News.Scotland.Org

October, 30

One serious concern is haunting the Scottish judiciary these days, the lack of quality translator is helping several foreign criminals to move freely. This problem is drawing more and more worries for Scottish courts amidst the growing number of such foreign national trials. It also has raised a question mark on whether in the absence of a trained translator can many such foreign nationals look for a fair trial. Expressing her views over this matter Alena Linhartova, who has interpreted in Scotland for twenty years said, the problem is very severe and in coming years we can see a flurry of appeals from foreign nationals against their convictions. The appalling quality of translators is making trials unworthy and doubtful.

In one of such foreign national cases, the trial was given up by the court due to lack of evidences and the whopping cost of interpreting the case. In same manner a series of such cases have collapsed due to lack of quality translation. It is noticed that in recent years a massive influx of foreign nationals especially nationals from Eastern Europe are settling in Scotland. This has made the Scottish courts to suffer a lot when it comes to interpret their allegations.

The poor quality of interpreters in Scottish courts is due to shortage of experienced translators making it to the court rooms. These novice translators thus find it hard to translate such cases of many foreign nationals. To curb this growing problem proper check should be done while opting for a translator. Many native speakers are also sometimes pulled off the street and made to work for several agencies and they often find themselves in court without any training said Ms Linhartova.

This growing concern has raised an alarm for the Scottish judiciary, now the need of the hour is to follow a prescribed and lethal procedure while hiring the services of a valid translator. Or else a small lack of scrutiny in the selection can result to awful consequences and would degrade the trust of the people on the Scottish Judiciary.

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