The Linguist

@CIOL_Linguists AUTUMN 2023 The Linguist 9 FEATURES the proceedings. A court interpreter had to be booked, as foreign experts, based abroad, were to give evidence. Because of the complexity of the case, it was paramount for the interpreter to be a native speaker of the experts' language. However, once again, the interpreter sent by the agency did not have the requisite language skills. Despite having a good command of French, she made some major mistakes. For example, the expression 'if it is safe' was rendered as 'if it is possible', which is a serious mistranslation, especially as the court was using this evidence to determine the safety of a child's placement. The interpreter for the French defendant alerted their barrister and the mistranslation was immediately flagged to the judge. Being a French speaker myself, I had noticed the mistake but it made me realise how easy it is for this type of error to go unnoticed when there is nobody present who can double check what is being said. My client was quite nervous after witnessing this situation because they feared that their evidence might not be interpreted faithfully. Upon discussing this with their barrister, I was asked to confirm the quality of the interpretation when it was our client's turn to give evidence. Luckily, the Italian court interpreter was extremely accurate and able to render every nuance. ON THE JOB CHALLENGES Names were a major challenge for the interpreters. Several people were mentioned other than the parties involved, and many had two or more nicknames, which were used interchangeably. These were sometimes difficult for English speakers to pronounce and were mispronounced in a number of ways. When the lawyers were questioning the defendants to reconstruct the events all of these names came up, and some proved more challenging than others. For the interpreters, this meant keeping track of how each speaker mispronounced the name, so as not to confuse the client. It was also difficult not to get confused ourselves, for example thinking that a mispronounced name may refer to an entirely different person. In the instances when I attended remotely, I noticed that the lawyers who were used to working with interpreters spoke more clearly and slowly. This allowed us to keep up with the information. The parties who did not work regularly with interpreters sometimes spoke softly and quickly, making our task more challenging. It was difficult to ask them to speak up or slow down because the interpreters were muted in the main room and our video feeds did not necessarily fit on the other attendees' screens, hindering our ability to make ourselves noticed. When this occurred during a Direction Hearing, the only option was to interpret to the best of my understanding whatever I could gather from what the speaker was saying. During this type of hearing the court gives instructions to the parties on how they are to prepare the case. So although the situation was not ideal, the barrister was able to cover anything I might have missed during the conference after the hearing. My client was aware of the general topic of the Direction Hearing and that the information would not be life changing for them in the immediate future. However, as an interpreter, I felt that I was not serving my client properly if I could not hear what the speaker was saying. One big advantage of having been involved in these proceedings from the very beginning was that I was up to speed with what was going on and could sometimes make out the subject being discussed just from a couple of words. If I knew that a specific assessment had been requested, for example, and heard the speaker say the name of that assessment, I could tell my client what topic was being raised, even if I couldn't hear the details. Obviously, I would not have tried to guess the content of the update, but I could relay enough information that the client would be able to ask for clarification during the debriefing conference. Despite the difficulties, this case was far from a complete disaster for interpreters: all the lawyers and court staff, and especially the judge, went the extra mile to make sure the defendants had the optimal service, both remotely and in person. One of the court interpreters is worth a special mention for demonstrating what a difference training and professionalism make in this kind of setting. The interpreter was working from Hungarian into English and we all relied on his English output to interpret for our clients. His clarity and precision made our task easier than expected. This case was one of the most complex I have worked on. It was not without its difficulties, but the cooperation of all the professionals involved ensured a safe outcome, which is what matters most. * This article is based on a court case in England. Details have been changed to ensure no case or parties can be identified. Jessica Oppedisano and conditions © SHUTTERSTOCK

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