Volume III of the INTERPRETAPES  includes a series of exercises that reflect routine courtroom proceedings and attorney-client exchanges in which the services of a language interpreter are frequently needed.  Arraignments, initial appearances, entries and changes of plea, and sentencings comprise a large percentage of the judicial system’s daily activities.  The formulaic nature of the language used in many of these proceedings is the result of the constitutional and legal requirements placed upon the Court to ensure that each and every defendant’s due process rights are respected.  Benchbooks have been published which contain suggested scripts and formulae to help judges make sure that all required points are adequately covered.  INTERPRETAPES III introduces many of the “boilerplate” terms that are repeatedly used in court, offering interpreters the opportunity to achieve the accuracy that is so essential to the efficient administration of justice.

This volume includes nine exercises which offer practice in the following modes:  simultaneous and consecutive interpreting, sight translation and a combined simultaneous/consecutive mode.  This combined mode is used when the judge addresses one or more defendant(s) and must then solicit individual responses.  In this case, the interpreter performs an on-going simultaneous interpretation of the judge’s speech, including direct questions posed to a defendant, and then renders that defendant’s response in English in the consecutive mode.

As with Volumes I and II, this set includes two source CDs and a key CD.  The source CDs consist of readings of texts based on actual trial transcripts and judges’ benchbooks covering legal situations such as attorney-client interviews, plea agreements, admonishments, jury instructions, sentencings and complaints.  The exercises for simultaneous interpretation are recorded at approximately 130 words per minute. The length of the exercises varies greatly, a fact which reflects the nature of each proceeding.  There are two sets of related texts that represent different phases of the same court action. This is done to introduce the terminology and then reinforce it through reiteration. Spaces are provided between the utterances in the consecutive exercise; the pause button should be used to accommodate individual interpreting styles. 

The spoken glossaries recorded prior to the texts themselves provide suggestions as to how one might render standard courtroom terminology into Spanish. These include the Spanish language equivalent for some terms for which a literal interpretation would be tempting, but not entirely accurate or appropriate. Please remember, however, that these are suggestions, and except for very specific, specialized terms, they should not be considered the only correct version. It is also important to realize that the denomination of certain offenses changes from state to state, so interpreters must familiarize themselves with the denominations used in the jurisdiction in which they work.

Certain items are included in more than one glossary. This is done so that interpreters can work with the texts in any order desired.

An extended glossary is also provided with INTERPRETAPES III. The purpose of this glossary is to offer a more complete discussion of terms that merit clarification as regards either their legal definition in the source language or the complexities involved in achieving an accurate target language version. These terms are marked with an asterisk in the written script.

The key CD provides a rendition of each text done in real time by a federally certified court interpreter. Non-native and native speakers of Spanish are included among the interpreters so as to provide a diversity of regional varieties, accents, and styles. These renditions are meant to provide an example of acceptable interpreting as opposed to an ideal model and to suggest strategies that will prove useful to other practitioners.  

The key is a two-track CD that has both the original text and the interpreter’s rendition on it for simultaneous exercises. This allows the interpreter to listen to both the original and the interpreted version at once or to listen to each separately. To hear only the interpreted version, simply reposition one side of the earphones away from the ear. 

WRITTEN MATERIALS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR USE

The written support materials that accompany the CDs include the scripts of all of the texts and a printed copy of the glossaries.  Although there are many ways in which training materials can be successfully used, the authors suggest that the scripts only be consulted after several attempts have been made to interpret the texts using only the spoken glossaries.  Scripts should be used to clarify doubts related to text comprehension and to verify the completeness of an interpreted rendition.

In order to evaluate your progress and to reproduce language laboratory practice at home, listen to the source CDs through earphones and use an additional tape deck to record your interpreted version as you produce it.  The taped version can then be listened to and critiqued in order to improve subsequent attempts.