Newly implemented judicial reform in Japan and the impact on its legal interpreting and translation

Mamoru Tsuda, Osaka University Global Collaboration Center, Board Member, Japan Association for Interpreting and Translation Studies

For the last several years Japan has undergone a major judicial reform that includes a system in which the citizens participate in the criminal court proceedings. Japan is among the last countries that introduced the similar system, called Saiban-in System, among the developed countries. In this new system, implemented only in the May 2009 and applied only for serious cases such as Homicide, Rape, Arson, and Narcotics Provision Law violations, the three professional judges and six lay (citizen) judges join together for not only hearing the testimonies, evaluating evidence, but also deliberate and make decisions both on guilt and on the sentence. The hearings are scheduled usually for three to five consecutive days.

It has been a great change and challenge for court interpreters. While 7 or 8 percent of such cases in Japan are expected to be the ones with no-Japanese speaking defendants who need the interpreting, there is no existence yet in the country of any public certification system for court interpreters and a clear rules or regulations as to how the interpreting and translation services are to be provided. On what ground the court will appoint the interpreter/s? Are the interpreter/s to be appointed going to do the job during the “pre-trial arrangement proceedings” that usually require 3-6 months before the actual hearings begin, and how? What are the expected duties and responsibilities?

As an experienced (for over 23 years) court interpreter himself, the paper presenter hopes to list the major challenges and issues at hand and to appeal for an understanding from the international community of legal interpreters and all concerned.

An industry-led collaborative mechanism for development of legal translators and interpreters: case of Tianjin

Yajun GE, vice-director of Tianjin Bar Association, associate professor of Tianjin University of Commerce, member of the Translators Association of China

Whether local legal translators and interpreters (“LT&I”) are adequate, qualified and well-organized and whether qualified legal translators and interpreters are developed have become an increasing concern since the positioning of Tianjin as the economic center in North China and an international metropolitan city, and the rising international image of Tianjin Binhai New Area.

In this paper, on the basis of my surveys on Tianjin Bar Association, Tianjin Translators Association, local courts, local arbitration centers, and local LT&I educators, I had in-depth analyses on the bottleneck of LT&I, and proposed an industry-led collaborative mechanism on what to develop, who to develop, and whom to be developed; and I further proposed how to develop LT&I from all dimensions in translation and interpreting market, on the basis of Japanese and Hong Kong experiences in LT&I development.

Development of a court interpreters association: NAJIT

Nancy Festinger, Chief Interpreter, Federal Court, Manhattan, former NAJIT President

Professional associations go through a fairly typical growth curve, but many interpreter or translator associations have been weakened by competing interests and splinter groups. This session will describe the maturation of NAJIT, a North American legal interpreters association founded in 1978, which grew from a small group of motivated volunteers to a professionally managed association comprising over 1,000 members. Issues to be dealt with are: inclusive vs. exclusive membership model; rural and urban membership needs; governance model; founder’s syndrome; leadership crises and burnout; creating a standard communication style; committee structure and authority; direction and coordination; parliamentary procedure; board authority; whether and how to create a credential; advocacy; creating motivation for membership, etc. The lessons NAJIT has learned will hopefully save our European sister organizations from making similar mistakes, but more importantly, will lend perspective and strengthen EULITA’s resolve to build a strong foundation for future growth.

Court interpreting in the U.S. state courts

Carola Green, Coordinator for Court Interpreting Testing Services & Operations, National Center for State Courts

The Consortium for Language Access in the Courts (formerly the Consortium for State Court Interpreter Certification) is currently comprised of 40 of the United States that pool financial and technical resources to create tests and management tools for court interpreter testing and certification programs.  Since 1995 the Consortium has developed oral performance examinations in 16 languages along with two English-language written examinations that members use to ascertain the level of ability and qualification of their state court interpreters.  In addition, members have adopted a Code of Professional Responsibility for interpreters, designed a template for an orientation program, and developed numerous other resources that are shared by members.  Many of the accomplishments of the Consortium are replicable and the EULITA partners will benefit from hearing about the Consortium’s history, lessons learned, and future plans.