Legal framework and some practical aspects of the performance of interpreting and translation by the court appointed interpreters and translators in the Czech republic

Jana Schovancova, Chairperson of the Board, Chamber of Court Appointed Interpreters and Translators of the Czech Republic

Performance of interpreting and translation by the court appointed translators and interpreters in the Czech Republic is actually regulated by the Act No. 36/1967 Coll., on Certified Experts, Translators and Interpreters and the Decree No. 37/1967 Coll., to execute the Act on Certified Experts, Translators and Interpreters, in its current version. Court appointed translators and interpreters in the Czech Republic are appointed by a Regional Court, with jurisdiction according to their places of residence. A court appointed translator/interpreter works especially for civil services, Police, courts, prosecuting attorney´s offices but also for private persons whose intention is, for example, to work abroad. The online version of the official Register of Court Appointed Translators and Interpreters is available by visiting the website of the Ministry of Justice of the Czech Republic: www.justice.cz.

The register of court appointed translators and interpreters – members of the Chamber of Court Appointed Translators and Interpreters of the Czech Republic is available by visiting the website of the Chamber: www.kstcr.cz . The Chamber of Court Appointed Interpreters and Translators of the Czech Republic is a voluntary professional organization to associate, represent and defend the interests of interpreters and translators qualified, admitted, appointed and sworn pursuant to Act No. 36/1967 Coll., on Certified Experts, Translators and Interpreters, as amended.

A certified translation shall include the original document or its certified copy, the translation of the document into the target language, and, on a separate page, the „translator´s clause“, sealed by the seal of the translator and signed by him/her. The translator´s clause contains certification by the court appointed translator that the translation corresponds with the original document. The eventual certified copy of the document shall be made either by a notary or by a registrar of the competent Municipal Authority since a court appointed translator cannot verify the conformity of the copy with the original document. The entire packet has to be stitched together to prevent an unobserved separation; it is perforated, and a lace is drawn through and sealed by the translator´s seal.

Translations are charged according to „standard pages“. Interpreting is charged by rates for a working day, which means 8 hours, including all breaks. The interpreter is entitled to include time spent outside his/her professional or private address into the rate. Payment of travel expenses (travel, meals, accommodation, etc.) is governed by valid regulations of the Czech Republic.

Some aspects of the community interpreting in Sweden

Alexander Karlsen, authorized court interpreter

Jennie Fors, lecturer in interpreting, authorized court interpreter

This paper aims to present some issues and problems existing in the system of the community interpreting in Sweden nowadays.

In a welfare state and in a globalized world the need of qualitative interpreting services is huge. Its importance is motivated by as well the aspect of legal security as the needs of good and precise communication. As we see in case Sweden these premises are jeopardized by the commercial interests generating wrong priorities by the state authorities.

Legal interpreting in Italy: Recruitment policies and quality standards

Elena Tomassini, Christopher Garwood, Anna Caterina Alimenti, Mette Rudvin, University of Bologna

This paper has two main strands. The first part of the paper is an overview of the current state of affairs in legal interpreting in Italy today. We will be presenting a general panorama of how court and police interpreters are recruited; on the basis of which criteria they are recruited; if and how these criteria are respected; statistical data on the interpreters (qualifications, training, ethnicity); and quality control of interpreting for the police and courts.

The situation that our paper describes is unfortunately extremely dire. Although in theory criteria for the recruitment of interpreters exist (interpreters are considered to be ‘expert witnesses’ and as such are evaluated – in theory – on the same basis as this category) recruitment policies are extremely lax, seriously jeopardizing access to justice. This is in part due to budget constraints, but also to a complete lack of awareness about the importance of and difficulties in providing adequate language services. Many of the interpreters working for the police and in the courts have absolutely no training in translation, interpreting or communication more generally. Some have qualifications in other fields (ranging from the sciences to vocational training) but many have no qualifications at all. The authors of this paper have all witnessed how the lack of language skills and interpreting skills has seriously jeopardized accuracy. The consequences of such a lax policy is potentially very harmful for the various actors (both service providers and clients), and potentially for national security.

In the second part of this paper we describe how we feel that we could contribute to improving this situation (on a small scale). We report on an on-going project inspired by a meeting with the vice chief of police of Bologna that aims to provide a series of workshops for service providers in the legal sector (lawyers, magistrates, clerks) that address the following aspects:

• A description of the current situation (most service providers know very little about the problems related to language services in their own institutions);
• Who are the interpreters? (again, most service providers know very little about the interpreters);
• The dangers of using such lax recruitment criteria – possibility of legal liability and national security risks;
• How to recruit safely (assessing qualifications and prior training; evaluation of language and interpreting competence);
• How to use interpreters properly to the best of their abilities;
• How to work with interpreters in the courtroom (interpreting techniques);
• Implementing sporadic quality tests;
• The need for a national register/ association.

La formation des interprètes judiciaires en Pologne. Etat des lieux

Malgorzata Tryuk, Institut de Linguistique appliquée, Université de Varsovie, Pologne

La professionalisation du métier de l’interprète judiciaire passe par une série d’étapes (cf. Tryuk 2004, 2006). Une de ces étapes  consitue la formation des spécialistes de haut niveau dans des centres universitaires, une formation qui devraient conduire aux étapes ultérieures qui sont la certification, l’accréditation et finalement la reconnaissance légale du titre d’interprète judiciaire. En Pologne, cette formation est dispensée principalement dans des études post-diplomées, c’est-à-dire apres le master (formation continue). Le premier programme de ce type a été inauguré en 1998 à l’Institut de Linguistique appliquée de l’Université de Varsovie  et a été ensuite suivi par d’autres formations qui ont été ouvertes dans des filières de philologies.

La présente communication constitue une étude qualitative et quantitative de ces différents types de formation des interprètes judiciaires dans les universités polonaises en prenant en compte les paramètres suivants:

• les formateurs
• le contenu des programmes
• le taux de réussite à l’accreditation des diplomés de ces différentes formations.

The main features of the Austrian Court Interpreters Act - A model for future developments

Christine Springer, President of the Austrian Association of Court Interpreters

I will illustrate the development of the Act itself and in particular the Austrian Certification System which is unique in Europe, if not in the whole world.

So the Austrian Model could be a model for other European Nations.