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Court interpreters fail non-Hebrew speakers, alleges translator group The state is negligent in ensuring a fair legal process for people who do not speak Hebrew, the Israel Translators Association (ITA) last month complained to the treasury. The ministry has not yet responded. In a meeting with a Finance Ministry official responsible for government tenders, ITA Chair Micaela Ziv said part of the problem was substandard performance on the part of Protocol Office Services - the contractor which won a tender for providing interpreting services in all of Israel's judicial districts. Any non-Hebrew speaker appearing before the court is entitled to a court-provided interpreter by law. In 2004, Protocol won a government tender which made it the only interpretation services provider in all five judicial districts since then. Ziv requested the meeting with the official, Yaron Steinberg, after Protocol in February 2007 won a new government tender that expanded on its 2004 contract, making it responsible for translation services in most government ministries. Ziv urged Steinberg to contractually hold Protocol to higher professional standards than are currently demanded of it - starting with the court system. Ziv complained Protocol was employing unskilled and unprofessional workers in court and cited data from three university researchers. She added no professional interpreter or translator would work for the minimum wages Protocol was offering its staff of some 150 interpreters. The court interpreters who work for Protocol are not members of ITA, Ziv told Anglo File. Protocol countered, "Claims to the contrary come from competitors who resort to general accusations in the media because they are unable to dissolve our contractual relationship with our clients by legal or commercial means." Protocol - which has branches or representatives in all four major cities - called Ziv's complaints "spiteful." The firm said ITA had a financial interest in complaining, "as a body seeking to consolidate a trade union to preserve exorbitant prices under the pretext of quality service." The firm said Protocol meets all legal standards and provides reliable services. Management said it would not divulge information on its hiring and employment practices. "Wages are determined by free-market dynamics and our clients' satisfaction proves the standards are fine," the company's spokesperson added. The treasury's tenders department said it has received no complaints about the firm, confirming Protocol receives NIS 4 million annually for services rendered to the government. "If the quality of our services weren't satisfactory, we wouldn't have won consecutive court interpreter tenders," the company said. Yet one Bar Ilan student contends some judges do have complaints. Rather, they refrain from complaining because they do not believe in the feasibility of changing the system, argues Shira Hefer in a research paper published earlier this month. "They feel their hands are tied," said Hefer, who is doing her M.A. in the Translation and Interpreting Studies department.. Hefer spoke with several Tel Aviv district judges, who reportedly describing the interpreters as "unprofessional and inaccurate," adding they "omit many statements by witnesses." Hefer says the judges told her they believed the interpreters "very frequently identify with one party and distort statements in its favor, making the procedure cumbersome and causing problems from which all parties suffer." The judges Hefer interviewed were apparently unaware the original tender required Protocol to train workers in legal and ethical issues and provide interpreters fluent in both Hebrew and the original language. "The Courts Administration hadn't informed the judges," Hefer adds. According to Dr. Ruth Morris, Hefer's advisor, remarked the new 2007 tender drops these requirements. "It appears these requirements often went unmet even when they were still in place," Morris said. Hefer said the interpreters she interviewed stated they hadn't been trained in judicial terms, as legally required. They also said they had received no training in judicial ethics, as stipulated in the 2004 tender. Protocol, which said it was unaware of Hefer's research, told Anglo File it has sent all of its interpreters an ethics code. Neri Sevenier - who, like Hefer, has studied the subject as a master's student at Bar Ilan - said the code of ethics was her initiative and not Protocol's. "It was only printed on the company's stationery and distributed to the interpreters," she said. Romm Lewkowicz, spokesman for the Hotline for Migrant Workers, says people he works with are frequently left with no interpreter at all, even after one is summoned. "The findings show a systemic lack of professionalism by the Courts Administration, Protocol, the interpreters and possibly some judges," Sevenier concluded from her interviews of eight interpreters and two judges. Protocol said Sevenier's research was incomplete, lacking interviews with firm, but she says such interviews are not part of her research. "At all levels there is ignorance of professional parameters, no supervision, no training, low salaries with no career path and no professional status," she concluded. Article published in Haaretz
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