Did the study find evidence of problems with the quality of services provided by contract agencies?
Yes, but some frequently used interpreters appeared to be qualified. Knowledge and proficiency testing is the only way to make a confident assessment of an interpreter’s qualifications, when an observer does not speak the language fluently. However, careful observations of interpreters at work provide a basis for discerning whether there are obvious problems. During the study it was possible to make some observations which are described in Appendix 1 of this report. In summary, two interpreters who are frequently used appeared to be qualified (allowing for the observer’s inability to get behind the language barrier.) One interpreter coped reasonably well overall, but engaged in some glaring violations of proper conduct. For example, the interpreter answered a lawyer’s question in English without interpreting the question into Korean, and waiting for the witness to answer in Korean. 14 Because the record in interpreted cases includes only what the interpreter says in English, the record
