Translators and interpreters

[Eric]

The word "translator" does not mean the same as "interpreter". The former tends to translates things from paper, a book, or a computer screen. The latter is a verbal translator and is used either simultaneously (sitting in a booth and talking a fraction of a second after the speaker) or consecutively (waits for the speaker to say about a paragraph, then translates that paragraph aloud into the target language).

The newspapers very often blur the distinction between these two professions. I only translate, never interpret, which I hate doing in any case.

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In my local Swedish newspaper I saw today that about half the interpreters used in Sweden are incompetent when it comes to legal language. That has serious consequences in court when the accused could risk being sent to prison or deported. Justice cannot be done if the interpreter is not familiar with the tiniest nuances of legal language in both languages. As one lady from Malmö points out, people in court are at the mercy of the interpreter. She says that there is a big crisis with at least two of the 170 (!) immigrant languages of Sweden, Mongolian and Somali.

The Swedish Minister of Justice had better wake up quick, or she will find her job title has become Minister of Injustice.

Such is the power of the spoken word.

[Loki]

There is a lot of confusion even here in Italy about "traduttori" and "interpreti". There are few universities that offer special courses to become an interpreter, which is generally considered more difficult than translating.

[Eric]

So the confusion is not confined to the English language. You often see in the British and American newspapers in some war zone or other that a "translator" was killed or kidnapped or whatever. I don't suppose he was in Afghanistan or Iraq to translate novels, but may have done some written translation of documents as well.

The interpreter situation in Sweden is pretty dire, especially for a rich European country with a lot of immigrants and languages. I read in that same article that only 10% of interpreters used in courts and hospitals are authorised by some central body. The other 90% have perhaps done one term of training and then start work. If sophisticated things have to be said about legal matters or an operation someone is going to have in a hospital, the interpreter must know exactly what he or she is talking about. The article gives one example where a refugee to Sweden said that a grenade had been thrown at his house and this was translated by the interpreter as "pomegranate". The words are close in many languages, but it shows a lack of basic knowledge. There is even a shortage of interpreters in Sweden, and this is attributed to low pay and insecure terms of employment. The pay scale has not been increased since the 1990s. And this is, I repeat, in one of the richest countries in the world.

[Loki]

As there are translators specialised in certain fields, there should be specialised interpreters (legal interpreters and the like, if you see what I mean). One cannot know the languages of politics, economics, medicine, art, literature, linguistics, etc., so apart from being able to be a general interpreter (I am inventing these words) they should specialise in one or two fields. And from what you have said about Sweden, I gather that this is not the case.

[Eric]

I'm sure that even in Sweden, there will be plenty of specialised interpreters for the major languages (German, French, Spanish, etc.). But the trouble starts with the very large number of immigrant languages, where it is hard to find an educated native-speaker, let alone a fully trained interpreter. How much Sweden does via English in this respect I do not know. But if you have to explain the niceties of citizens rights to a quasi-illiterate Somali, the interpreter must also be an expert in putting things into simple language if required to do so.

Even certain European and even EU languages are under stress in this respect. I know a lady in her mid-eighties in the Netherlands who is still asked to interpret in the courts between Lithuanian and Dutch. They can't find anyone else who is as well versed in the vocabulary and the concepts behind the words.

And I imagine that all the really competent interpreters end up in Brussels and other EU cities where the pay is much better as are the chances of promotion, etc. So that it is maybe the less competent ones that are left behind in their home countries.