The Speaker’s behavior in Court Interpreting and its Influence on Translated Discourse Quality Case Study: Ouargla court of Justice, Algeria

Abstract

Consecutive interpreting is ultimately the form under which court interpreting is performed in Algeria. Hence ,the influence of the behavior of the actors which are the lawyer, the defendant, the plaintiff, the judge and the prosecutor deserves more attention, since their behavior influences greatly the quality of the translated discourse regarding the environment and the context that surrounds the process . This paper aims at investigating the speaker’s behavior on the quality of court interpreting. It hypothesizes that interpreter competency is not the ultimate determinant of the quality of the translated discourse .Observing the functioning of the process at Ouargla court demonstrates that the translational environment as well as the organizational context reflect on the quality of court interpreting and that a discourse quality may contribute to a fair trial .The study is based on the interpretive theory in translation.