Impartiality Of Interrogation Interpreters-A Report On The Interpreting Practice At Anti-smuggling Bureau,Guangzhou Customs

Interrogation interpreting in China is still in its infancy.Professional standards and codes of ethics in this field have yet to be put in place.Although academic interest in legal interpreting,in general,is on the rise,little light has been shed on interrogation interpreting,much less on the ethics in this profession.Analyzing his own breaches of impartiality as an ethical principle when interpreting in several anti-smuggling cases handled by Guangzhou Customs,the author drew experience from countries where interrogation interpreting has received much academic attention and the authorities have issued Codes of Ethics pertaining to interrogation interpreters.This report discusses why impartiality is an important ethical principle in interrogation interpreting and ways it is breached by inexperienced practitioners.Interrogation interpreters should maintain neutrality because the two parties of interrogation are constantly in conflict and interpreters' work has legal implications.Yet due to several reasons,untrained interpreters frequently deviate from an impartial role,both in how they interact with the two sides and in the way they render either side's utterances.Examples of these deviations are extracted from the author's two interpreting assignments and are analyzed.The report,in the end,proposes some suggestions to raise awareness of the impartiality principle in interrogation interpreting.These suggestions are not only for interpreters but for the police and the regulator as well.