Interpreting culture. Dealing with cross-cultural issues in court interpreting

摘要

Interpreters who work in community settings with participants from disparate cultural backgrounds may confront difficulties conveying the source message into the target message accurately due to cross-cultural differences. Such cross-cultural differences can range from pragmalinguistic differences at the discourse level of speech to sociopragmatic differences, which go beyond the utterances. When confronted with such instances, interpreters are almost always unsure of how to react and of what is expected of them. The few studies that have looked at cross-cultural differences in community interpreting clearly show that there is no consistency in the way interpreters approach potential cross-cultural misunderstandings. This paper will present the results of a section of a questionnaire of a larger study, which asked practising legal interpreters whether they alert judicial officers and tribunal members of potential cross-cultural differences, and which also asked judicial officers and tribunal members about their expectations of interpreters in such situations. The results point to a need for greater guidance and clearer protocols for interpreters working in the legal system.