New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-09-13
THE COURT INTERPRETER
AN OFFICIAL WHO HAS THE RIGHTS IN
MANY PEOPLE IN HIS HANDS
THE DIFFICULTIES OF OBTAINING coMpErEr,
MEN BY EXAMINATION-THE OLD


There Is a class OF officials connected Wit, -.
courts OF New-York City whose functions a.. 80
sumed to be purely formal who are invos,od ~
| no power under the laws and who are regard.a =
OF so little importance that they are general.
rameiess ana unnoied cogwheols In the machjns
OF justice. but VINO nevertheless. have the L.,
rights Of thousands Of people almost absolutsIv -
their hands. They are the court interprs.,.
Whenever anybody who Is ignorant OF EnoI,..
pears in the courts he interpreter il the ri
through which the legal business that brings .' ~.
thliher Is carried OF. ard according A. he 10 ~
petent or incomplete faithful or unfaithfnl ~
rate or inaccurate. ICES the stranger receiyo !.
just due or otherwise In this city Of many strs,s'
tongues with its citizenship Of diverse na,,ona,,'
the services of the court interpreter are freousn.
required In certain districts OF the city he :. ~.
most as indispensable the Judge hlnsey
There are about twenty-five ln,ernre,o.. 49,
poyed in the courts Of the County Of Ns., va.'
from the police and district courts up 10 Tho 80
| est The responsibility Of the place 4. r.,..'
in the salary paid. which is from Hs0 "a % '.o
| and for which the interpreter Is required - a. -
vote his whole time TO the court. being a,,as.
within call Of the Judge. Before II was M, 80
| the civil Service law the Office Of interpreter a..
filed in a hap-hazard way By appointment, q, -.
Judges 1t was formerly often the custom. when
| case came up in which one Of the parties was To-
| norant Of English and is still in many places A.,
side the city, FOR the Judge 10 call upon anybosy q,
| the courtroom who happened To- be acquainted VIE.
the foreigners tongue to come forward and ac =.
a medium Of communication between him and ~.
officers Of the court and the lawyers
| prominent lawyer recently remarked In nj,
connection that in one Of the important courts q,
the city he had frequently seen the Italian boo,
black called upon the Judge 70 leave his regua,
calling and forward to act interpreter IN a
| case He said he once asked the bootbiack VIA
was a we-known character about the court why
| he did not abandon his humber calling and deyoA
his whole time to the presumably more dlgnihed Oh.
Of a court Interpreter. His reply that he
thought bootbackiDg more profitable than 10.
terpreting. a view which is doubtless sharply %.
posed 70 the usual estimate OF the TWO occupations
! The danger Of such loose methods In carrying %
the business of courts is obvious. There is prac.
tcally no check upon the Interpreter. and for The
ends OF Justice 10 be served he must be first dis.
Interested and impartial In his translation, ard
| second supposing him 70 have the best intentions
| I'm the world, accurate Now anybody who Is a,
| all familiar. even by hearsay, with the subtletls
| and fine distinctions of law. will appreciate tha,
the latter quality is the more difficult 10 obtain
! A case or an important point in case may some
times hinge on a carefully drawn turn 10 a ques-
| tion nut by a lawyer or a slight shade ore
way or another in an answer. When the turn or
| the shade has to be put into foreign Language
and perhaps adapted to the understanding Of an IL
ferior intelligence it may well happen that law.
yer or a witness is quite at sea.
The same lawyer also said that he had recently
been present trial where he had heard the most
miserable attempts at Interpretation. The inter.
prefer stumbled along. giving most fragmeniay
and loose versions Of the queries put 10 the Wit
ness and of the latter's replies, so that the law
vers were in despair and finally somebody else Rad
| to be called IN. Yet the examination IN which mo
| incompetent had served had already been taken
by the stenOgrapher. and was entered as part
of the records OF the case probably TO the prejudice
of one side or the other II would be interesting TO
see what would happen in such case continued
the lawyer IL a spectator in the courtroom heard
an Interpreter transating inadequately or inoor'
rectlv and had the courage 10 stand up and pro-
test TO the Court and point out where an Injustice
was being DONE He had recollection Of ever
hearing of such an incident.
No wonder then. that the selection OF court inter-
prefer is regarded by the members Of the local
examining Board appointed by the State Civil serS'
ice Commission 10 take charge OF the court ap'
pontments in this county Of the most CELL
cate and important of their duties. They are a"
yers Of the highest standing. and, Of course men ="
education; they not specially familiar WIZ ~,
eign languages. though all Of them have KNOW.
edge of at least one language besides English AM
one or two are excellent linguiss and speak three
putting supposititious questions to them to trans
late into A foreign tongue for imaginary wit
ness to answer. and then by requiring TRANSACTIONS
into English IL * Of course, necessary 10 CONSIDER
not only a candidates familiarity with foreign
tongues but his general intelligence as we'll ana
IA an Examination Tor this purpose recently
hold hy the Board. and another Is soon 70 ne an
n9umGy. r. recently said to Tribune
THE method OF securing Interpreters Is Eraouay
often get exactly the kind Of men We want even az
the comparatively high salary pla ,u are o % -
10 put up with what We can L. ne mn %, n s
attainnents and intelligence are professors IN coz
leges or in other highly paid ana h2nor'p'' - 80
one great step in advance w"s i.oTs' me nsrai ,bs
owing 10 decision OF me Aato.n'o - conneti.
examinations for Interpreter were maze Soinp ,r
t 1iys For RI ,hs t commson f examnatqn and
our duty was TO see II we to a, vi fbe Iii now
the chance is thrown open 10 anynou!. -, ,,o..
How do We do II? Wei. 10y man sirengin m osi
have n smattering Of German. and most o. u,
other members OF the Board nave A'lT V gss an,
one or more languages besides En.sh >" 20 ,rsns.
Graduates up and put questions 20 ihem 20 m@
late into various languages ana th men ,nv ske on,
nrettv well whether the man has done !, sSf i,s
rately. We try TO get men VINO nle ard they
are generally French German and ltalan; ~ can
as | say We frequently have 10 take WIZ ousldca-
tions Then too it depends a good dea I upc c,ur,.
place 10 be filled in the case ot tne nsr,er Of the
ts p1 ,bey are in as to what we shall eque
Instance some courts require Amos others Ger.
MN wouI5 be most necessary The o,net ga,
had requsiton from court in w ,bat has 70 ~
almost the only foreign language Nc hus,nsss We
translated I'm performing the courts puss'h b., sh5
passed a fellow who spoke Italian nush ,Si sat
had only little command OF fft"'" "
What do we do in case Of the less snSsn raks
languages like Chinese? We very Nc cast er
any appointment in such. Ot course, "~scssa1
anime A man in Chinese. When u : 49, Inass 20. +
have Chinese translated in the courts tne .. ge3
allv calls upon somebody in the coet.n' Il
somebody outside in advance 20 DO j"