The role of preparation using case-related materials in court interpreting

Asking any professional to carry out their duties without any prior preparation seems inconceivable, yet that is what currently happens to court interpreters in Australia, where they are expected to interpret accurately without the benefit of any prior preparation materials. This unrealistic expectation stems from the misunderstanding about the interpreting process from those who use interpreting services. This PhD thesis is the first experimental court interpreting study to investigate the effect of preparation using case-related materials on interpreting accuracy, employing expert witnesses' oral testimonies based on authentic criminal trials. It provides empirical evidence to substantiate court interpreters' plea for case-related materials necessary for them to abide by their Code of Ethics and the courts' requirement to interpret truly and faithfully. Adopting a multi-disciplinary, mixed methods approach, the study draws on legal, interpreting and social research methods, triangulating findings from quantitative and qualitative analyses of survey and experimental data. The findings of the national survey of court interpreters reveal that their preparation practices fall short of aspirations—while an overwhelming majority support adequate preparation, almost half report they only prepare on rare occasions or never do so. The respondents' narrative responses indicate that the lack of access to case-related materials is a main reason. There is also a general lack of requests for case-related materials from court interpreters, who do not feel confident enough to make such requests. The experiment focuses on the accuracy of propositional content. Statistical results show an overwhelming effect of preparation, demonstrating a higher level of interpreting accuracy after preparation using case-related materials. A qualitative analysis of the interpreted renditions provides an insight into the increased accuracy of renditions of certain types of content that are prone to interpreting errors, such as specialised terminology, enumerations and numbers. The study concludes that case-related materials are crucial for adequate preparation, for court interpreters to carry out their professional duties and achieve interpreting accuracy—in the interests of the administration of justice and mitigation of potential risks of adverse legal consequences. Court interpreters' access to case-related materials is a crucial enabler of effective court interpreting