One who was a go between for two or more people who could not understand each other's language. The Indians said interpreters were those "who handed words from one to the other."
Interpreters were important in the understanding of the Indian and the white man, and the lack of honest and efficient interpreters was one of the greatest causes of trouble and even wars.
In explaining Indian talk to a white man and the white man's talk to the Indian, the interpreter had to know more than the language of each - he had to know the customs, laws, habits, and many other things as well. Interpreters sometimes purposely translated incorrectly.
An excerpt from the official report of the Board of Indian Commissioners for 1870, when Chief Dull Knife, of the Cheyenne, appeared at Fort Laramie reads; "The interpretation of the interview was carried on through 'Cheyenne Bob,' a full blooded Indian, who interpreted the Cheyenne dialect into the Sioux tongue to Leon Pallarday, the Sioux and English interpreter temporarily employed for the occasion." Pallarday in turn interpreted it into English.
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