Translating for the law enforcement

Patrizia Brugnoli, in-house translator for the law enforcement in an overseas liaison office in Italy

The aim of this contribution is to briefly talk about my experience as in-house translator in an international law enforcement liaison office. The approach is twofold: firstly, I deal with the role of a translator in this type of environment, taking into account the pros of hiring internal translators, what the main issues faced by in-house law enforcement translators are, and the importance of time and accuracy of the text translated; secondly, through practical examples, I will briefly illustrate some of the features encountered in the legal language in a criminal law/proceedings context.

Legal translation and interpreting performed by linguistic staff of the Italian Ministry of the Interior

Cinzia Iaboni, translator and interpreter for the Italian Ministry of the Interior, member of A.N.T.I.M.I.

The paper proposed by A.N.T.I.M.I., the national association of translators and interpreters of the Italian Ministry of the Interior, will outline the wide variety of activities performed by its members both in central and peripheral offices of this government body while considering the different contexts they operate in.

After a brief introduction on how and why linguists were hired on a permanent basis by the Ministry, it will analyze the cultural and structural impediments they have encountered in their place of work and the reasons that led to the foundation of A.N.T.I.M.I..

The paper will also explore the difficulties of translating and interpreting for the judicial authority and the professional skills and abilities needed by legal translators and interpreters to enhance the quality and scale of their service, while emphasizing the negative implications of substandard legal translation and interpreting.

The changing face of language service provision for the Metropolitan Police Service - 2012 and beyond

Amanda Clement, Michael Brooker, MET, London

On 22nd October 2008 The Metropolitan Police Service Investment Board agreed plans for an overhaul of the MPS response to the challenges posed by languages in London. There are now around 340 different languages spoken in the capital and in addition to London’s attraction as a major tourist centre, over 50 diverse communities consisting of more than 10,000 residents have chosen to make London their home.

Over the next 3 years, the MPS Language Programme will be introducing a number of measures to improve the day to day efficiency and effectiveness of its language services to both the citizens of London and to front line operational staff. This Programme, which has been introduced following a detailed examination of MPS arrangements, has drawn not only from best practice within the UK but also that from Europe and the US.

The Programme plans the following measures:

• Introduction of a Management Service Centre with 24/7 responsibility and a single dedicated number, which will manage all requests for linguistic support from MPS.
• Installation of a video conferencing platform which will speed access to linguistic support and reduce costs incurred by travel time and expenses
• Creation of an “own staff” training programme to make optimum use of the language skills inherent in our workforce, for appropriate tasks.

By November 2009, the Programme will have completed a wide-ranging consultation, which includes police officers and police staff, interpreters and other UK criminal justice system agencies. We will have our first video-conferencing hubs operational, and a 6-month pilot will have been established, which seeks to draw on the experiences of all those using this method of service delivery, in order to develop techniques and training.

We will update the conference, by way of Powerpoint Presentation and discussion, with the background to and the progress of the Programme to date, specifying particularly, how the consultation with interpreters was managed and how their concerns were addressed, and the template for evaluation of the video-conferencing pilot, together with any early-emerging issues.

Beyond the bar... behind bars: A case study on translation and interpreting in Spanish prisons

Aída Martínez-Gómez Gómez, University of Alicante, Spain

Although Law theories place the serving of custodial sentences within criminal procedures as their final stage, the reality shows that the increasing improvements in the provision of quality translation and interpreting services in court proceedings do not seem to reach the prison system. Expert reports -such as those contained in the volume Foreigners in European Prisons*- insist on the fact that measures for language and cultural integration of foreign inmates are scarce and most often based on the goodwill of staff and prison population alike - rather than on official policies.

This paper aims at exploring daily communication between prison staff and non-Spanish speaking inmates in the penitentiary institutions of the region of Valencia (Spain) through their own views and experiences gathered in fieldwork conducted in 2008. After a short introduction on the applicable legislation and official recommendations involving foreign prisoners in Spain, the paper will focus on the analysis of the situations where the language barrier is present and the measures taken to overcome it, including descriptions of the translator/interpreter's profile and tasks, and the opinions on these measures by the interlocutors involved.

*Van Kalmthout, A.M.; F.B.A.M. Hofstee-van der Meulen & F. Dünkel (eds.) (2007): Foreigners in European Prisons. The Netherlands: Wolf Legal Publishers