The demand for multilingual professionals is ever important in today’s multicultural world. This is especially true in the court system, where it is vital that all participants be able to understand each other clearly. Court interpreters and court translators make this possible. There is a common misunderstanding that a court interpreter and a court translator are the same thing but in actual fact, they are two very different jobs and require different sets of skill. Some things they do have in common, are the absolute fluency in two or more languages (generally the language of the court system and at least one other), an understanding of legal terms in those languages, and a general feel for how people understand the words in those languages beyond simple word for word conversion. There is more to translating and interpreting than just those things, however.
Court Interpreter
Court interpreters work with the spoken word. They listen to people as they speak in one language, and repeat the same thing in another language immediately after that. The court interpreter’s job function is sometimes called simultaneous translation and this could be one of the reasons why they can be confused for court translators.
A court interpreter needs to be very alert and to have excellent listening skills. In addition, court interpreters need to be familiar with the subject matter of the court case other than legal terminology. Since people usually do not speak in one sentence at a time, a good memory is a very useful trait as well. Their job is essential to the conduct of court proceedings when the witnesses come from diverse backgrounds.
Court Translator
While the court interpreter works with the spoken word, the written word is the court translator’s area of expertise. Their job is to convert documents written in one language into another.
Court translators need to be familiar with the languages that they work in on a literary level, because the written word is more complex and more formal than the spoken word. Their job is especially important because of the very specific way in which legal documents are written. It is for this reason that court translators need to have highly analytical minds and excellent research skills, so that they can learn the vocabularies of many subjects in two or more languages while they work. Legal proceedings usually have hard deadlines, so they need to be diligent, conscientious, constant workers. Finally, court translators work with official documents, so their spelling and grammar needs to be perfect. A court translator needs all the skills of a writer and an editor, in addition to an excellent command of two or more languages. Today, almost all translation work is performed on a computer, and most work projects are received and submitted electronically.
Both Court Translators and Court Interpreters are a valuable part of the court system. Neither job is more important than the other, less difficult than the other, and both are very much in demand because they are extremely important in maintaining the accurate and effective operation of the court system.
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Providing a broad selection of court reporting as well as litigation support to the legal industry since 1938. Our court reporters and litigation support services the top AMLaw 100 firms, U.S. presidents and international agencies. http://www.aldersonreporting.com
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