Garbage In, Garbage Out: The Court Interpreter’s Lament

Abstract

Interpreters in all settings, in all parts of the world, and throughout history have lamented the poor quality of the language they must deal with in source texts. This chapter will review some recent publications on interpreting quality criteria, user expectations, and the associated challenges facing interpreters in different settings (Kondo 2006; Peng 2006; Lee 2009; Ng 2009; Napier et al. 2009; Kent 2009). The constraints facing court interpreters in adversarial settings will be analyzed, particularly when interpreting from English to Spanish for immigrants who may have little or no formal education. A variety of solutions available to court interpreters will be explored within the context of prevailing professional standards in the United States.