A famous writer visiting Japan was invited to give a lecture at a university to a large group of students. As most of them could not understand spoken English, he required an interpreter.
During the lecture, he told a long amusing story. Finally, he paused to let the interpreter translate it into Japanese. The writer was very surprised when the interpreter finished in just a few seconds, after which all the students laughed loudly.
After the lecture, the writer thanked the interpreter and asked, "Please tell me how you translated my long story into such a short Japanese version."
"I didn't tell the story at all," the interpreter answered with a smile. "I just said, 'The honorable lecturer has just told a funny story. You will all laugh, please.'"