The importance of quality interpreting in legal and healthcare settings can never be stressed enough, when any mistake – no matter how small – can compromise the delivery of justice or put someone’s health at risk. This book addresses issues arising from interpreting in legal and healthcare settings by presenting cutting-edge research findings in interpreting and interpreter education in a number of countries around the world – including those which are relatively new to the field. It contains selected papers from a conference dedicated to such themes – the First International Conference on Legal and Healthcare Interpreting – as well as other invited papers related to the fields of legal and healthcare interpreting. This book is useful not only to scholars and educators, interpreters and translators working in legal or healthcare settings, but also to legal and healthcare professionals who work with interpreters in their day-to-day work, including judges, lawyers, police officers, doctors, midwives and nurses.

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 insights 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 approaches 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 practitioners 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 Practice of Court Interpreting describes how the interpreter works in the court room and other legal settings. The book discusses what is involved in court interpreting: case preparation, ethics and procedure, the creation and avoidance of error, translation and legal documents, tape transcription and translation, testifying as an expert witness, and continuing education outside the classroom. The purpose of the book is to provide the interpreter with a map of the terrain and to suggest methods that will help insure an accurate result. The author, herself a practicing court interpreter, says: “The structure of the book follows the structure of the work as we do it.” The book is intended as a basic course book, as background reading for practicing court interpreters and for court officials who deal with interpreters.

This book explores the intricacies of court interpreting through a thorough analysis of the authentic discourse of the English-speaking participants, the Spanish-speaking witnesses and the interpreters. Written by a practitioner, educator and researcher, the book presents the reader with real issues that most court interpreters face during their work and shows through the results of careful research studies that interpreter’s choices can have varying degrees of influence on the triadic exchange. It aims to raise the practitioners’ awareness of the significance of their choices and attempts to provide a theoretical basis for interpreters to make informed decisions rather than intuitive ones. It also suggests solutions for common problems. The book highlights the complexities of court interpreting and argues for thorough training for practicing interpreters to improve their performance as well as for better understanding of their task from the legal profession. Although the data is drawn from Spanish-English cases, the main results can be extended to any language combination. The book is written in a clear, accessible language and is aimed at practicing interpreters, students and educators of interpreting, linguists and legal professionals.

The Seventh Volume in the Studies in Interpretation Series features 19 international studies that probe the complex nature of interpreted interaction involving Deaf and hearing people of diverse linguistic and cultural backgrounds.

International lawyers have long recognised the importance of interpretation to their academic discipline and professional practice. As new insights on interpretation abound in other fields, international law and international lawyers have largely remained wedded to a rule-based approach, focusing almost exclusively on the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Such an approach neglects interpretation as a distinct and broader field of theoretical inquiry. Interpretation in International Law brings international legal scholars together to engage in sustained reflection on the theme of interpretation. The book is creatively structured around the metaphor of the game, which captures and illuminates the constituent elements of an act of interpretation. The object of the game of interpretation is to persuade the audience that one's interpretation of the law is correct. The rules of play are known and complied with by the players, even though much is left to their skills and strategies. There is also a meta-discourse about the game of interpretation - 'playing the game of game-playing' - which involves consideration of the nature of the game, its underlying stakes, and who gets to decide by what rules one should play. Through a series of diverse contributions, Interpretation in International Law reveals interpretation as an inescapable feature of all areas of international law. It will be of interest and utility to all international lawyers whose work touches upon theoretical or practical aspects of interpretation.

Navigating and resolving issues in intercultural communication is an integral part of the interpreter’s role on a daily basis. This book is an essential guide to the interpersonal dimensions of intercultural communication in a variety of key interpreting contexts: business, education, law, and healthcare. Drawing on the unique perspectives of professional interpreters, Cho focuses on two key questions that remain underexamined in the field of intercultural communication: why does intercultural communication often break down, and how do individuals manage intercultural communication issues? Each chapter deals with issues pertinent to small cultural aspects of intercultural communication, including gender, ethnic migrant communities, educational cultures among migrants of Asian backgrounds, and monolingualism/monoculturalism in courtroom and refugee interview contexts. Spanning diverse geographical domains, the book highlights the impact of macro power on interpreting as well as the significance of individual agency and micro power, which can rebalance the given communicative context. Offering a comprehensive, up-to-date, innovative, and critical perspective on intercultural communication in interpreting, this is key reading for student and professional interpreters and those on courses in language and intercultural communication.

Police interviews with suspects and witnesses provide some of the most significant evidence in criminal investigations. Frequently challenging, they require special training and skills. This interaction process is further complicated when the suspect or witness does not speak the same language as the interviewer. A professional reference that can b

Language shapes and reflects how we think about the world. It engages and intrigues us. Our everyday use of language is quite effortless—we are all experts on our native tongues. Despite this, issues of language and meaning have long flummoxed the judges on whom we depend for the interpretation of our most fundamental legal texts. Should a judge feel confident in defining common words in the texts without the aid of a linguist? How is the meaning communicated by the text determined? Should the communicative meaning of texts be decisive, or at least influential? To fully engage and probe these questions of interpretation, this volume draws upon a variety of experts from several fields, who collectively examine the interpretation of legal texts. In The Nature of Legal Interpretation, the contributors argue that the meaning of language is crucial to the interpretation of legal texts, such as statutes, constitutions, and contracts. Accordingly, expert analysis of language from linguists, philosophers, and legal scholars should influence how courts interpret legal texts. Offering insightful new interdisciplinary perspectives on originalism and legal interpretation, these essays put forth a significant and provocative discussion of how best to characterize the nature of language in legal texts.