: : 16 June 2008
Working with an Interpreter

A natural consequence of the recent wave of immigration into Britain is a significant increase in the number of non-English-speaking witnesses and suspects interviewed by police forces throughout the country. Responding to this trend, the Centre for Forensic Linguistics at Aston University will hold a one-day workshop on 'Working with an interpreter', an event meant to sensitise police officers to the complex issues involved in public service interpreting and offer advice on how to manage interpreter-mediated interaction. On the one hand then, the workshop will aim at raising awareness of the role of public service interpreters and the nature of their work, thus enabling the participants to define their expectations for situations where non-English-speaking parties are involved. On the other hand, it will provide relevant practical training, making use of role-playing activities and real-life case studies.

PROGRAMME

9.30 - 11.00 Krzysztof Kredens: Interpreters in legal and forensic contexts
11.15 - 12.45 Krzysztof Kredens: Linguistic, pragmatic and cultural problems in interpreting

12.45 - 1.45 Lunch

1.45 - 3.15 Yvonne Fowler: Working with an interpreter for a taped interview of a suspect - a practical session
3.15 - 4.45 Yvone Fowler: Working with an interpreter when taking a witness statement - a practical session

TUTORS

Yvonne Fowler has been a legal interpreter trainer at City College Birmingham for the past 15 years. She has advised on the Advanced Interviewing programme for Police Officers and has published a paper on Witness Statement taking through an interpreter. She founded the West Midlands Legal Interpreter Steering Committee, which is locally recognised as an authority on all operational matters to do with the deployment of interpreters in the courts, at the Police Station and in the Probation Service.

Krzysztof Kredens is a Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at Aston University and a member of the Centre for Forensic Linguistics. He has been teaching aspects of translation and interpreting for the past 12 years, during which time he has also worked as an interpreter in business, legal and health care contexts. His co-edited book on "Language and the Law: International Outlooks" has recently been published by Peter Lang GmbH.

REGISTRATION

The fee for the four sessions is GBP135 and includes a charge to cover lunch and drinks during the breaks. Please download the registration form - in pdf format here or as an MS Word document here. For more details or to book a place, please contact us.