Jimmy Carter's Incompetent Translator

For a state visit to Poland in 1977, the State Department hired a freelance translator to translate President Carter’s speeches to his Polish audiences. The translator was Steven Seymour, and he was paid $150 a day for his services. Unfortunately, Seymour was terrible at translation. He mixed Russian with Polish, used Polish idioms that were out of use, and mistranslated Carter’s statements. In the end, the US became the butt of Polish jokes, and the White House issued an apology.