Court interpreters and sworn translators of legal language The case of Slovenia

Transcription

1 Court interpreters and sworn translators of legal language The case of Slovenia Viktorija Osolnik Kunc

2 Presentation overview 1. Legal provision 2. Examination criteria for court interpreters in Slovenia 3. Data on court interpreters and sworn legal translators 4. Candidates for German court interpreters 2

3 Legal Provisions on Court Interpreters and Legal Translators Courts Act (Official Journal of the Rep. of Slovenia 19/1994) Rules on Court Interpreters (Official Journal of the Rep. of Slovenia 94/2002) 3

4 Definition of Court Interpreters in the Rules on Court Interpreters Art. 2 Interpreters are people who were appointed for an unlimited mandate to translate spoken and written language from Slovene into a foreign language, from a foreign language into Slovene and from a primary foreign language into a secondary foreign language in court proceedings and other cases, where a court interpreter is required. [ ] (English translation) 4

5 The 'Court interpreter' in Slovenia Court interpreter 90 % of all c. i. work as legal translators 10 % out of a 100 % of the appointed c. i. actually work as court interpreters; courts or judges respectively also invite (professional) interpreters who are sworn in for a single hearing to participate in a court hearing 5

6 How to become a Court Interpreter in Slovenia? Judicial Training Centre Amongst others the Judicial Training Centre is responsible for organizing preparatory legal seminars for court interpreters, assessors and evaluators, written and oral exams as well as appointing court interpreters and court experts (assessors & evaluators). 6

7 Contents of the Court Interpreters Exam Preparatory legal seminar for candidates without legal education Language seminar for all candidates Written exam of app characters from Slo into a foreign language (2 texts) and vice versa (2 texts) Oral exam in front of the examination board Linguists questioned by legal experts and a language examiner Lawyers questioned only by the language examiner 7

8 Examination criteria for Court Interpreters in Slovenia I Equivalence in Legal subject Knowledge in the legal topic Understanding of the legal matter Legal language Adequate/correct choice of legal terminology Adequate/correct choice of legal collocations/phrases Adequate/correct language style 8

9 Examination criteria for Court Interpreters in Slovenia II Equivalence in Formal characteristics seal, signature, handwritten remark etc. Text layout Titles, paragraphs, tables, columns Language correctness Grammar Spelling 9

10 Examination board President (lawyer) Employee of the Ministry of Justice (lawyer) Language examiner (linguist or lawyer) Recording clerk 10

11 Data on Sworn Court Interpreters In Total: 874 court interpreters Language categories: Lost since 2007 no court interpreter for Danish Gained since 2007 new language category for Bosnian Specific categories: 6 Fraktur Flemish, Greek and New Greek, Serbo-Croatian, Sign language, Latin. 11

12 Languages Albanian Arabic Bulgarian Chinese Croatian Czech Dutch English French German Greek Hungarian Iranian Italian Japanese Macedonian Polish Portuguese Rumanian Russian Serbian Slovak Spanish Swedish Turkish Ukraine Urdu Danish Bosnian 12

13 Languages by representation ; 28% 190: 22% 100; 12% 76; 9% 75; 9% 56; 7% 51; 6% 38; 4% 24; 3% 0 13

14 Concept of Equivalence Translation strategies Text types prescriptive performative Functionalist concept (Skopos) Focus on major elements in a certified translation: Linguist Lawyer Importance of correct understanding between two or more legal parties - SL legal culture - certification (seal+declaration) 14

15 Linguists and Lawyers Translating Strategies Linguist SL Lawyer TL 1 Okrajno sodišče (Local Court) TL 2 Equivalence Bezirksgericht (Court of First Instance) Amtsgericht (Lower District Court) Skopos Urkundsbeamter (Registrar) Equivalence zapisnikar (recording clerk) javni uslužbenec, ki izdaja listine (official issueing documents) Descriptive translation 15

16 Candidates for Court Interpreters for German by sex and profession ( ) 6% 22% 20% 52% Female linguists Female lawyers Male linguists Male lawyers = 102 Candidates for Court Interpreters for German 16

17 Candidates for Court interpreters for German by year Number of C.I Linguist Lawyer 17

18 Candidates for Court interpreters for German by language profession ( ) 75%; 45 18%; 11 7%; 4 BA in translation / MA in conference interpr. BA in German studies BA in German teaching = 60 Candidates for Court Interpreters for German 18

19 Conclusions Foundation of the Slovene Association of Court Interpreters and Sworn Translators Linguistic and legal seminars to members and interested public Model for legal linguists Knowledge transfer (law) Translation strategies (Equivalence / Skopos) Certification 19

20 Proposed Approach to Legal Translation Beglaubigung eines Rechtstextes Erkennen Verstehen System Kultur Generalisieren Denkstil/ Rechtskreis Denken Differenzieren Rechtssprachen Rechtstext Transkodierungszirkel Berufsethos 20

21 University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Arts Department for German Studies & Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Slovenia, Judicial Training Center 21