Expertise sharing in the field of court

Abstract

This article focuses on the challenges of multilingual court work in Finland. The goal of the article is to describe on the basis of one interpreting event the kind of problems that can be found in the court work regarding the collaboration of two professions: the court interpreters and the legal professionals. The point of departure is to answer the question: how do legal professionals and court interpreters collaborate in the court? First, the article argues for the need of shared expertise and multiprofessional collaboration in the field of legal translating and court interpreting. This claim is justified by a short description of a legal translation, some recent interviews, a survey, and the theory of situated learning and legitimate peripheral participation. Second, the article describes a problematic multilingual session in a Finnish district court on the basis of a transcribed hearing. Finally, the article offers some suggestions for the development of the current situation of court interpreting and legal translating in Finland. The conclusion is that the current situation in courtroom reflects the lack of understanding of the process of interpreting.