Introduction In Australia the practice of court interpreting has been ad hoc, devoid of much theoretical underpinning and almost completely ignored by researchers as a ªeld of study. Interpreters work as individuals rather than as part of a collegial group of professionals. Many lack a commitment to the profession, using their bilingual skills to work as interpreters only part time while they train in another ªeld, or to complement the family’s income (Ozolins, 1998). This lack of professional identity among those working as interpreters themselves makes it di¹cult for those working with them to perceive them as professionals. There is also a minority group of highly qualiªed, motivated and dedicated court interpreters who become frus trated at the lack of professionalism evidenced in many of their colleagues, and at the lack of recognition and respect their qualiªcations and professional attitude inspire in those who work with them. Attempts have been made by a small group of lawyers and practitioners through their professional association (AUSIT), and through the available training courses, to professionalise legal interpreting. Much of what is written or said on the topic, however, is of a very prescriptive or anecdotal nature, rarely based on empirical evidence. There is no real tradition of research in the ªeld of legal interpreting, although the body of research has increased in the last twenty years, with the majority of data-based linguistic research being carried out in Spanish-English (Berk-Seligson, 1988, 1989a, 1989b, 1990,1999; Hale, 1996a, 1996b, 1997a, 1997b, 1997c, 1999, 2001, 2002; Rigney, 1997,1999, Roy, 1996). There has been very useful work published based on ethnographic research (Dueñas Gonzalez et al., 1991, O’Toole, 1993, Laster & Taylor, 1994, Ozolins, 1991, 1998), and some published on issues of role, practice and instruction, based mainly on secondary data, ideologies and personal experience (de Jongh, 1992, Ginori & Scimone, 1995; Morris, 1995, Edwards, 1995, Gentile et al., 1996, Roy, 1990, 1992, 1993, Fenton, 1997, Moeketsi, 1999, Mikkelson, 2000). In the context of the current reality of court interpreting in Australia, this book aims to ªll part of the gap that exists in the knowledge about the practice of court interpreters. The book deals primarily with the micro-linguistic analysis of Spanish interpreters’ renditions in the courtroom, but draws on social and professional issues to explain the interpreters’ performance. It is hoped that the results of this xvi The Discourse of Court Interpreting research will serve to inform the practice of interpreting, promote the o research will serve to inform the practice of interpreting, promote the overarching need for specialist court interpreting training and to help develop appropriate curriculum based on the results of research. The book explores the intricate processes of interpreting in the ritualised and constrained context of the courtroom. It describes the discourse practices of inter preters vis-a-vis those of the lawyers and the Spanish witnesses in the triadic interaction. Of particular interest is the way interpreters manipulate, ªlter and alter the messages of the main participants in their interpretation, and the impact such alterations may have on the legal process. Based on authentic data, the book shows how the lawyers’ monolingual practices, such as the strategic use of questions to maintain control and reinforce their power, can at times be thwarted by the interference of the interpreter and at times reinforced or enhanced by it. Power is constantly being negotiated through the control of the discourse in the interpreter mediated interaction. The book also presents results that show that subtle linguistic changes in the interpreter’s renditions, such as the omission of discourse markers, can have pragmatic signiªcance on the message. The maintenance of equivalence of style in the interpretation of the witnesses’ testimonies is presented as a strong argument for accurate interpreting. The data clearly show that interpreters are often not faithful to the style of the original text even when they are faithful to the content. The results of experiments support the hypothesis that such changes can have an impact on the impressions of credibility, competence and intelligence formed about the witnesses. The book also explores the possible reasons for the diŸerent choices made by interpreters in the course of their work. Some of those decisions are assumed to be in¶uenced by the interpreters’ own views about their role and their ethical consid erations, some by their own linguistic and interpreting competence, some by the constraints of the language pair, and some by the constraints of the exercise. It is not the intention of this book to criticise the work of interpreters or to highlight their deªciencies, but to highlight di¹culties of the interpreting process and sug gest solutions. It is hoped that the results of this study will raise the awareness of interpreters, lawyers and policy makers of the issues pointed out above. Although the book concentrates on data drawn from Australian Local Court1 cases and discusses the Legal Interpreting profession in Australia, the situation does not diŸer greatly in the rest of the world where the profession is practised. Therefore, the book is relevant to court interpreters everywhere.
