The role of the interpreter in constructing asylum seeker’s credibility: A hearing at the Spanish Asylum and Refugee Office

doi:10.1558/sols.v4i2.333

Sociolinguistic Studies, Vol 4, No 2 (2010)

The role of the interpreter in constructing asylum seeker’s credibility: A hearing at the Spanish Asylum and Refugee Office

Isabel Gómez Díez

Issued Date: 16 Jan 2011

Abstract

The paper’s objective is to establish the interpreter’s role in the construction of the asylum seeker’s credibility during the interaction at asylum hearings. To illustrate this, I perform a discourse analysis of the interaction at an asylum hearing with a Nigerian applicant and an English-Spanish interpreter, taking place at the Oficina de asilo y refugio in Madrid (Spain) in 2005. Firstly, I identify the functions adopted by the interpreter in the hearing, the interactional sequence generated by his working method and its impact on his translation activity. Secondly, I focus on the alterations in the interpreter’s rendition which may have an impact on the applicant’s credibility and I set out to elucidate the factors explaining these alterations.

Download Media

PDF (Price: £17.50 ) Restricted Access

DOI: 10.1558/sols.v4i2.333

References

Alo, M. A. and Mesthrie, R. (2004) Nigerian English: Morphology and syntax. In B. Kortmann and E. W. Schneider (eds) Handbook of Varieties of English. A Multimedia Reference Tool 813-827. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Berk Selinsgon, S. (1990) The Bilingual Courtroom: Court Interpreters in the Judicial Process. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.

Blommaert, J., Bock, M. and McCormick, K. (2007) Narrative inequality in the TRC hearings: On the hearability of hidden transcripts. In C. Anthonissen and J. Blommaert (eds) Discourse and Human Rights Violations 33-63. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Bot, H. (2005) Dialogue Interpreting in Mental Health. Amsterdam: Rodopi.

Brown, P. and Levinson, S. C. (1978/1987) Politeness. Some Universals in Language Usage (Studies in Interactional Sociolinguistics 4). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

CEAR (2005) La Situación de los Refugiados en España. Informe 2005. Madrid: Catarata. Retrieved on 1 July 2009 from http://www.cear.es.htm.

CEAR (2008) La Situación de los Refugiados en España. Informe 2008. Madrid: Catarata. Retrieved on 1 July 2009 from http://www.cear.es.

Council of the European Union (2001) Council Directive 2001/55/EC of 20 July 2001 on minimum standards for giving temporary protection in the event of a mass influx of displaced persons and on measures promoting a balance of efforts between Member States in receiving such persons and bearing the consequences thereof. Retrieved on 1 July 2009 from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm.

Council of the European Union (2003a) Council Directive 2003/9/EC of 27 January 2003 laying down minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers. Retrieved on 1 July 2009 from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm.

Council of the European Union (2003b) Council Regulation (EC) No 343/2003 of 18 February 2003 establishing the criteria and mechanisms for determining the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application lodged in one of the Member States by a third-country national. Retrieved on 1 July 2009 from http://eur-lex.europa. eu/en/index.htm.

Council of the European Union (2004) Council Directive 2004/83/EC of 29 April 2004 on minimum standards for the qualification and status of third country nationals or stateless persons as refugees or as persons who otherwise need international protection and the content of the protection granted. Retrieved on 1 July 2009 from http://eur-lex. europa.eu/en/index.htm.

Council of the European Union (2005) Council Directive 2005/85/EC of 1 December 2005 on minimum standards on procedures in States for granting and withdrawing refugee status. Retrieved on 1 July 2009 from http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/index.htm.

Davidson, B. (2000) The interpreter as institutional gatekeeper: The social-linguistic role of interpreters in Spanish-English medical discourse. Journal of Sociolinguistics 4(3): 379-405.

de Groot, A. W. (1949) Structurele Syntaxis. The Hague: Servire.

Erickson, F. and Schultz, J. (1982) The Counsellor as Gatekeeper. Social Interaction in Interviews. New York: Academic Press.

Faraclas, N. (2004) Nigerian Pidgin English: Morphology and syntax. In B. Kortmann and E. W. Schneider (eds) A Handbook of Varieties of English: A Multimedia Reference Tool 828-853. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Global IDP Project, Norwegian Refugee Council (2005) Internal Displacement in Nigeria: A hidden crisis. Retrieved on 1 July 2009 from http://www.idpproject.org

Goffman, E. (1974) Frame Analysis. Cambridge: Harvard University Press.

Gómez, Díez I. (forthcoming) 'Je n'ai que ma bouche'. Prácticas interactivas y discursivas en el procedimiento de solicitud de asilo belga. Doctoral dissertation (September 2008). University Institute for Applied Linguistics, Pompeu Fabra University, Spain.

Granhag, A. and Strömwall, L. A. (2004) The Detection of Deception in Forensic Contexts. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Gut, U. B. (2004) Nigerian English: Phonology. In B. Kortmann and E. W. Schneider (eds) A Handbook of Varieties of English. A Multimedia Reference Tool 813-830. Berlin and New York: Mouton de Gruyter.

Human Rights Watch (2003) Nigeria. Testing Democracy: Political Violence in Nigeria. Retrieved on 1 July 2009 from http://www.unhcr.org/refworld/ country,,HRW,,NGA,,45d2f6992,0.html.

Human Rights Watch (2006) 'They do not own this place'. Government Discrimination against 'non-indigenes' in Nigeria. Retrieved on 1 July 2009 from http://www.hrw.org/ reports/2006/nigeria0406/index.htm.

Igboanusi, H. (2006) A comparative study of the pronunciation features of Igbo English and Yoruba English speakers of Nigeria. English Studies 87(4): 490-497.

Jacquement, M. (2005) The registration interview. In M. Baynham and A. De Fina (eds) Dislocations / Relocations: Narratives of Displacement 197-220. Manchester: St Jerome.

Kachru, B. B. (1985) Standards, codification and sociolinguistic realism: The English language in the outer circle. In R. Quirk and H. G. Widdowson (eds) English in the World: Teaching and Learning the Language and Literatures 11-30. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Kolb, W. and Pöchhacker, F. (2008) Interpreting in asylum appeal hearings: Roles and norms revisited. In D. Russell and S. Hale (eds) Interpreting in Legal Settings. Studies in Interpretation Series (4) 26-50. Washington, DC: Gallaudet University Press.

Komter, M. L. (2001) La construction de la preuve dans un interrogatoire de police. Droit et Société 48: 367-393.

Komter, M. L. (2006) From talk to text: The interactional construction of a police record. In M. L. Komter (ed.) Talk and Text: The Relationship between Spoken Interaction and Written Documentation in Legal Settings. Special issue of Research on Language and Social Interaction 36(4): 201-228.

Labov, W. and Waletzky, J. (1967) Narrative analysis oral versions of personal experience. In J. Helm (ed.) Essays in the Verbal and Visual Arts: Proceedings of the 1966 Annual Spring Meeting of the American Ethnological Society 12-44. Seattle: Washington University Press.

Ley 5/1984 del 26 marzo reguladora del derecho de asilo y de la condición de refugiado (BOE number 74, 27 March), modificada por la ley 9/1994, de 19 de mayo (BOE number 122, 23 May).

Linell, P. and Jönsson, L. (1991) Story generations: From dialogical interviews to written reports in police interrogations. Text 1(3): 419-440.

Maryns, K. (2006) The Asylum Speaker: Language in the Belgian Asylum Procedure. Manchester: St. Jerome.

Mason, I. and Stewart, M. (2001) Interactional pragmatics, face and the dialogue interpreter. In I. Mason (ed.) Triadic Exchanges. Studies in Dialogue Interpreting 51-70. Manchester, UK / Northampton, MA: St. Jerome.

OAR Boletín de asilo October 2008. Number 96. Retrieved on 1 July 2009 from http:// www.intermigra.info/extranjeria/archivos/revista/BOARoctredoux.pdf.

O'Barr, W. (1982) Linguistic Evidence: Language, Power and Strategy in the Courtroom. San Diego, New York and Boston: Academic press.

Pöchhacker, F. and Kolb, W. (2009) Interpreting for the record: A case study of asylum review hearings. In S. Hale, O. Uldis and L. Stern (eds) Critical Link 5: Quality in Iinterpreting. A Shared Responsibility 119-134. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

Pöllabauer, S. (2004) Interpreting in asylum hearings. Issues of role, responsibility and power. Interpreting 6(2): 143-180.

Roy, C. (2000) Interpreting as a Discourse Process. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Schreuders, B. (2007) L'évaluation de la Crédibilité des Demandes d'Asile après la Réforme de la Procédure. Brussels: Institut de formation de l'administration fédérale (IFA), SPF personnel et organisation.

Ten Have, P. (1999) Doing Conversation Analysis: A Practical Guide. London: Sage.

United Nations (1951) Geneva Convention relating to the status of refugees. Retrieved on 1 July 2009 from http://www.UNHCR.org.htm.

United Nations High Commission for Refugees (1992) Handbook on procedures and criteria for determining refugee status under the 1951 convention and the 1967 protocol relating to the status of refugees. Retrieved on 1 July 2009 from http://www.unhcr.org.

United Nations High Commission for Refugees (1993) Interpreting in a Refugee Context. RLD3. UNHCR. Retrieved on 1 July 2009 from http://www.unhcr.org.

United Nations High Commission for Refugees (1995) Interviewing Applicants for Refugee Status. RLD4. UNHCR. Retrieved on 1 July 2009 from http://www.unhcr.org.

Valero Garcés, C. (2005) Doctor-patient consultations in dyadic and triadic exchanges. Interpreting 7(2): 193-210.

Valero Garcés, C. and Martin, A. (2008) Introduction. In C. Valero-Garcés and A. Martin (eds) Crossing Borders in Community Interpreting. Definitions and Dilemmas 1-7. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: John Benjamins.

van Dijk, T. A. (2008) Discourse and Context. A Sociocognitive Approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Wadensjö, C. (1998) Interpreting as Interaction. London and New York: Longman.

Wooffitt, R. (2005) Conversation Analysis and Discourse Analysis: A Comparative and Critical Introduction. London: Sage.

Refbacks

There are currently no refbacks.

Equinox Publishing Ltd - 415 The Workstation 15 Paternoster Row, Sheffield, S1 2BX United Kingdom
Telephone: +44 (0)114 221-0285 - Email: [email protected]