Ludmila Stern, UNSW

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• Multilingual courtroom Changing practices of
  Interpreter/interpreter user interaction in
  international criminal courts

• Ludmila Stern, UNSW

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Background

• Ongoing project Interpreting in War Crimes
  Trials. From the Nuremberg Tribunal to the
  International Criminal Court (2000 ongoing)
• International courts and tribunals dealing with
  war crimes and major crimes against humanity
• Interpreting system contrasting with that of
  domestic courts

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International Criminal Tribunal for the Former
Yugoslavia1993 UN Resolution, operates since 1994
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International Criminal Court1998 Rome Statute,
operates since 2004
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Special Tribunal for Lebanon2007 UN Resolution
and Lebanese government, operates since 2009
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International v domestic courts interpreting
model

• Legacy of the Nuremberg International Military
  Tribunal (Gaiba 1998, memoir literature)
• simultaneous interpreting in booths
• rigorous selection criteria, testing and
  (desirable) pre-employment education/training
• in-house training in SI
• infrastructure to support professional working
  conditions briefing, preparation, team work
• quality control (eg, early error identification,
  role of transcript)
• contribution of interpreter users (lawyers and
  judges) to interpreting quality

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Nuremberg International Military Tribunal
(1945-46)
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Interpretation users

• General satisfaction with interpretation and
  praise by regular interpreter users (judges and
  counsel)
• More recent challenges of accuracy (requests for
  verification) and occasional interpreter
  scapegoating by transitory users (eg., accused)
• Language services building on previous
  experience
• Nuremberg -gt ICTY -gt ICC -gt STL
• Adjusting and fine tuning practices to the
  courts needs

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Interpreting challenges

• Achieving high level of completeness and
  accuracy required by the court in a fast-moving
  regulated environment
• Obstacles high speed of delivery, overlapping
  speakers, technical problems, errors with
  document provision and references
• How can users contribute to the interpreting
  quality (completeness and accuracy) and
  effectiveness of interpreted communication?

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Interpreter users

• Acknowledge the need for changes in their
  interaction with interpreters
• Acknowledgement the significance of interpreter
  users input
• Changes
• Increased interpreter visibility in court
• New tactics adopted by counsel and judges

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Towards greater interpreter visibility

• Understanding that interpreters may need to
  manage interpreting situation through
  interventions and interruptions
• Situation management and repair tactics by
  interpreters requests for repetition, speed
  reduction, documents provision, self-correction
• Application of accommodating tactics (pre-emptive
  and repair) by users pace control, overlap
  avoidance, pausing, referring to document
• Benefits arising from explanations given to
  witnesses, use of LiveNote

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Situation management and repair mechanisms
available to interpreters

• ICTY Code of Ethics on interpreter interventions
• inform the court of any doubts arising from
  possible lexical lacunae (Article 6 Reliability
  (2))
• informing listeners promptly about technical
  hindrances such as poor quality sound or
  illegible photocopies (Article 9 Competence
  (1c))
• acknowledge and rectify promptly any mistakes of
  interpretation (Article 10 Accuracy (2a))
• ask for repetition, rephrasing or explanation if
  anything is unclear (Article 10 Accuracy (2b))

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Practice

• Interpreters meta-language
• Interventions, additions during hearing
  Interpreters note, Interpreters correction.
• Interpreters comments on the interpretation in
  the microphone made for the record (eg,
  interpreter omitted a segment or sentence).
• Requests for repetitions or improvement of
  delivery
• Users (judges, counsel) support interpreters
  requests and follow them through crucial role
  of the Presiding judge

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• Ex 1
• THE INTERPRETER  The witness is kindly asked to
  approach the
•  7     microphone as it is hard to hear him.
•  8             JUDGE XX  Mr. YY, could you come
  a bit closer to the
•  9     microphone.  The interpreters have
  difficulties hearing you.  Perhaps
• 10     move it up.  Yes.

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Ex 2

• 8 THE INTERPRETER  Can the witness please repeat
  his answer.
• 9 JUDGE XX  Could you please repeat your answer,
  and could you
• 10  make a small pause between question and
  answer. 

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Ex 3

• 12             THE INTERPRETER  Interpreter's
  note  We didn't hear the
• 13     witness's answer because of the
  overlapping.
• 14             JUDGE XX  One second.  The
  interpreters draw our attention to
• 15     the fact that they did not hear the
  witness's answer and then you started
• 16     already your next question.
• 17             Is that the last portion of the
  answer which we see on the
• 18     transcript?  After where the witness said
  that he was simply a refugee,
• 19     or is it already the answer to the next
  question?
• 20             THE INTERPRETER  The answer to
  the next question.
• 21             JUDGE XX  Yes.
• 22             Could you please repeat your
  answer to the question

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Other support tactics provision of documents
and references when quoting

• Ex 1 Judge enquires if interpreting booths have
  been provided with the text of the Prosecutor s
  written summary statement. Judge gives
  instructions to provide it to the booths.
• Ex 2 Lawyer indicates document and page numbers
  in both English and another working language
  versions of the document for the benefit of the
  witness (intended for the witness, however
  benefits interpreters)

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Live Note transcript as a mechanism of instant or
early error detection and quality control

• early error detection and self-correction by
  interpreter or fellow-interpreter
• post-hearing corrections through existing
  mechanisms (ie, the Head of Interpretation
  requests the court reporters to insert
  corrections into the transcript), changes
  communicated to parties.

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ICC building on ICTY experience

• NT/ICTY interpreting model
• SI in booths, team work, turn taking
• Selection, testing and in-house training of
  interpreters in situation languages
• Preparation and briefing of interpreters
• Interpretation quality monitoring and safety nets

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New challenges interpretation in situation
languages

• Different situation languages in each case
  (situation)
• Swahili (incl. Congo Swahili)
• Acholi (Uganda)
• Lingala (DRC)
• Sango (CAR)
• Zagawa (Darfur)
• Logistical challenges in locating potential
  interpreters, pre-testing, testing and recruiting
  interpreters
• ,.

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New challenges (cont)

• Culturally and linguistically distant languages,
  lack of conceptual and lexical equivalents (eg,
  legal in TL)
• Need to coin new terms, eg., legal and courtroom
  phraseology
• TL output longer than in SL through the
  introduction of new terms and concept
  explicitation.
• TL output longer than SL through speech
  attribution (eg, Prosecutor, Defense) for the
  transcript

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New challenges (cont)

• Interpreting relays eg. Lingala -gtFrench -gt
  English delays and potential information loss
• Challenges for French-English interpreters and
  court reporters initial unfamiliarity with the
  phonology and deceptive cognates in varieties of
  French and English
• Ethical considerations, eg, euphemistic treatment
  of cultural taboos

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Training interpreters in situation languages

• Educational requirements during selection and
  recruitment, pre-testing
• Compulsory 6-9 months in-house interpreter
  training for specific (court)
• training in the main courtroom modes and skills
• relevant knowledge acquisition
• authentic materials, preparation in genres,
  techniques etc.
• participation in the coining of the new terms
  with the terminology development
• summative testing and accreditation

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Pre-emptive actions arising from ICTY experience

• Interpreters roles and tasks outlined in the
  ICC Regulations (prior to the commencement of
  trials)
• Terminology unit prior to the start of trials,
  ongoing challenge in coining legal and other
  terms, and courtroom phraseology in languages
  with more recent or no literacy) (Anne
  Aboh-Dabis 2008)
• Staff psychological services for secondary
  post-traumatic stress - some

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ICC interpretation users are aware of

• linguistic and cultural distance between
  European and African languages
• interpreting relay-induced delays and
  requirements for pauses
• their role in enabling communication (control of
  speed, overlap avoidance, documents provision)
• Sources of awareness
• Personal practice and learning experience
• Awareness raising (education/familiarisation) by
  STIC (Translation and conference interpreting
  Section) and some pre-trial briefings

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ICC interpreter interventions and accommodating
tactics by court

• Interpreter interventions
• Ex Booth identifies itself before making a
  request
• Lingala booth Please ask witness to slow down
• Provision of written materials to interpreters
• Ex Presiding judge reads a statement in English
  in open and closed sessions interpreters
  provided with the English version.

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New pre-emptive tactics

• 5-second golden rule
• Reminding counsel and explaining to witnesses
  reasons behind the 5-second rule and slower pace
  gtbenefits interpreters
• gt defining role of Presiding judge for the
  implementation of accommodating tactics

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Reminder to court participants and alerting
witnesses

• Presiding judge Give 5 seconds after a question
  is put to you and before you answer. We call it
  our 5-second golden rule Its difficult and you
  might speed up. Ill have to interrupt you.
  Please dont take offense, it is for practical
  reasons. The court officer next to you will make
  a sign. Do you understand our ground rules?
• Transparency about the interpreting process
  allows to reach victims and witnesses
• Benefits interpreters

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Impact of interpreting and accommodating tactics
on courtroom interaction

• how does the interpreting process and use of
  accommodating tactics affect the procedure?
• what is perceived as being lost through
  interpretation?
• how do lawyers reconcile the requirements of
  accurate interpretation (completeness, accuracy
  of content and style) and the requirements of the
  legal process?

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Counsels and judges voices (ICTY and ICC)

• interpretation and delays are part of
  communication in international environment
• some regrets about the loss of natural dynamic
• delays due to interpretation have an impact on
  cross-examination and the promptness of the
  objection
• LOTE may not have the same array of linguistic
  tactics peculiar to the English-language
  examination questions (eg, tag question, coercive
  question, intonation rise and fall)
  compensation through different tactics (ICTY)
  delays
• ICC acceptance of working together as a team

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Special Tribunal for Lebanon pre-emptive steps