Court/Legal interpreting

Debra Russell
University of Alberta
Table of contents

Interpreters, whether they are spoken language interpreters or signed language interpreters, work in a range of environments including legal settings, and events that involve legal discourse. The legal right to have an interpreter in the courtroom and/or in legal matters has been well established through several legislative bodies, as early as the 1966 United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The rights of litigants to access interpretation in order to protect individual rights have been well documented, for example, the European Union places an obligation on countries to provide interpreters for legal matters, and there is a great deal of lobbying across many continents to make interpreter provision a right, and not a matter of discretion (Gibbons & Grabau 1996; Hertog 2010; Laster & Taylor 1994; Mikkelson 2000; Phelan 2011).

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References

Gibbons, Llewellyn & Grabau, Charles
1996 “Protecting the rights of linguistic minorities: Challenges to court interpretation” New England Law Review 30 (227).  TSBGoogle Scholar
Hale, Sandra
2011 “Interpreting accent in the classroom”, Bond, Nigel & Sutton, Jeanna, Target 23 (1): 48–61. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
2001 “How are courtroom questions interpreted: An analysis of Spanish interpreters' practices.” In Triadic Exchanges. Studies in Dialogue Interpreting, I. Mason (ed.), 21–50. Manchester: St. Jerome.  TSBGoogle Scholar
2011 “The positive side of community of interpreting: An Australian case study.” Interpreting 13 (2): 232–248. DOI logo  TSBGoogle Scholar
Hertog, Erik
2010 “Community interpreting.” In Hanbook of Translation Studies, vol. 1, Yves Gambier & Luc van Doorslaer (eds), 49–54. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins  TSB. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jacobson, Bente
2008 “Court interpreting and face: An analysis of a court interpreter’s strategies for conveying threats to own face.” In Debra Russell & Sandra Hale (eds), 51–72.Google Scholar
Kolb, Waltraud & Pöchhacker, Franz
2008 “Interpreting in Asylum Appeal Hearings: Roles & Norms Revisited.” In Debra Russell & Sandra Hale (eds), 16–50.Google Scholar
Laster, Kathy & Taylor, Veronica
1994 Interpreters and the Legal System. Leichhardt, NSW: The Federation Press.Google Scholar
Mikkelson, Holly
2000 Introduction to court interpreting. Manchester: St Jerome.  TSBGoogle Scholar
Morris, Ruth
1998 “Justice in Jerusalem: Interpreting in Israeli legal proceedings”. Meta 43 (1): 1–10. DOI logo  TSBGoogle Scholar
Napier, Jemina & Spencer, David
2008 “Guilty or not guilty? An investigation of deaf jurors’ access to court proceedings via sign language interpreting.” In Debra Russell & Sandra Hale (eds), 72–122.Google Scholar
Napier, Jemina
2004 “Sign language interpreter training, testing and accreditation: An international comparison.” American Annals of the Deaf 149 (4): 350–360. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Phelan, Mary
2011 “Legal Interpreters in the news in Ireland.” Translation and Interpreting 1: 76–105.  TSBGoogle Scholar
Roberson, Len
2012 “American Sign Language/English interpreting in legal settings: Current practices in North America”, Russell, Debra & Shaw, Risa. Journal of Interpretation 21 (1). http://​digitalcommons​.unf​.edu​/joi​/vol21​/iss1​/6 Google Scholar
Russell, Debra & Hale, Sandra
(eds) 2008 Issues in legal interpretation [Studies in interpretation 7]. Washington, DC.: Gallaudet PressGoogle Scholar
Russell, Debra
2008 “Interpreter preparation conversations: Multiple perspectives.” In Debra Russell & Sandra Hale (eds), 123–147.Google Scholar
Stone, Christopher
2009 Towards a Deaf Translation Norm [The Studies in Interpretation 6]. Washington D.C.: Gallaudet University Press.Google Scholar
Witter-Merithew, A. & Nicodemus, B
2010 “Toward the intentional development of interpreter specialization: An examination of two case studies.” Journal of Interpretation 2010: 55–76.Google Scholar

Essential Reading

Berk-Seligson, Susan
1990/2002 The Bilingual Courtroom. Court Interpreters in the Judicial Process. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.  BoPGoogle Scholar
Eades, Susan
2003 Sociolinguistics and the Legal Process. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Hale, Sandra
2004 The Discourse of Court Interpreting. Discourse Practices of the Law, the Witness and the Interpreter. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar
Russell, Debra
2002 Interpreting in Legal Contexts: Consecutive and Simultaneous Interpretation. Burtonsville, MD: Linstock Press.  TSBGoogle Scholar
Shlesinger, Myriam & Pöchhacker, Franz
(eds) 2010 Doing Justice to Court Interpreting [Benjamins Current Topics 26]. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins. DOI logo  BoPGoogle Scholar