When linguistic and cultural differences are not disclosed in court interpreting

Jieun Lee

doi:10.1515/mult.2009.017

Article

When linguistic and cultural differences are not disclosed in court interpreting

Jieun Lee

Published/Copyright: January 18, 2010

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From the journal Volume 28 Issue 4

Abstract

This paper explores the role of the court interpreter in cross-cultural and cross-linguistic communication in the courtroom. Drawing on the analysis of the discourse of witness examinations interpreted by Korean interpreters in Australian court proceedings, this paper argues that in the absence of cultural and/or linguistic explanations by the interpreter, evidence given by witnesses from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds may not be accurately or fully interpreted, and this can have potentially serious consequences for the witness in the adversarial context. The discussion highlights the significance of interpreters' disclosure of linguistic and cultural issues which are related to the accuracy of interpreting during court-room examination and suggests that ‘conduit’ interpreters may in fact adversely influence adversarial court proceedings.

Keywords:: court interpreter; roles; cross-cultural communication; and cross-linguistic communication

Address for correspondence: Department of Linguistics, Macquarie University, North Ryde NSW 2109 Australia. e-mail: jieun.lee@ling.mq.edu.au

Published Online: 2010-01-18

Published in Print: 2009-November

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Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/mult.2009.017

Keywords for this article

court interpreter; roles; cross-cultural communication; and cross-linguistic communication