FELICIDADES HOY 30 DE SEPTIEMBRE EN EL DIA INTERNACIONAL DEL TRADUCTOR

International Translation Day 30 September 2008 International Translation Day is celebrated on 30 September. This date was chosen because it is St. Jerome’s Day and St. Jerome, the Bible translator, has always been considered the patron saint of translators and interpreters.

Conferencias por el Día del Traductor en Guatemala

TRADPROF Centro de Capacitación de Traductores.

Miembro de la Asociación Guatemalteca de Intérpretes y Traductores –AGIT-
Miembro de The USA National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators –NAJIT-

le invita al:

DESAYUNO CONFERENCIA - 30 DE SEPTIEMBRE - DIA INTERNACIONAL DEL TRADUCTOR

1. “La interpretación simultánea, consecutiva, de corte y de escolta.
Nuevas tendencias en Guatemala”.

Expositora: Carolyn Minera Robinson
 Habilidades personales para ser intérprete
 Diferencias entre un intérprete y un traductor
 Modos de interpretación
 La interpretación y el significado de un discurso

2. “Principios legales, Ley del Traductor Jurado y legislación conexa que regula la actividad traductora en Guatemala; responsabilidad administrativa, civil y penal.”

Expositor: Julio César Muñoz S.
 Marco jurídico que regula a la traducción en Guatemala
 Análisis de la Ley del Traductor Jurado emitida en 1879
 Análisis legal del ejercicio de la Traducción en el 2008.
 Responsabilidad legal del traductor en el ejercicio de su profesión

Fecha: 30 de septiembre, 2008
Hora: 9:00 a 12:00 hrs.
Lugar: Restaurante Los Cebollines (12 calle y 3ª. Avenida zona 10)
Inversión: Q240 antes del 30 de septiembre, Q275 el día del evento. (Incluye desayuno, material, estacionamiento y propina)
Cupo limitado

Puede reservar su espacio mediante depósito en cuenta monetarios TRADPROF No. 065-617931-1 del Banco Industrial e infórmenos por teléfono o correo electrónico para confirmar su asistencia.

TRADPROF Centro de Capacitación de Traductores
Avenida Reforma 12-01 zona 10, Oficina 1-16
Planta baja, Edificio Reforma Montúfar
Tel. 2331-7719. administraciontradprof@gmail.com

Arto. 11o., Ley del Organismo Judicial

¿Qué comentario merece el análisis del artículo 11o. de la Ley del Organismo Judicial para la actividad traductora en Guatemala?

Conflict between audio recording and transcript in a legal case translation.

September 4, 2008


Judge orders new translation of murder suspect's interview

WEB EXTRA

By Brian Shane
Staff Writer
SNOW HILL — A Spanish-language transcript of an alleged murder confession didn’t match up with its audio recording in Worcester County Circuit Court, and now state prosecutors are on the hook to bring the judge a corrected version, likely postponing the October trial date.
Because sections of the audio did not match or were omitted from the transcript as prepared by State Police, Judge Theodore Eschenburg continued the defense’s motion to suppress the confession until Oct. 1, when the trial is scheduled to start.
“I’m sure everybody wants an accurate transcript, and I will not rule on this without one,” he said, adding, “Wow. This one is a little bit unusual.”

Fifty-six-year-old Cecilia Dea Parker was found stabbed to death in her Mystic Harbor home April 22. State Police investigators said Roberto Antonio Murillo, her across-the-street neighbor and sometimes landscaper, confessed to the crime hours later during a Spanish-language interview. Police said Murillo allegedly killed Parker over disputed payment for completed yard work.

Murillo, 28, is a Honduran native who illegally emigrated to Worcester County in 2005, leaving behind a wife and two children, court documents show. In court, he wore his black hair cropped short and sported a thin mustache. He was dressed in a gray pin-striped suit with a dark necktie, wearing ankle bracelets bound by a metal chain.

Wednesday marked Murillo’s first court appearance in this case. When sheriff’s deputies ushered him into court, he nearly stopped in his tracks, eyes wide. Across the courtroom, relatives of the deceased sat up in their gallery pews to get their first live look at the defendant.

Defense attorney Scott Collins said his client had not signed any waiver agreeing to speak to police on the record without an attorney present. Collins also contends that Murillo had asked for a lawyer before State Police questioned him.

“The way the officer asked the question in the transcript, he simply asked: Do you want a lawyer? Do you want to talk? Mr. Murillo’s answer was yes. Well, which question was he answering? The trooper did not inquire, the trooper simply went into his interrogation. To me, if you’re asked two questions, you generally answer the first one,” Collins said.

Trooper Alberto Vazquez, the Puerto Rico native who interviewed Murillo, testified that he moved forward with his Spanish-language interrogation after Murillo signaled that he didn’t need a lawyer — with a shrug, not by speaking aloud.

“He wanted to talk,” Vazquez said. “It was clear that he wanted to talk, and the whole time he was talking,” adding that he simply told Murillo “just to be honest.”

When the transcript wasn’t explicit enough in its meaning, prosecutors offered to play the audio of the confession — and it was soon obvious that what was on the tape wasn’t what ended up in the transcript.

Once the audio was translated to English on the fly by a court interpreter, Eschenburg ordered the State’s Attorney’s office to prepare a new, accurate transcript using an outside agent.

Through the transcript was prepared and submitted by State Police, the burden falls on the State’s Attorney, according to Collins.

“The state is responsible if they are saying my client, Mr. Murillo, confessed to the police, they’ve got to tell me what he said,” he said. “Right now, what they’ve given me isn’t apparently what my client said, and isn’t what the state trooper said. It’s just a very poorly-done transcript.”

Earlier, Judge Eschenburg denied a motion by Collins to dismiss the case based on the States Attorney’s office using a Spanish-speaking attorney to translate for Murillo, who speaks no English. The role is usually reserved for an unbiased court-appointed interpreter.

Worcester State’s Attorney Joel Todd said the Spanish-speaking Pam Correa, an Assistant State’s Attorney, was called in “because they couldn’t find anybody else to translate” from local law enforcement agencies.

Eschenburg dismissed the motion, saying, “She interviewed him. I don’t see anything wrong with that.”

Correa testified that Joel Todd called her personally, asking that she translate. She testified that when she translated for Murillo, he was not yet a suspect, just the man investigators believed was the last person to see Parker alive.

Investigators fed her questions in English to ask Murillo during what ended up being nearly a five-hour interview. Correa added that she and Murillo had difficulty understanding each other based on their varying Spanish dialects, and because “he mumbled a lot,” she noted.

Aportes para la mejora del examen oficial de Traductor Jurado.

Publicamos un importante mensaje que nos recuerda de lo que permanentemente adolece el proceso de aprobación del examen de Traductor Jurado en Guatemala; en mi experiencia de haber sido terna examinadora durante cinco años (2000 - 2005) siempre admití que este procedimiento puede llegar a ser inquisitivo y arbitrario ya que no está reglamentado técnica ni integralmente por lo que se carece de lineamientos, normas claras y específicas para el mismo sobre evaluación; hasta donde tengo entendido, ha habido muchas buenas intenciones de proponer mejoras a este procedimiento de parte de traductoras que han pertenecido a ternas pero tales iniciativas no han fructificado. Invito a que comentemos, con respeto a las personas que hayan alguna vez integrado una terna y con ánimo de contribuir a la mejora sobre este procedimiento mediante la propuesta de soluciones.

"Estimado licenciado:
Es un gusto saber que usted tiene una academia tan bonita y más que todo que ha ayudado a muchas personas a aprender más. Yo perdí mi examen de traducción y quisiera que publicara en su blog qué se puede hacer para evitar tantas contrariedades entre las ternas. Hay muchas cosas que se están haciendo que violan completamente la ley. Tal vez por medio de su Blog podemos recibír alguna ayuda o comentarios de otros traductores para que pasen una ley donde se especifíque lo que una terna debe de hacer y los procedimientos a seguir.

Saludos,

Adelaida"

Translation for non-English speakers a high demand in the courtroom.

Translating for non-English speakers a high-demand role in the courtroom

Kris Wernowsky
kwernowsky@pnj.com


Court interpreter Susan Taylor translates for
Adriano Souza in Judge Nick Geeker's courtroom.
(Gary McCracken/gmccracken@pnj.com)

Adriano Souza, in court on theft and drug-possession charges, doesn't speak English.
He leaned over to his court-appointed translator, Susan Taylor, who repeated in Portuguese, Souza's native language, the judge's instruction that he fill out an application for a public defender.
"I really like what I do, to be able to interpret for people who need your help," Taylor said later. "They are in a different country with different rules."
As the number of non-English-speaking defendants has risen over the past several years, so has the need for translators.
In the 1st Judicial Circuit — Escambia, Santa Rosa, Okaloosa and Walton counties — the cases that required translators increased from 1,399 in the 2004-05 fiscal year to 3,006 in 2007-2008.
The cost for the last fiscal year: $68,260.
The local court system employs 30 translators in various languages, including Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, Mandarin Chinese, Russian, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Polish and American Sign Language. The Spanish translators are most in demand, said Taylor, who also speaks Spanish and German.
The translators take an oath to translate the proceedings for the defendant verbatim. They must remain impartial, not embellishing or cleaning up language.
"Court interpretation is a difficult skill," said Eddie Wehmeier, a Pensacola native who learned to speak Spanish while working on a humanitarian dental project in Honduras several years ago and wanted to keep up his newly learned skills.
"It requires extreme concentration. You pretty much have to be on your game at all times," he said.
A changing program
The State of Florida has moved gradually over the past several years to a formal translator program. For years, courts used people with reputations as good translators or, in some cases, even defendants' family members.
In 1998, the courts adopted a formal training and testing program, but participation was voluntary. In 2006, the Florida Supreme Court established standards for qualification, certification, ethical conduct and discipline.
"What certification provides is a statewide mandate that was lacking," said Lisa Bell, who oversees translation programs the for the Office of the State Courts Administrator in Tallahassee. "It was a voluntary process that many interpreters did not avail themselves to."
In July, the state court system began phasing in a statewide certification process for translators.
Requirements
Courts now are required to use either certified or duly qualified interpreters whenever available. If such a person is not available, a judge can appoint a translator.
A duly qualified interpreter is defined as someone who has passed a state-issued written exam, attended a two-day orientation program and has a basic understanding of legal terminology in both languages. Certified translators, the highest standard, also pass a rigorous oral exam.
Certified interpreters here are paid $50 for the first hour and $40 for each subsequent hour. Duly qualified interpreters get $10 less an hour.
Those who have neither distinction but meet the court's requirements are paid $35 the first hour and $25 every hour after that.
'A great team
So far, the 1st Judicial Circuit has only one certified translator and two who are duly qualified, said Debi Rimmer, who administers translators locally.
Nevertheless, Rimmer said, "We have a great team here, and I have to say they approach their profession very seriously. I never have to deal with no-shows or unprofessional behavior."

Una iniciativa de como cooperarse entre traductores.... ¿podemos hacer lo mismo entre nosotros en Guatemala?

Estimado Sr. Muñoz,

Su nombre lo obtuve por ser miembro y estar suscrita a la lista, de NAJIT. Me acaban de preguntar si conozco un intérprete capaz de interpretar en Mam, así sea por teléfono. Sabe Ud. acaso de alguien aqui en los EEUU o en el mismo Guatemala?

Gracias de antemano por tomarse la molestia de responder a este correo electrónico.

Saludos,
Doris Caspani

Doris Caspani
Certified Interpreter
KY and TN State Courts
Tel.: (859) 268 1815
Cell: (859) 948 9817
Fax: (859) 402 2981
English/Spanish/German/French

Nebraska sees shortage of Translators and Interpreters.

http://www.nebraska.tv/Global/story.asp?S=8741547

Nebraska Sees Shortage of Translators and Interpreters

Posted: July 26, 2008 11:26 PM
Updated: July 26, 2008 11:59 PM

Nebraska meat packing plants draw in hundreds of refugees and immigrants looking for work. Many don't speak English. With more than 40 languages spoken in Nebraska the need for interpreters in the courtroom has never been higher.

Certified Court Interpreter Bob Roos said, "We have 21 certified interpreters who are working in the state and we probably need twice that many. Plus there are now more languages in Nebraska to interpret.
When there is no one available to interpret a case, someone might have to be flown in. This can be very expensive. One New Yorker has helped to fill the gap in Omaha and Lincoln over the years. Court Interpreter Javier Soler said, "Often they were last minute requests. We need you here by the morning. Certainly Nebraska has a shortage of interpreters, as does the rest of the country."

The courts aren't the only ones in need of interpreters. The medical field needs them too. St. Francis Hospital in Grand Island has five interpreters, but some local clinics have none. That can be life threatening. Candy Houdek, Manager of Interpreting Services at St. Francis Hospital talks about the dangers, "If you don't have someone there to communicate the doctor doesn't know if the patient is allergic to any medications."
With more than 75,000 refugees coming to the United States each year the need for interpreters is only going to increase. Janet Bonet of Nebraska Association for Translators and Interpreters said, "People deserve the right to be understood in medical systems and the
courts.