Court Interpreting

Resumo
A partir de sua experiência prática na Justiça Federal de Guarulhos (em que a imensa maioria dos réus presos é formada por estrangeiros envolvidos com o tráfico internacional de drogas), os autores (um juiz federal e uma intérprete forense) examinam a atuação dos intérpretes nas audiências criminais. De início, aponta-se a precariedade do modelo atual, em que os intérpretes são contratados caso a caso, sem exigência de comprovação da competência linguística ou de formação específica, inexistindo orientação formal sobre a atuação esperada. O artigo então destaca a importância (sobretudo do ponto de vista jurídico-constitucional) de se compreender corretamente qual é a função do intérprete forense, expondo as dificuldades criadas pelos próprios juízes federais, que quase sempre ignoram as técnicas e regras básicas da interpretação forense. Em seguida, analisam-se as três modalidades de interpretação normalmente utilizadas no ambiente judiciário (interpretação simultânea, interpretação consecutiva e interpretação à prima vista). Por fim, os autores propõem a adoção de um programa oficial de seleção e treinamento de intérpretes e de orientação para os juízes, sugerindo a adoção de um código de ética e de padronização de conduta para os intérpretes forenses.
PALAVRAS-CHAVE
Justiça Federal. Intérpretes. Audiências criminais. Estrangeiros. Técnicas. Treinamento.

Abstract

From their practical experience at the Federal Courts of Guarulhos (where the great majority of defendants are foreigners involved in international drug trafficking), the authors (a federal judge and a court interpreter) analyze the role of interpreters at criminal hearings. Initially, they address the precariousness of the current model, with interpreters being assigned to court procedures without any prior investigation into their linguistic expertise or specific background, completely unaware of what is expected from their performance. Accordingly, this article highlights the importance (primarily from the constitutional point of view) of properly understanding what the role of the court interpreter is, bringing to light the difficulties created by the federal judges themselves, who often ignore the basic rules and techniques of court interpretation. Subsequently, the three modes of interpretation commonly used in the legal environment are analyzed (simultaneous interpreting, consecutive interpreting and sight interpreting). Finally, the authors suggest/propose the adoption of an official screening and training program for interpreters as well as some guidance for judges, encouraging compliance with a proper code of ethics and professional standards for court interpreters.
KEY WORDS
Federal Courts. Court interpreters. Criminal hearings. Foreigners. Techniques. Training

This chapter reports the key findings of the European AVIDICUS 3 project,  which focused on the use of video-mediated interpreting in legal settings across Europe. Whilst judicial and law enforcement authorities have turned to videoconferencing to minimise delays in legal proceedings, reduce costs and improve access to justice, research into the use of video links in legal proceedings has called for caution. Sossin and Yetnikoff (2007), for example, contend that the availability of financial resources for legal proceedings cannot be disentangled from the fairness of judicial decision-making. The Harvard Law School (2009: 1193) warns that, whilst the use of video links may eliminate delays, it may also reduce an individual’s “opportunity to be heard in a meaningful manner”. In proceedings that involve an interpreter, procedural fairness and “the opportunity to be heard in a meaningful manner” are closely linked to the quality of the interpretation. The use of video links in interpreter-mediated proceedings therefore requires a videoconferencing solution that provides optimal support for interpreting as a crucial prerequisite for achieving the ultimate goal, i.e. fairness of justice.
Against this backdrop, the main aim of AVIDICUS 3 was to identify institutional processes and practices of imple¬ment¬ing and using video links in legal proceedings and to assess them in terms of how they accommodate and support bilingual communication mediated through an interpreter. The focus was on spoken-language interpreting. The project examined 12 European jurisdictions (Belgium, Croatia, England and Wales, Finland, France, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Scotland, Spain and Sweden). An ethnographic approach was adopted to identify relevant practices, including site visits, in-depth and mostly in-situ interviews with over 100 representatives from different stakeholder groups, observations of real-life proceedings, and the analysis of a number of policy documents produced in the justice sector.
The chapter summarises and systematises the findings from the jurisdictions included in this study. The assessment focuses on the use of videoconferencing in both national and cross-border proceedings, and covers different applications of videoconferencing in the legal system, including its use for links between courts and remote participants (e.g. witnesses, defendants in prison) and its use to access interpreters who work offsite (see Braun 2015; Skinner, Napier & Braun in this volume).

This multidisciplinary volume offers a systematic analysis of translation and interpreting as a means of guaranteeing equality under the law as well as global perspectives in legal translation and interpreting contexts. It offers in- sights into new research on
• language policies and linguistic rights in multilingual communities • the role of the interpreter
• accreditation of legal translators and interpreters
• translator and interpreter education in multiple countries and
• approaches to terms and tools for legal settings.
The authors explore familiar problems with a view to developing new approa- ches to language justice by learning from researchers, trainers, practitioners and policy makers. By offering multiple methods and perspectives covering diverse contexts (e.g. in Austria, Belgium, England, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Norway, Poland), this volume is a welcome contribution to legal translation and interpreting studies scholars and practiti- oners alike, highlighting settings that have received limited attention, such as the linguistic rights of vulnerable populations, as well as practical solutions to methodological and terminological problems.

The Routledge Handbook of Translation and Activism provides an accessible, diverse, and in many respects ground-breaking overview of literary, cultural, and political translation across a range of activist contexts. This volume brings together case studies and histories of oppressed and marginalised peoples from more than twenty different languages, ranging across Africa, Asia, the Americas, the Middle East, and Eastern Europe. Part One considers the theoretical foundations of translation and activism. Part Two examines the figure of the interpreter as an activist. Part Three examines the figure of the translator as an activist. Part Four is comprised of autobiographical reflections by translators and writers who bear witness to the stories of oppressed peoples. Part Five engages with translation and activism from a range of legal perspectives focusing on human rights. Part Six introduces a range of case studies of translations into vernacular languages. Part Seven situates translation and activism in the context of migration, with particular attention to refugee experience. Part Eight examines the role of translators in shaping revolution. As the first extended collection to introduce translation and activism from a systematically global perspective, this handbook will serve as a useful guide to translators, writers, scholars, and activists seeking to better understand the agency of language in bringing about political change.

From the early days of interpreting studies, the notion of quality has attracted the interest of professionals, trainers and scholars alike. Its elusive nature gave rise to various approaches aimed at figuring out its constituent parts. These efforts have made it possible to understand quality from a multidimensional perspective.

Quality was already a well-established research topic in 2001, when the first international conference devoted entirely to it was held in Almunecar, Spain. Ever since, the field has greatly evolved as research instruments and methods have been refined, not least because globalization has facilitated closer cooperation among scholars. Recent years have witnessed a considerable increase in the number of publications on quality, and the continued activity of both individual scholars and research groups testify to the liveliness of this area of research. In the course of this process, this area has become more interdisciplinary and technically sophisticated, widening its scope to cover new interpreting settings and language combinations.

This volume attempts to provide an overview of the state of the art in interpreting quality. It contains 16 papers selected through a double-blind peer-review process. All contributors took part in the Second International Conference on Interpreting Quality held in Almuñécar in 2011, and the reviews were conducted by a panel of international experts in interpreting studies.

This publication was funded by the Government of Andalusia (project ref. P07-HUM-02730). We would like to thank all authors who submitted papers for review. Special thanks go to the reviewers for their hard work. Finally, we would like to warmly express our gratitude to Angela Collados Ais for her unrelenting endeavour in advancing the research on interpreting quality.