Translation in the Government and Parliament of Navarra

These articles comment briefly on the situation of translators and interpreters working in Basque and Spanish within the government institutions of Navarra.

As far as interpreting work in the Parliament is concerned, this increased as of 1991 due to the presence of representatives of Herri Batasuna and the existence of a Basque-speaking member of parliament belonging to Eusko Alkartasuna, although only 8% of members are able to express themselves in Basque, revealing that this language is used on a merely symbolic level.

On its part, the Government of Navarra has 21 translators which are involved mainly in translating the Official Gazette, although it also plans to translate documents published by the Department of Justice. There is also a Basque Unit which is responsible for translating texts containing general information, publicity campaigns, forms, lettering, press releases, etc.

The translators of the Government of Navarra also work as interpreters in the Law Courts of Pamplona, generally when persons which insufficient knowledge of Spanish have to give evidence, or when anyone wishes to exercise their right to express themselves in Basque. Usually, translations are made consecutively and one of the biggest problems found is the difficulty in making the language habitually used in law courts comprehensible, as this is full of legal complexities and technical terms.