Dodgers fire Ohtanis long time interpreter, accused of 'massive theft'

[GloucesterChief]

Originally Posted by KCChiefsFan88

If he was fluent in English then he wouldn’t require the services of a translator who ended up… allegedly… stealing millions of $$$ from him.

Do you need a translator to help you comprehend the obvious?

He may be fluent but may have a heavy accent. Ichiro still has a accent despite living in the US for decades and it can be lead to some embarrassment. For example many Japanese tend to turn si into shi since si is not a sound in Japanese but shi is. So sit often becomes shit. So he may speak without a translator to his friends, managers, and teammates. To the media or when doing business he uses a translator.

Remember a translator not only translates but also put things in cultural context. Not really a problem with English as English speakers tend to be very blunt and straight forward but Japanese are usually more vague particularly when it comes to speaking with people who you are not friends with.