Communicative challenges of interpreting in cross-border languages in South African courtrooms

Abstract

This article presents some of the challenges encountered by court interpreters who interpret in cross-border languages, i.e. languages spoken across the borders of two neighbouring countries. Data used in the article were collected from participants by adopting a qualitative approach, based on the observation of courtroom proceedings, and unstructured interviews. Among the languages observed in the study are Chisena, spoken in Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia, and Afrikaans, spoken widely both in South Africa and Namibia. The article points out that the interpreters may not be adequately informed about the prevailing socio-cultural issues in the home country of the accused, especially when the accused is from a lusophone country and the interpreter from an anglophone country.

Another potential challenge is that of different orthographies used for the Malawian and Mozambican varieties of Chisena. Both varieties have words which are phonetically similar, but are spelled differently, and this may be a challenge to the interpreter. The article emphasises that court interpreters should be well-informed about relevant circumstances in the countries in which the cross-border languages are spoken, and do a pre-trial interview with the accused in order to mitigate these challenges.