Found in Translation

By David Hunt

In 1979, a young Harvard graduate named Art Rice stood on the stage of a packed auditorium in a city that was then called Leningrad. The enthusiastic audience was there to hear Rice – billed as a visiting American scholar – lecture on the latest trends in landscape architecture. "There's just one problem," his host explained as Rice surveyed the crowd. "We don't have an interpreter."

Rice had taken a brief Russian language course before leaving the United States; sort of like the courses they used to give diplomats during the Cold War so they could negotiate a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty in any language. "It's OK," he declared confidently. "I will lecture in Russian."

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