Article,
Current Developments in Court Interpreter Training in South Africa
Proteus, (1998)
Abstract
Court interpreters in South Africa play a crucial, everyday role in the judicial system. For obvious historical reasons, the only two official languages in the country for many years were English and Afrikaans. These two languages were therefore also the official languages of the courts. As the majority of the South African population has neither English nor Afrikaans as a first language, court interpreters were, and still are, needed in all courts on an almost continuous basis. Previously, the provision of court interpreters for all of the other languages of South Africa (another nine have been adopted as official languages) was seen as an unfortunate necessity. Since 1994 linguistic rights have been enshrined in the constitution and not only are court interpreters a necessity, but it is now recognised that their provision is a vital means of ensuring the linguistic and legal rights of the whole population.
