Jim Brown (interpreter)
James W. Brown[1] (born 1953) is a retired American diplomat, mainly specializing in Mandarin Chinese.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/ca/U.S._Secretary_of_State_John_Kerry%2C_accompanied_by_longtime_Chinese_translator_James_Brown%2C_stand_in_front_of_the_South_Gate_to_Beihai_Park_and_look_at_Bai_Ta%2C_or_the_White_Pagoda%2C_at_Beihai_Park_in_Beijing%2C_China.jpg/220px-thumbnail.jpg)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/0c/President_Ronald_Reagan_and_Nancy_Reagan_meeting_with_Chairman_Deng_Xiaoping.jpg/220px-President_Ronald_Reagan_and_Nancy_Reagan_meeting_with_Chairman_Deng_Xiaoping.jpg)
Brown was born in Washington D.C. as the son of a U.S. diplomat, and studied history and international relations at the Fu Jen University in Taiwan before joining Pan-American Airlines in the late 1970s.[2] In 1980, he was hired by the U.S. Department of Defense, and joined the U.S. State Department the following year. Although admitting that he wanted to be a "generalist", the U.S. government considered his proficiency in the Chinese language to be an asset as China reopened its once-closed gate to the world at that time, and assigned Brown to multiple tenures at the U.S. Embassy in Beijing. He retired from the State Department in 2021.[3]
Brown's languages include Cantonese, French, Japanese, and Korean, but is best known for his knowledge of the Mandarin language.[2] Brown remarked that his proficiency in the Chinese language had caught locals off-guard.[2] Brenda Sprague, then the State Department's Director of Language Services, explained that the ability to perform consecutive and simultaneous translation during formal diplomatic and senior-level functions was the highest level of language expertise, but that "At Jim's level, there is only one Jim".[4]
References[]
- ^ "美利坚合众国大使馆" [Embassy of the United States of America]. Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China (FMPRC). 2013-09-25. Archived from the original on 2014-04-12. Retrieved 2014-04-12.
- ^ a b c Mong, Adrienne. "'Mystery' interpreter reveals disappearing act". NBC News. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
- ^ jimenezla (2021-03-01). "Retirements | March 2021". State Magazine. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
- ^ Mong, Adrienne. "Mystery Mandarin expert is one of a kind". NBC News. Retrieved 8 April 2017.
- 1953 births
- Living people
- People from Washington, D.C.
- American diplomats
- United States Foreign Service personnel
- Fu Jen Catholic University alumni
- United States government biography stubs