Ensuring interpreting quality in legal and courtroom settings: Australian Language Service Providers' perspectives on their role

In today's multicultural landscape, opportunities for interpreters to acquire professional competence through formal training in order to work in legal settings, including court, remain limited, especially in the so-called 'rare languages' of recent migrant communities. Ensuring high...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ludmila Stern, Xin Liu
Format: Article
Language:deu
Published: ZHAW 2019-07-01
Series:JoSTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation
Online Access:https://www.jostrans.org/article/view/7880
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
_version_ 1849706405887475712
author Ludmila Stern
Xin Liu
author_facet Ludmila Stern
Xin Liu
author_sort Ludmila Stern
collection DOAJ
description In today's multicultural landscape, opportunities for interpreters to acquire professional competence through formal training in order to work in legal settings, including court, remain limited, especially in the so-called 'rare languages' of recent migrant communities. Ensuring high quality interpreting services is largely the responsibility of interpreting agencies — Language Service Providers (LSPs). This article explores the ways in which eight major Australian LSPs address the challenges of providing interpreting of a quality required in legal settings, including courts. In-depth interviews with LSPs' management reveal an uneven pattern of initiatives undertaken to address interpreter training and legal/court expertise. To mitigate risk, some LSPs, especially those employing interpreters in the Aboriginal and the so-called new & emerging languages of recent migrants, refugees and asylum seekers (Stern 2018), have undertaken capacity building and assumed a trainer's role not historically expected of them; most report imparting information that can benefit interpreters, and encouraging them to pursue professional development. While the scope of these initiatives remains limited and the pattern uneven, most LSPs have identified the necessary steps for interpreter upskilling, even if they remain aspirational.
format Article
id doaj-art-bd1dd63882ae41eda962db4caed2c1a8
institution DOAJ
issn 1740-357X
language deu
publishDate 2019-07-01
publisher ZHAW
record_format Article
series JoSTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation
spelling doaj-art-bd1dd63882ae41eda962db4caed2c1a82025-08-20T03:16:12ZdeuZHAWJoSTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation1740-357X2019-07-013210.26034/cm.jostrans.2019.156Ensuring interpreting quality in legal and courtroom settings: Australian Language Service Providers' perspectives on their roleLudmila SternXin LiuIn today's multicultural landscape, opportunities for interpreters to acquire professional competence through formal training in order to work in legal settings, including court, remain limited, especially in the so-called 'rare languages' of recent migrant communities. Ensuring high quality interpreting services is largely the responsibility of interpreting agencies — Language Service Providers (LSPs). This article explores the ways in which eight major Australian LSPs address the challenges of providing interpreting of a quality required in legal settings, including courts. In-depth interviews with LSPs' management reveal an uneven pattern of initiatives undertaken to address interpreter training and legal/court expertise. To mitigate risk, some LSPs, especially those employing interpreters in the Aboriginal and the so-called new & emerging languages of recent migrants, refugees and asylum seekers (Stern 2018), have undertaken capacity building and assumed a trainer's role not historically expected of them; most report imparting information that can benefit interpreters, and encouraging them to pursue professional development. While the scope of these initiatives remains limited and the pattern uneven, most LSPs have identified the necessary steps for interpreter upskilling, even if they remain aspirational.https://www.jostrans.org/article/view/7880
spellingShingle Ludmila Stern
Xin Liu
Ensuring interpreting quality in legal and courtroom settings: Australian Language Service Providers' perspectives on their role
JoSTrans: The Journal of Specialised Translation
title Ensuring interpreting quality in legal and courtroom settings: Australian Language Service Providers' perspectives on their role
title_full Ensuring interpreting quality in legal and courtroom settings: Australian Language Service Providers' perspectives on their role
title_fullStr Ensuring interpreting quality in legal and courtroom settings: Australian Language Service Providers' perspectives on their role
title_full_unstemmed Ensuring interpreting quality in legal and courtroom settings: Australian Language Service Providers' perspectives on their role
title_short Ensuring interpreting quality in legal and courtroom settings: Australian Language Service Providers' perspectives on their role
title_sort ensuring interpreting quality in legal and courtroom settings australian language service providers perspectives on their role
url https://www.jostrans.org/article/view/7880
work_keys_str_mv AT ludmilastern ensuringinterpretingqualityinlegalandcourtroomsettingsaustralianlanguageserviceprovidersperspectivesontheirrole
AT xinliu ensuringinterpretingqualityinlegalandcourtroomsettingsaustralianlanguageserviceprovidersperspectivesontheirrole