I often get asked by my friends and business associates from all walks of life what court interpreting really is.
It goes like this…so you just go to the court and translate what people are saying?
Then I go… yes, in a manner of speaking, but it actually involves so much more.
So, firstly, in order to be a court interpreter, you need a court licence and academic qualifications that qualify you for the job.
Secondly, you interpret for each individual in the courtroom (or any other place, for that matter). Yes, you are usually invited because one party does not speak the language, but actually you interpret all of it, for all the parties. You are, so to speak, in the middle of it all. This means that all parties involved present their case – judges, defence attorneys, state attorneys, witnesses and the defendant. However, you need to interpret all of it, so the party not understanding the language knows what is going on. On top of that, you need to be very, very precise, as this is a matter of someone’s freedom or a pecuniary penalty. Sometimes parties involved get rather emotional or stressed (as you would imagine), forgetting that they need to make a pause for you to interpret, giving you an additional task to interrupt the speaker to be able to do the job. Additionally, those interpretations are often recorded (such as online sessions, police or state attorneys’ questionings, etc.). So, in a nutshell, you have a public appearance, in a foreign language, for all the parties in the courtroom, and you can be held responsible for your work.
Of course, to be able to do this, you need to attend professional courses regularly, but you also need to prepare for the upcoming court session. Keep in mind that court topics can be pretty much about anything – from criminal law to shipbuilding, medical or financial topics etc. An average person often does not understand such highly professional vocabulary in his/her native language, let alone in a foreign one. So, preparing is not only a professional standard, but an absolute must to do the job properly.
Having said that, a court interpreter must be a well-read translator/interpreter, a public speaker, stress-resilient, client oriented and, above all, impartial.
Cheers!
Court interpreting is so much more than just interpreting
