Q: Clearly the language barrier was always going to be a problem. Did you learn any of the local language before you embarked on your journey and how much did you rely on translators?

Olly: There are only 3000 Mek and it was impossible to learn any before we left. A few men in the village did however speak basic Indonesian which Mark had a simple grasp of, so that helped him at first. We both made Mek dictionaries to try and learn the language – so before long we could ask questions, but sadly were unable to understand the answers. Still it was quite amusing filling in the gaps and getting it wrong every time.

So when filming we relied on the translators, who were fantastic. Without them it would have been impossible to make these films. They were more interpreters than translators, as they had to learn the nuances of the language to go beyond what is simply being translated and understand the subtleties of what is being communicated.

Led by the Josef, the King of the Jungle Grapevine, the translation team picked up the village gossip – a lot of it far too explicit to ever make it into the series…

< Question 7                                                  Question 9 >