Legal Professionals Perceptions of Court Interpreters Role as Language Rights Practitioners in Kenya
- September 11, 2020
- Posted by: RSIS
- Categories: IJRISS, Language and Literature
International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) | Volume IV, Issue VIII, August 2020 | ISSN 2454–6186
Legal Professionals Perceptions of Court Interpreters Role as Language Rights Practitioners in Kenya
Odhiambo Kenneth
Department of Languages, Literature and Culture Maasai Mara University
Abstract: The role of the court interpreter stirs controversies anytime it is mentioned especially in legal interpreting. This study sought to examine the perceptions of legal professionals towards court interpreters as language rights practitioners. Language rights in this parlance indicates the interpreter is not merely seen as a conduit but as one who speaks for the persons who do not speak English in court. The study used a total of 68 questionnaires distributed to the lawyers, magistrates and prosecutors in selected subordinate courts in Kisumu County. A frequency and percentage rating were used to determine the perception of the legal professionals towards the court interpreter as language rights practitioners. The parameters used to gauge language rights were language combination proficiency, accuracy, omission, interruptions and impartiality. The study found out that the legal professionals have varied perceptions on the parameters constituting the language rights practitioner role of the interpreter.
Key words: Court interpreter, Language rights, Legal professionals, Accuracy, omission, interruptions, Impartiality.
I. INTRODUCTION
The court interpreter plays a pivotal role in courtroom communication. As a connector between discourse participants of different languages, the court interpreter has to adhere to some practices as demanded by the adversarial system of the Kenyan legal practice. There also tends to be an assumption that users of interpreters are not in a position to evaluate the practice of interpreting, as they understand only one of the languages involved. However, the legal practitioners are bilingual or multilingual participants in interpreter mediated communication in the Kenyan scenario. In the context of courtroom proceedings, they often have a perception of interpreting The present paper aims to examine the perceptions of legal professionals towards court interpreters, with specific reference to the perceptions as language rights practitioners.
Language rights issues
Language rights issues are aimed at the promotion of linguistic justice and the removal and prevention of linguistic inequalities or injustice that may occur due to language (Phillipson and Skutnabb-Kangas, 1994). The benefits accruing from the implementation of language rights include the right to individual and collective identity. Phillipson and Skutnabb-Kangas (1994) explain linguistic rights as the right to be different, right to identify with one’s mother tongue, to learn it and to have education in it and to use it.
