Implications Of U.S. Court Interpreters Act And Its Amendment Of 1988 To Court Interpreting Legislation In China

With deepened global communication and the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiatives,more and more foreigners work and live in China.This may bring an increasing number of civil and criminal cases,which leads to an increasing demand for court interpreting services.However,China’s legal provisions on court interpreting are inadequate and fail to address core issues including the selection of court interpreters,and working modes of interpreting.Given an imbalance between an increasing demand for court interpreting services and the disorder of current court interpreting management,it’s urgent to facilitate court interpreting legislation in China.The U.S.is the earliest country that systematically legislated on court interpreting.The Court Interpreters Act and its Amendment of 1988 are cornerstones of court interpreting laws in the U.S.When discussing facilitating court interpreting legislation in China,domestic scholars have repeatedly emphasized to draw implications for the two acts.However,previous studies are mostly on the level of theoretical speculation,without exploring their implications to China’s future legal provisions on court interpreting from the perspective of constituents.Three research questions are raised:(1)Compared with Court Interpreters Act,what improvements have been made in the amendment?(2)What is the gap between constituents in legal provisions in China and the amendment?(3)What implications could China draw from the amendment?To answer the three questions,two comparative studies are conducted.Firstly,the research identifies constituents in the two acts and analyzes reasons for amendments.Secondly,the research identifies constituent in legal provision on court interpreting in China and compares them with those in the amendment to find the gap and offer suggestions to China’s future legal provisions on court interpreting.It is found that compared with Court Interpreters Act,the Amendment has made improvements in terms of the application of the right to an interpreter,selection of court interpreters,specification of modes and quality control of interpreting.Currently,China’s legal provisions on court interpreting only focus on the application of the right to an interpreter,roles of court interpreters,court interpreting fees in civil cases and a part of interpreters’ rights and obligations.The research offers suggestions to China’s future legal provisions on court interpreting in terms of the establishment of an administrative agency,the selection of court interpreters,working modes and quality control of court interpreting.