Since I sparked interest on the whole translator thing (which still wigs me out, sorry!) here's another question: Would you not think that if you were a fairly reputable news organization (like CNN) you would make darn sure and certain that your translators had "the skill" to interpret. And yes there are dialects within the Arabic language (as in all languages). There's the dialect from the Magrihb countries (Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia), ECA (Egyptian Colloquial Arabic), Gulf dialect (Yemen, Omar, Bahrain, Saudi, etc) and then MSA (modern standard arabic). MSA is what is universally understood and used in the Arab world, particularly by government and media figures. From what little I heard of him, none of his language was dialectic in nature. And sorry for the language lesson....I guess if it's ever a question on Jeopardy you'll thank me.
