Part of
The Critical Link 5: Quality in interpreting – a shared responsibilityEdited by Sandra Hale, Uldis Ozolins and Ludmila Stern
[Benjamins Translation Library 87] 2009
► pp. 13–35
Edited by Sandra Hale, Uldis Ozolins and Ludmila Stern
[Benjamins Translation Library 87] 2009
► pp. 13–35
2. Forensic interpreting
Trial and error
This chapter reviews a number of key cases from different English speaking countries where poor interpretation created legal problems. The author attributes these problems to three major reasons: (1) The complete absence of an interpreter; (2) the provision of unqualified bilinguals or interpreters in the wrong language; and (3) the services of “professional accredited” but untrained interpreters who do not possess the required high level skills to perform as legal interpreters. The author argues that monocultural or Anglophone lawyers and judges often lack an understanding of the interpreting process and the work of interpreters, which may lead to forensic error. The chapter ends with recommendations for the way forward.
Cited by
Cited by 17 other publications
Cheung, Andrew K. F
2014. The use of reported speech and the perceived neutrality of court interpreters. Interpreting. International Journal of Research and Practice in Interpreting 16:2 ► pp. 191 ff. 
Cho, Jinhyun
2021. ‘That’s not how we speak’: interpreting monolingual ideologies in courtrooms. Griffith Law Review 30:1 ► pp. 50 ff.
Goodman-Delahunty, Jane, Natalie Martschuk, Sandra B. Hale & Susan E. Brandon
2020. Interpreted Police Interviews: A Review of Contemporary Research. In Advances in Psychology and Law [Advances in Psychology and Law, 5], ► pp. 83 ff.
Hale, Sandra, Jane Goodman-Delahunty & Natalie Martschuk
2019. Interpreter performance in police interviews. Differences between trained interpreters and untrained bilinguals. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 13:2 ► pp. 107 ff.
Hale, Sandra Beatriz & Jemina Napier
2016. “We’re just kind of there”. Target. International Journal of Translation Studies 28:3 ► pp. 351 ff.
Hanft-Robert, Saskia, Lena Emch-Fassnacht, Sanna Higgen, Nadine Pohontsch, Christoph Breitsprecher, Michael Müller, Jessica Terese Mueller & Mike Mösko
2023. Training service providers to work effectively with interpreters through educational videos. Interpreting. International Journal of Research and Practice in Interpreting 25:2 ► pp. 274 ff.
Hertog, Erik
2012. Legal Interpreting. In The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics,
Lai, Miranda & Sedat Mulayim
2014. Interpreter linguistic intervention in the strategies employed by police in investigative interviews. Police Practice and Research 15:4 ► pp. 307 ff.
Ran, Y.
2023. Human Interpreters in Virtual Courts: A Review of Technology-Enabled Remote Settings in Australia. Journal of Digital Technologies and Law 1:3 ► pp. 712 ff.
Stern, Ludmila & Xin Liu
2019. See you in court: how do Australian institutions train legal interpreters?. The Interpreter and Translator Trainer 13:4 ► pp. 361 ff.
Wong, Vicky Wan Kei
2020. Chapter 4. Australian court interpreters’ preparation practices. In Interpreting in Legal and Healthcare Settings [Benjamins Translation Library, 151], ► pp. 83 ff.
Xu, Han
2021. Roles, ethics and lawyers’ reactions: An ethnographic study of interpreters’ role performance in interpreted lawyer-client interviews. Multilingua 40:5 ► pp. 617 ff.
Xu, Han
2021. Interprofessional relations in interpreted lawyer-client interviews. An Australian case study. Perspectives 29:4 ► pp. 608 ff.
Xu, Han
2022. A survey study of lawyers' and interpreters' approaches to interactional management in interpreted lawyer-client interviews in Australia. Across Languages and Cultures 23:2 ► pp. 226 ff.
Xu, Han
Yi, Ran
2024. Justice Under Microscope: Analysing Mandarin Chinese Markers in Virtual Courtroom Discourse. Discourse Studies 26:1 ► pp. 117 ff.
[no author supplied]
2016. References. In Ethics for Police Translators and Interpreters [Advances in Police Theory and Practice, ], ► pp. 135 ff.
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