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Chapter 7. The colonized in conflict

Taiwanese military interpreters and the postwar British war crime trials
  • Shichi Lan
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Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting
This chapter is in the book Towards an Atlas of the History of Interpreting

Abstract

As Japanese military expanded into Southeast Asia and its need for interpreters increased dramatically after 1941, the Taiwanese – who were subjected to Japan’s colonial rule (1895–1945) and proficient in both the languages of the Japanese colonizer and of overseas Chinese and Malay population under Japanese occupation – undertook a conspicuous role as military interpreters. By delineating the career trajectories of eighteen Taiwanese interpreters who were put on trial as war criminals by the British in postwar Malaya and Singapore, this chapter argues that working as interpreters put the colonized Taiwanese into direct conflict with the colonized Chinese and Malay. This work condition made the Taiwanese bear a disproportionally high responsibility in postwar war crime trials, and best illustrated the dimension of “colonized in conflict” of WWII.

Abstract

As Japanese military expanded into Southeast Asia and its need for interpreters increased dramatically after 1941, the Taiwanese – who were subjected to Japan’s colonial rule (1895–1945) and proficient in both the languages of the Japanese colonizer and of overseas Chinese and Malay population under Japanese occupation – undertook a conspicuous role as military interpreters. By delineating the career trajectories of eighteen Taiwanese interpreters who were put on trial as war criminals by the British in postwar Malaya and Singapore, this chapter argues that working as interpreters put the colonized Taiwanese into direct conflict with the colonized Chinese and Malay. This work condition made the Taiwanese bear a disproportionally high responsibility in postwar war crime trials, and best illustrated the dimension of “colonized in conflict” of WWII.

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Voices from around the world 1
  4. Chapter 2. Indigenous interpreters on trial in the Spanish Empire 25
  5. Chapter 3. Interpreters of Mapudungun and the Chilean State during the 1880–1930 period 53
  6. Chapter 4. An overview of the role of interpreters during the Portuguese expansion through Africa (1415–1600) 81
  7. Chapter 5. Mediating a complex cultural matrix 120
  8. Chapter 6. Interpreting with “human sympathy” 145
  9. Chapter 7. The colonized in conflict 171
  10. Chapter 8. Interpreters of mission 193
  11. Chapter 9. Domesticating dragomans 212
  12. Chapter 10. The interpreter as “anti-hero” 238
  13. Chapter 11. When the armies went back home 268
  14. Chapter 12. Conclusion 288
  15. Biographical notes 296
  16. Place index 300
  17. Name index 302
  18. Language index 305
  19. Subject index 306
  20. Image index 309
https://doi.org/10.1075/btl.159.07lan

Chapters in this book

  1. Prelim pages i
  2. Table of contents v
  3. Chapter 1. Voices from around the world 1
  4. Chapter 2. Indigenous interpreters on trial in the Spanish Empire 25
  5. Chapter 3. Interpreters of Mapudungun and the Chilean State during the 1880–1930 period 53
  6. Chapter 4. An overview of the role of interpreters during the Portuguese expansion through Africa (1415–1600) 81
  7. Chapter 5. Mediating a complex cultural matrix 120
  8. Chapter 6. Interpreting with “human sympathy” 145
  9. Chapter 7. The colonized in conflict 171
  10. Chapter 8. Interpreters of mission 193
  11. Chapter 9. Domesticating dragomans 212
  12. Chapter 10. The interpreter as “anti-hero” 238
  13. Chapter 11. When the armies went back home 268
  14. Chapter 12. Conclusion 288
  15. Biographical notes 296
  16. Place index 300
  17. Name index 302
  18. Language index 305
  19. Subject index 306
  20. Image index 309
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