the then Ministry of Culture in 1969. There, he played a key role in a 1970 government move to standardise the Chinese names of roads. Previously, these names could vary according to different street directories.

Several translations were absurd: Raffles Place, for example, was translated into lai fo shi bu li based on what it sounded like. But the Chinese characters literally mean "Raffles impolite".

"I was so glad that we got rid of the bad translation," he said.

At the ministry, he translated hundreds of letters from the public and dozens of government speeches each month. "The final draft of ministers' speeches often came in quite close to the event, so government translators must be quick and accurate."

The father of three retired in the 1990s, but continued interpreting at international conferences, translating books and serving as a part-time interpreter in Parliament until 2007.

He welcomes the Ministry of Communications and Information's recent announcement of a new committee to raise the standards of government translation.

"I am glad to note that after so many decades of undue neglect in the colonial days, translation... essential to multi-lingual Singapore... is now being taken seriously."

He believes, however, that it would take several years before translators are recognised as professionals even if scholarships are given out. But courses like a master's in translation, currently in the works at the Nanyang Technological University, could "bear fruit", he said.

For now, he is happy to call it a day after 50 years as a professional translator. "I want to read, write and spend time with my family," he said.

In his unassuming way, he has shown that it is possible for the best translators to make a living in the profession while indulging in their passion for languages.

He said: "I'm the living example."