Law

LAW-1 (F, 1:30-3:00pm) - ALL
The Role of the Interpreter in Addressing Hate/Bias Incidents
P. Diane Schneider, certified court interpreter, and senior conciliation specialist, Community Relations Service of the US Department of Justice, Clinton, Washington

Hate/bias incidents, when they occur, impact a larger segment of the community than the specific victims(s) targeted. This presentation will discuss how to recognize such an incident, how to respond to it, and how to work together with communities and schools to create an environment where these incidents are less likely to occur. When they do occur, the informed community will be better prepared to respond effectively, to support the victim, and to reassure others who may feel they could be targeted as victims. Since 1964, the Community Relations Service has worked with community groups, schools, police, and other entities to assist communities in addressing racial conflict issues by offering free technical assistance, training, and models to assist in forming ongoing mechanisms in communities wanting to counter hate incidents and racial polarization.

LAW-2 (F, 3:30-5:00pm) - ALL
The SSTI/NAJIT Translation and Interpretation National Certification Examination
Carmen Barros, freelance interpreter and translator, New York, New York; Michael B. Bunch, vice-president, Measurements Incorporated, Durham, North Carolina; Dagoberto Orrantia, associate professor of Spanish, John Jay College and the Graduate School of CUNY, Brooklyn, New York; and Alexander Rainof, professor, Romance, German, and Russian Languages and Literatures Department, California State University, Long Beach, Santa Monica, California

In February of 1997, the Society for the Study of Translation and Interpretation of the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit corporation, was formed with the purpose of creating a national translation and interpretation certification examination for the English and Spanish languages. The panel will discuss the various stages of this gigantic endeavor, from the selection of a team of psychometricians, through the 39 steps involved in developing the examination, to the lessons of the pilot examination given at the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators Annual Conference in Chicago, and the status of the examination at the time of the ATA conference in Los Angeles.

LAW-3 (S, 3:30-4:15pm) - ALL
Eliciting Testimony through an Interpreter: Questions of Affirmation
Azucena Rigney, language and cultural specialist, Children's Hospital (Los Angeles), Reseda, California

Eliciting testimony is not a process of questioning to obtain information, but a process of wording information so that it becomes accepted as a true account of events. This effect is mainly attained using two types of questions: 1) "Socratic questions," which establish agreement one proposition at a time; and 2) questions that contain the answer in the question's wording. When an interpreter intervenes to bridge the communication gap, the necessary change of wording involved in the language transfer may alter the dynamics of the questioning process. This presentation illustrates the strategies commonly used by Spanish interpreters to convey self-responding questions.