English translated to English?: Viral moments from Modi-Trump press meet

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States made headlines not just for political reasons but also for a series of awkward moments, including Modi struggling to answer American reporters and former US President Donald Trump failing to understand the English accent of Indian journalists.

During a joint news conference on Thursday, Modi and Trump faced questions from the press regarding critical issues between their countries.

However, social media users were puzzled when Trump received English questions from Indian journalists, only for them to be translated into English by a transcriber sitting behind him.

Meanwhile, the same transcriber, along with a woman, was translating English questions into Hindi for Modi.

At one point, when an Indian journalist asked Trump a question, he initially appeared confused and requested the reporter to speak louder.

Even after the journalist repeated the question, Trump still struggled to understand and responded, “I can’t understand a word he’s saying,” adding, “It’s the accent, it’s a little bit tough for me.”

Another viral video showed an Indian journalist posing a question to Trump in English, but his broken English made it difficult for the US president to comprehend. An American female journalist’s reaction to the exchange also gained attention online, as she visibly struggled to understand what was being said.

Modi faced criticism from his opponents for failing to answer an American journalist’s question about the indictment of Indian billionaire Gautam Adani over bribery allegations.

Instead of addressing the query, Modi responded, “[…] the leaders of the two nations never meet, sit, or talk about such private matters.”

Meanwhile, Congress Kerala’s official account on X shared a video showing Modi reading from a teleprompter during his news conference with Trump.