You may now speak to your lawyer- When interpreters mediate judges’ information to the accused

Abstract

This paper concerns interpreter-mediated courtroom hearings inDenmark. Based on audio-recordings, we analyse the contributions of judgeand interpreter, and we focus on if, how and by whom the non-Danish speakingaccused is informed about the possibility to speak with a lawyer in private.Although legally trivial, this information is crucial to the accused as it concernshis/her legal rights and options. We show how the informational sequenceunfolds interactionally; we argue that the work of judge and interpreter iscollaborative; and we discuss the potential of our sociolinguistic / interactionalperspectives to inform the legal professionals. Here we are concerned witha wide-spread understanding of quality in legal interpreting. Rather thanregarding ‘quality’ as equal to ‘correct’ and ‘accurate’ translation and focusingon the work of the interpreter in isolation, we suggest that it is necessary toconsider context, aims, addressees and functions of the interpreting activity. Weargue that the interpreter’s work facilitates better understanding for the accused,and at the same time, a more streamlined courtroom interaction