Translation - art & business » Interpreting »
Fake interpreter at murder trial
Thread poster: Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker
Jeff Whittaker  Identity Verified
United States
Local time: 14:40
Spanish to English
+ ...
Aug 6, 2012

Apparently there have been several cases like this resulting from an agency underbidding on a major court interpretation contract.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2176840/Trial-stopped-murder-case-translator-wife--real-interpreter--busy-up.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
 
urbom
urbom
United Kingdom
Local time: 19:40
German to English
+ ...
See previous thread Aug 6, 2012

There's already a long thread on the outsourcing of the MoJ interpreting contract:

http://www.proz.com/forum/interpreting/203314-privatization_of_legal_interpreting_services_in_the_uk.html

See also reports of... See more
There's already a long thread on the outsourcing of the MoJ interpreting contract:

http://www.proz.com/forum/interpreting/203314-privatization_of_legal_interpreting_services_in_the_uk.html

See also reports of more cock-ups here:
http://www.linguistlounge.org/ ▲ Collapse
 
Sheila Wilson
Sheila Wilson  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 19:40
Member (2007)
English
+ ...
Oh dear! Aug 6, 2012

Jeff Whittaker wrote:
Apparently there have been several cases like this resulting from an agency underbidding on a major court interpretation contract.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2176840/Trial-stopped-murder-case-translator-wife--real-interpreter--busy-up.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

The question is, is this good or bad for the industry as a whole?

In some ways, it's terribly bad. People must be getting the idea that if they employ a professional interpreter (and by implication, any member of our profession), then they are likely to be fobbed off with rubbish.

Yet nobody ever heard much about court interpreting until these "cost-cutting" measures were implemented, so that clearly gives the impression that the well-paid interpreters were giving good service and that it's these measures designed to cut costs which are in fact causing havoc. There may still be some cost savings for the UK government, but at what price? How many miscarriages of justice are acceptable?

I feel really sorry for all the court interpreters based in the UK. They must be having a really hard time of it, and I hope they can keep up their boycott and still find work. I might even have felt slightly sorry for ***, as they have entered into a truly catastrophic agreement, but they clearly put 100% of the blame on the individual interpreters, whilst paying peanuts. Does anyone believe they give training as they say when there are complaints?

*** will either remove them from its register, reinstate them or provide further training, as appropriate


Edited to comply with site rule 8#8 regarding disclosure of outsourcer names


[Edited at 2012-08-06 19:42 GMT]
 


To report site rules violations or get help, contact a site moderator:

Moderator(s) of this forum
NancyLynn[Call to this topic]
Andriy Bublikov[Call to this topic]

You can also contact site staff by submitting a support request »

Fake interpreter at murder trial







Trados Business Manager Lite
Create customer quotes and invoices from within Trados Studio

Trados Business Manager Lite helps to simplify and speed up some of the daily tasks, such as invoicing and reporting, associated with running your freelance translation business.

More info »
Wordfast Pro
Translation Memory Software for Any Platform

Exclusive discount for ProZ.com users! Save over 13% when purchasing Wordfast Pro through ProZ.com. Wordfast is the world's #1 provider of platform-independent Translation Memory software. Consistently ranked the most user-friendly and highest value

Buy now! »