英文摘要 |
In Taiwan, court interpreting became a formal practice recognized by the judicial system in 2006. Although certified interpreters are required to meet a certain level of proficiency in their chosen target languages (TL) and are provided with basic training regarding the legal system(s) in Taiwan, the actual practice of court interpreting in the past nine years has been plagued by many internal and external factors. The internal factors stem from the issue of competence. Meeting the language requirement thresholds set by the governing authorities does not mean a certified interpreter has the ability to handle different case scenarios or work in different interpreting formats. The external factors are related to the expectations of the legal professionals who are involved and to their possible lack of knowledge regarding how an interpreter should perform in court (Hale, 2004). In an attempt to address the issue of the deficiencies in court interpreters’ training, this study investigated the learning needs of current, in-service court interpreters through a needs analysis, taking an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) approach. The learning needs of both the interpreters themselves and the legal professionals were examined. The input from in-service interpreters provided insight into their perceived training/learning needs, whereas the interview results from judges, prosecutors, administrative staff and lawyers shed light on the most important qualities and skills needed by a court interpreter. Surveys and interviews were thus used as data collection tools. The findings indicated that future training should focus on cultivating interpreters’ language competence (the acquisition of legal jargon, vocabulary words related to different cases, and formulaic expressions used in court), providing interpreters with actual practice in the courtroom (to acquaint them with court procedures/protocols and the roles of different parties involved), and allowing them to practice with different working formats. Moreover, a task-based approach is suggested for training court interpreters to complete different interpreting tasks. |