I've studied many translations in different fields but nothing exceeds court interpretation when it comes to the amount of errors made.
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Makiko Mizuno, a professor at Kinjo Gakuin University and a specialist in linguistic analysis of court interpretations. She says there were many translation errors during the trial of Tatsuya Ichihashi. (Japan Times)
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0
Maria
By whom? From J - E, and E - J?
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japal4649
Interpreting is a tough gig - I wonder if Professor Mizuno could have done better?
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NetNinja
Lost in Translation = Ichihashi will get off easy.
1
namabiru4me
Easy to be a critic. Would like more information on what kinds of mistakes, from whom, to whom?
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Kronos
Most probably from J to E. English to Japanese is easier. Japanese to English is a different animal though with all the vague phrases and having to read between the lines, etc..
I am not sure it would affect the outcome of the trial though. The official language in the court should be Japanese anyway.
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Kronos
Original article is in Japan Times and titled "Ichihashi trial bares translation woes". Interesting read.
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anglootaku
Assumptions are always misleading
2
Noripinhead
The lack of a subject in Japanese makes it easy to misinterpret. In English, something needs to be done to something else for anything to make any sense. But in Japanese of course it's not always clear who's doing something to what--ironic when that issue is the most critical in a court of law. The vagueness of Japanese is interesting given the general precision of life in Japan (trains coming on time, more or less, and a general sense of anal retentiveness).
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Maria
Cheers for the article update Kronos. They do give a few examples of errors, which seem to be less in grammar, and more in vocabulary , and mishearing / misunderstanding the speaker.
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Skeptical Hippo
There's a lot more stuff missing...
I had a call from Mother..... Who's - yours or mine?
I bought book yesterday..... How many?
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namabiru4me
Thanks @Kronos.
http://search.japantimes.co.jp/cgi-bin/nn20110721f1.html
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globalwatcher
**simultaneous **legal translation for criminal trial is a tough and least rewarded job. Everything what we say including "cough" is in a court transcript. If misrepresentation occurs, it will be used for a dismisal or an appeal. The legal translation and a literature translation are highly subjective while science and technical are not. In US, they have to be all certified.
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