FACTOR is pleased to announce our next talk in the 2024-2025 academic year by Greta Esposito (PhD student in Linguistics, Lancaster University):

TITLE

Human interpretation and machine translation in law enforcement settings

ABSTRACT

Interpretation and translation services are widely used and accounted for in criminal justice systems across the world, where individuals who don’t speak the language of the legal systems they live in are legally entitled to be provided with language assistance (Art 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights).

However, as the form that this language assistance takes on varies from country to country, my research focuses only on interpretation and translation practices in the criminal justice system of England and Wales, and, specifically, on police interpreting and machine translation in the police context.

As police interpreting remains still under-researched, and linguistic outputs deriving from non-optimal interpretation/translation practices in the police setting can have serious legal consequences for the investigative process and the individuals involved, this talk will focus on (1) the reasons why linguistic analysis of authentic police data – interpreter-assisted police interviews in this case – could result in enhanced police practices in regard to interviewing strategies and the use of interpretation/translation services; (2) my hypotheses regarding the viability of machine translation software in high-stakes scenarios; and (3) the challenges I have faced so far in regard to data access, communicating with police forces and conveying the main points of my research to them.

If bridging the gap between academia and external institutions/bodies is the goal, sometimes it can be very difficult to achieve!

TIME & PLACE

W07, 1500-1550, Thu 21st Nov 2024, Bowland North SR02. (Please note that this talk will not be streamed or recorded.)

Find information on how to get to campus here, and how to navigate campus buildings here.

REGISTRATION

For accessibility, fire, and safety compliance, please register before attending.