A FURIOUS Crown Court judge had to adjourn a murder hearing because a Mandarin interpreter refused to turn up, claiming he would “not be making enough money”.
The judge hit out when he was forced to halt the case against Chinese businessman Anxiang Du, from Coventry, who is accused of killing four members of a family in Northampton in 2011.
The clerk at Nottingham Crown Court said he had been told it was “not worthwhile” for an interpreter to turn up.
Mr Justice Julian Flaux said: “It would be completely unfair on Mr Du to go ahead without an interpreter. To say I am annoyed is an understatement. I will be asking for a written explanation. It is a complete disgrace.”
It is the latest row to hit the newly centralised interpreter service supplied by Capita Translation and Interpreting.
The deal has seen fees slashed, with interpreters no longer paid for time spent with defendants before they enter court, leading to an increasing number of hearings being abandoned.
Courts say they are now having to bypass the system “more than 50 per cent of the time” as interpreters either fail to turn up, or are not qualified to do the job if they do arrive.
Instead courts are having to raid emergency coffers and revert to the old system of directly sourcing translators.
The campaign group Professional Interpreters for Justice has revealed that Capita is providing only 48 per cent of the interpreters required by courts. More.
See: Express
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Италия
Член ProZ.com c 2002
английский => итальянский
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[E... See more
[Edited at 2013-05-18 13:27 GMT] ▲ Collapse
Чили
Local time: 00:32
Член ProZ.com c 2003
английский => испанский
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I agree with Luca 100%
Гана
Local time: 03:32
японский => английский
Killing 4 people is a very serious crime. This is a major trial and to serve the interests of justice they need the best interpreter the court can find. Instead they'll have to settle for the best interpreter who is desperate or inexperienced enough accept Capita's insulting terms... Not really the kind of person you want in your corner when you're on trial for your life.
Канада
Local time: 04:32
английский => французский
+ ...
And the translation business is hit hard, not so long ago, an agency proposed the great rate of 0.04 USD/word to me! The guy was explaining to me that I will have a very big work load...I k... See more
And the translation business is hit hard, not so long ago, an agency proposed the great rate of 0.04 USD/word to me! The guy was explaining to me that I will have a very big work load...I kindly explained that, more work means that I'll be tired more and stressed more...So when I work more, I certainly make sure to make more money! And not the other way around!
It seems to me that the system is going more towards mediocrity, and an elitist (badly designed) vision where one man should do everything (i.e. the job of 10 people) and do it right...In actuality, the poor lad does it for peanuts, and the result is disastrous...
In the case of a court trial, I'm wondering who should the "victim or culprit" sue if he gets in jail because of poor interpretation! ▲ Collapse
Гана
Local time: 03:32
японский => английский
In the case of a court trial, I'm wondering who should the "victim or culprit" sue if he gets in jail because of poor interpretation!
Sue? But how can he sue without an interpreter?
Фарерские острова
Local time: 03:32
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+ ...
How can you tell if the guy is actually interpreting what you are saying?
Judge: How do you plea to first degree murder?
Defendant to Interpreter: Not guilty.
Interpreter to Judge: Oh he says he is guilty, very guilty.
Judge to Defendant: I find you guilty, and sentence you to death.
Interpreter to Defendant: He finds you not guilty and will throw you a going away party later.
Interpreter to Defendant's wife: So you all set for dinner tonight?
Испания
Local time: 04:32
Член ProZ.com c 2003
испанский => английский
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Court interpreting is an artificial, albeit needed, market. Any adjustment to market realities will be slow.
США
Local time: 22:32
русский => английский
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The monopolization of translation and interpreting is a result of a total misunderstanding what these services are about. Inte... See more
The monopolization of translation and interpreting is a result of a total misunderstanding what these services are about. Interpreting and translation agencies should be more like the talent agencies (for artistic professions) or publishing agencies. They should never become anything even closely related to office support personnel agencies, which many seem to be like these days.
[Edited at 2013-05-19 08:21 GMT] ▲ Collapse
Китай
Local time: 11:32
китайский => английский
Court interpreting is an artificial, albeit needed, market. Any adjustment to market realities will be slow.
But it's worth noting that the UK has moved from multiple providers of court interpreting services to (theoretically) one provider. We've moved away from the "market", however that is defined.
(In practice, multiple providers are still used because that one provider has proved inadequate, and this is one area where we can't tolerate corporate failure.)
Франция
Local time: 04:32
Член ProZ.com
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(In practice, multiple providers are still used because that one provider has proved inadequate, and this is one area where we can't tolerate corporate failure.)
Quite the contrary. The tolerance of corporate failure in this particular case goes beyond all limits.
Attila
Великобритания
Local time: 03:32
иврит => английский
(In practice, multiple providers are still used because that one provider has proved inadequate, and this is one area where we can't tolerate corporate failure.)
Quite the contrary. The tolerance of corporate failure in this particular case goes beyond all limits.
Attila
Quite. They should have rescinded the framework agreement long ago. I can only assume they fear appearing foolish, although imo they look more foolish by trying to flog a dead horse.
Фарерские острова
Local time: 03:32
датский => английский
+ ...
Because the service between all companies in the market will be identical, either the company is unable to live up to the contract, or if the company can defend its service of the contract, the problem is the contract itself. I am putting my money on the latter of the two; the contract is at fault.
This means, I predict, if there is more than one company or if there are many companies submitting bids next time, we will see the exact same result. ▲ Collapse
Великобритания
Local time: 03:32
иврит => английский
the contract is at fault.
Maybe, I haven't read the text of the FA but I would guess it is not without flaws. However, this catastrophe happened mainly because the MOJ awarded the contract to a small, relatively unknown company who simply wasn't equipped or able to fulfil its obligations. Despite the fact it has now been taken over by the Capita group the FA is so tainted by the fallout from ALS that it's hard to see how it is remotely salvageable as a contract, regardless of who takes it on next.
Франция
Local time: 04:32
Член ProZ.com
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+ ...
Maybe, I haven't read the text of the FA but I would guess it is not without flaws. However, this catastrophe happened mainly because the MOJ awarded the contract to a small, relatively unknown company who simply wasn't equipped or able to fulfil its obligations.
Over 80% of the interpreters on the national register bravely boycotted any cooperation with the winner of the FA because of the inadmissible working conditions. I expect the same people would have said categorically no to a much bigger corporation offering the same unacceptable work conditions.
Unfortunately, we will soon see whether this hypothesis is true. The UK example will be followed in Ireland (see this link and click on the April bulletin), where the court interpreting tender was won by three language companies, including a huge one that is the market leader in many countries.
And as someone in the UK could get away with it, they propose similarly scandalous working conditions:
For example, the Courts Service will pay €33.79 for 100 kilometres but [Translation company] will pay the interpreter a lot less - €18.60. Tolls and parking fees are not covered. There is no longer any extra payment for work carried out on Saturdays.
Attila
[Edited at 2013-05-19 19:13 GMT]
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