The Linguist

16 The Linguist Vol/61 No/4 2022 thelinguist.uberflip.com FEATURES What can the interpreter do when faced with hybrid and unusual language use in court, asks Andrew Belisle As a Spanish-English interpreter in the US, I encounter some fascinating challenges in my day-to-day work. The kind of language I handle in my sector – community interpreting – is vastly different from what you might witness in the conference or diplomatic world. I believe one of the unique aspects of this kind of interpreting is the ever-present use of Spanglish. So what is Spanglish, how does it manifest on the job, and what do I, as an interpreter, do to handle it? I first cut my teeth as a medical and legal interpreter in the US in 2016. Having returned from an undergraduate degree in Wales and a séjour linguistique in the south of Spain, I was unprepared for the diversity of Spanish I would experience on the other side of the pond. In a single day in court or at a hospital, I would interpret for individuals from Cuba, Colombia, El Salvador, Honduras, Mexico and Venezuela. Besides learning to manage the regional varieties of these countries, I also had to grapple with a key component of communication for the millions of Spanish speakers in the US: Spanglish. Since this is a descriptive account of my own experience, I am going to use a non- academic definition of Spanglish that is specific to my work. By 'Spanglish', I mean the appearance of some form of English in the Spanish of mostly monolingual speakers. This could be a word directly pulled from English and given Spanish-language pronunciation, for example tengo que hacer un apóimen instead of una cita ('I have to make an appointment'). It could be using a Spanish word that sounds similar to an English word, and using the latter's meaning, such as van a instalar la carpeta ('they are going to install the carpet') instead of van a instalar la alfombra. The word carpeta does exist in standard Spanish; it means 'folder'. An adjacent difficulty that cannot be deemed Spanglish but that often arises, especially in court, is the pronunciation of US place names by monolingual Spanish speakers. When I began interpreting in areas of the US where I had never been before, witnesses were explaining how they arrived in brosbi (Brownsville) or worked at güaraberguer (Whataburger, a Texan fast-food chain). Many words in Spanglish have become commonplace in the speech of Latin American immigrants and are therefore predictable and uncomplicated. Examples include aseguranza for 'insurance' (seguro in standard Spanish), los biles for 'bills' (factura del agua/de la luz) and los taxes for 'taxes' (impuestos). However, I frequently come across more unexpected usage of Spanglish that is particular to someone's work or personal life. What does an interpreter do in such cases? The truth is that Spanglish has caused some comical and, at times, frustrating bumps in the road for me. I have developed a much calmer mentality than I had in the beginning; before, it would throw me into a panic, especially in court, believing that if I could not decipher güirira ('weed eater') on the spot, I would seem incompetent or unprepared. Strategies in a medical setting Over the years I have developed a few strategies to smooth out the wrinkles caused by these linguistic nuggets. The strategies are sector dependent, since medical and legal interpreting differ significantly from each other. The former is a care-based environment in which I am treated by both parties as a welcome advocate, while the latter is an adversarial setting with a verbatim record. In medical interpreting, my approach is straightforward. If I hear a word that I suspect is Spanglish, or a thorny pronunciation of a place name, I simply clarify with the patient, quickly explaining to the provider what I am doing. I find this to be the quickest, cleanest way to obtain the information I need. Let's imagine a patient's mother tells the doctor: Mi niña se cayó en la playera del mall A case of Spanglish IMAGES © SHUTTERSTOCK

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