Ex-Tamil Tiger Lost in Translation

Recently, an ex-Tamil militant complained that his statement at the commission set up to examine the final phase of Sri Lanka's civil war was badly interpreted into English. The commission has been established to investigate war crimes claims at the end of the civil war between the Sri Lanka’s government and the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels.

Douglas Devananda, a cabinet minister and ex-Tamil militant, gave a three-hour testimony in the Tamil language. During that testimony, he stopped several times to dispute the English version of his declaration. The interpretation was virtually on a word by word basis.

The main reason for interpreting requirements within politics meetings and court hearings is to allow those present to know what is being discussed and also to allow the people involved in the hearing to express themselves with confidence in their native language.

Court hearings have their own particularities. For instance, it is not acceptable to omit anything from the source because alteration of even a single word can change the meaning of the statement and mislead the triers of fact. An error could be fatal because the hearings are essential for the jury to make up their mind and deliver the sentence. But word by word interpretation does not always bring the highest levels of exactness. In many cases, this type of translation can be utterly confusing.

For highest levels of accuracy, it is advisable the use of a team of two or more interpreters during a lengthy process. In this way one is actively interpreting and the second monitoring for greater accuracy.

Our translation agency is well aware of the utmost importance of court interpreting. All of our Court Interpreters are highly qualified and experienced. You definitively, won’t get lost in translation.