Interpreters play a critical role in ensuring meaningful access to justice for people who speak languages other than English.
In the latest episode of The Callover, Brisbane-based court interpreter and forensic translator Carl Gene Fordham sat down with host Georgia Athanasellis to talk about the realities of interpreting in legal settings.
Carl Gene is the National President of AUSIT – the Australian Institute of Interpreters and Translators, which stands for ethical, competent and informed practice.
Their discussion shed light on the often-unseen role and explores when and how lawyers should engage interpreters, the practical realities of working with clients with limited English, and the challenges that can affect accuracy and fairness in legal proceedings.
What’s the difference between the role of a translator and an interpreter?
Carl Gene says it is a classic question as there is a common misconception about the differences between these two roles.
Translators take a written document and re-express the meaning of that document in another language. In a legal setting, that might be documents needed in court as evidence.
“Interpreters help people who don’t speak English well or it’s not their first language to communicate with other people,” he said.
“In the case of spoken languages, it would be a spoken language interpreter. In the case of sign languages, it might be an Auslan interpreter.
“So that’s the key difference between translator and interpreter.”
Tackling ethical dilemmas
Carl Gene says conflicts of interest can occur in language communities, when interpreters don’t receive names in advance or aren’t engaged early. Accuracy is a constant ethical duty that becomes harder when working conditions are difficult.
“I mean, there are so many. To be frank with interpreting, there are ethical pitfalls pretty much every day, just because of the nature of the job … I think conflict of interest is an obvious one that that does come up, and this is why it’s super important to provide interpreters with accurate information before the job begins,” he said.
“So, one example is if we’re interpreting for a trial, we really need to be there during the pre-trial hearing … our communities tend to be quite small, so there’s a chance maybe the interpreter does have a conflict of interest, and we can’t identify that if we don’t know these people before the job begins. So, providing lists of names is super important for conflicts of interest.
“I would say accuracy is a super, super important one … it becomes more difficult if our working conditions aren’t in place.”
Breaks are essential for accuracy
The best way to make working conditions better for interpreters, Carl Gene says, is to be mindful of breaks. Interpreters often underestimate fatigue and may not ask for a break, even as accuracy begins to suffer. Simple, proactive offers from lawyers can materially improve outcomes.
“So how you can assist with that? I would say breaks. Breaks are super important,” he said.
“We know from research, though, that interpreters, when they get into the flow of interpreting, they will underestimate their level of fatigue. A lot of interpreters, myself included, just forget to ask for breaks.
“But we know that if you’re interpreting for more than half an hour in one block, you’re going to start to get fatigued very quickly… you can assist by saying, ‘oh, would you like a break?’.
“It’s a very simple thing to do. But it’s very powerful. It shows that you care about our working conditions and that you want the best outcome for your client because in many cases, sometimes the level of justice that can be attained is really relying on the performance of the interpreter.”
Translation loss is normal
There’s no perfect equivalence between languages, and lawyers should expect some variance between English affidavits and interpreted testimony and adjust their approach accordingly.
Carl Gene says sometimes lawyers can become stuck on certain phrases or words “… but it’s important to realise that once that’s translated, there’s always going to be some loss in there and then when it’s translated back into English again, there could be more loss.”
“… Sometimes there’s going to be a difference between what the interpreter is saying in court and what is in the original affidavit.
“Now, from the interpreter’s perspective, that’s considered normal. That’s just an everyday thing. But I think for a lot of lawyers, they’ll be shocked, like, oh, they didn’t use the exact wording in the affidavit, you know, and so having understanding of equivalence and loss, translation loss I think is really important.”
Translation loss will be a factor, but it can be helped
Carl Gene says that research has established that translation loss is difficult to limit, but lawyers can take some action to help interpreters work accurately and reduce fatigue, particularly in cross‑examination.
“This is hard, I think, for lawyers to accept but using plain English, as much as possible is, is very important,” he said.
“Avoiding using figurative language, slang, ambiguous statements, things like that is super important. Because the plainer your English, the easier it is for the interpreter to interpret, which in turn will prevent fatigue.”
Interpreters are often sent in cold
Interpreters frequently arrive to court with almost no briefing, sometimes only a name and courtroom, despite potentially having to appear in high‑stakes matters. Providing basic case context makes a meaningful difference.
“So for us, when we get a job, we are lucky if we get the name of the person that we’re working with, the name of the person who doesn’t speak English very well,” he said.
“ … And so remember, as a lawyer, you might be working on the case for weeks or months or whatever it is. The interpreter is working from day one with almost no information.
“It’s also quite shocking sometimes if an interpreter is thrown into, a rape trial, for example, a murder trial or, or other, you know, very high stakes, potentially triggering assignments. Domestic violence is another one … sometimes we’re not even told the nature of the proceedings.”
Even when the Court appoints the interpreter, practitioners can still assist on the day by sharing background information like the names of the parties, the witness names and the nature of the case.
Listen to this episode of The Callover.
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