臺灣法庭翻譯發展現況與挑戰

Current Practices of Court Interpreting in Taiwan: Challenges and Possible Solutions

過去20年間，臺灣在經濟、文化方面蓬勃發展。許多外國人士因為工作、旅遊或婚姻來到臺灣，這些層面都可能衍生法律問題。於是，如何幫助外國人士在面臨法律疑難時，能充分表達自己意見，也成為重要議題。有鑑於此，司法院於2006年，大規模舉辦通譯人才招募、訓練，目的為「保障不同語言者獲公平審判」。但成立六年來，此制度面臨許多挑戰及問題。法庭通譯不同於其他口譯性質，運作方式較不透明，案件的審理常有不能錄音、錄影的限制，外界多無法取得相關文件細節，這讓外界很難瞭解通譯人員的翻譯素質及面臨的問題。針對以上情況，此研究旨在探討臺灣法庭通譯的發展現況，研究問題有三。第一，目前臺灣法庭通譯的分布狀況為何？第二，協助處理不同案件時，通譯最常面臨哪些問題與挑戰。第三，通譯人員希望此制度做出哪些改進。本研究將Hale （2004） 所彙整之澳洲法庭通譯面臨之主要議題加以整理，改編成中、英文對應問卷，寄給高院編列之英、德、法、西、日、韓、葡語通譯人員，總共寄出57份問卷，回收39份。本研究也對一些資深及經常出庭的通譯進行訪談，以便進一步瞭解臺灣法庭通譯面臨的挑戰及瓶頸，更針對通譯人才逐年流失的現象提出建議，以期對法庭通譯的發展有更多助益。

In the past two decades, Taiwan has experienced significant growth and development in the cultural and economic spheres. With more and more foreigners coming to Taiwan not just as tourists but for work and marriage, various legal issues have arisen. Consequently, how to help foreigners to fully express themselves in situations that may lead to legal problems has become an important issue. In 2006, the Judicial Yuan in Taiwan held its first recruitment and training program for court interpreters to ensure that all people, no matter what language they speak, could receive fair trials. However, since their establishment six years ago, the limitations of the guidelines governing court interpreters and court-interpreting practices have become increasingly clear. Courtinterpreting is less transparent than other types of interpretation. Audio- and videotaping is typically banned in court sessions, and case-related documents are not made available to outsiders. These practices have made it difficult for those not in the court system to measure the quality of interpretations and to understand the problems facing court interpreters. This research study aimed at exploring the current court-interpreting practices in Taiwan by focusing on three points. First, what is the distribution of court interpreters in Taiwan? Second, what are the most frequently-encountered issues and challenges for court interpreters? Finally, what kinds of improvement are deemed necessary for in-service court interpreters? A survey was created, based on the major issues found by Hale's (2004) study of the court-interpreting practice in Australia, and sent to court interpreters working with a variety of foreign languages. Fifty-seven copies of the survey were sent and 39 returned. In addition, in-depth interviews were conducted with seasoned court interpreters to further understand the problems and challenges they faced. Finally, suggestions were made regarding the phenomenon of the shrinking number of court interpreters in Taiwan.