Sincere apologies if there are any translation errors (please bring them to my attention if anyone notices any) but the general flow of the conversation was not very hard to pick up.
The Director-General reminded ADGs not to cut languages in their quest for savings and to abide by established rules on translation and interpretation.
In particle physics, sound-bite explanations are much harder: wave-particle duality, quantum mechanics, general relativity and string theory make good mathematical sense, or so I am told, but they generally defy translation into English.
Parliamentary Standards Commissioner John Lyon found Mr MacShane had entered 19 "misleading" expenses claims for thousands of pounds of research and translation services from a body called the European Policy Institute (EPI), signed by its supposed general manager.