Les traducteurs en langue basque de l'Administration et de la Justice : situation et statut professionnel - Lurdes Auzmendi

Basque language translators in the public administration and courts:
situation and professional statute.

In this article, Lurdes Auzmendi draws on the findings of a survey conducted among translators working in the Basque public administration - at regional, provincial and local level - and in the courts.

She introduces the issue with a short historical overview of the use of Basque translation in the public administration, from the nineteenth century through to the restoration of democracy and the creation of the autonomous community of the Basque Country in the early 1980s.

The survey itself addressed a range of different aspects of public sector translators' working conditions. Some of its more important findings were as follows:

• The average annual salary of public service translators is approximately ?16,500.

• Most would like to see greater training opportunities.

• Basque is the first language of the majority.

• The volume of translation work varies considerably: translators working for the Basque Government produce 5 to 6 pages a day, whereas at the other end of the scale, in the Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa, the figure is between 10 and 15 pages per day. Amongst municipal authorities, output is lower, but many translators combine this work with other tasks.

• The great majority (90%) of translations are from Spanish into Basque, with Basque-Spanish accounting for practically all of the remainder. In a small number of municipal authorities, all business is conducted in Basque and everything has therefore to be translated into Spanish. English and French translations are rare.

• Asked whether there were sufficient translation posts to cover the volume of work required, respondents were split evenly between those who felt that there were and those who felt that were not.

• The type of translation varies depending on the administration. Translators working for the central Basque civil service work largely on decrees, regulations, rulings, and official forms. At municipal level, the bulk of the work involves translating reports.

• Amongst the problems most commonly faced by this group are the accumulation of work, problems with the original texts and the absence of mechanisms for checking translations.

• In general, nearly all texts are translated into unified Basque. Local dialects are only used in a very small number of cases and for very specific target audiences.

• Consecutive interpretation is used in the courts, whereas in the provincial assemblies, the Basque parliament and in the university, it is normally simultaneous.

• When this article was written, court translators were still using typewriters. Other translators normally used a computer, but few had e-mail or Internet access.

• Most translators are well provided with dictionaries, grammar books, style books, encyclopaedias, and glossaries.

Auzmendi then goes on to examine the specific situation of court interpreters. In this area, conditions are far from ideal and interpreters complain of a stressful environment and the lack of appreciation shown by judges and court clerks. On occasions, a single interpreter has been required to work for six hours without a break. Many are forced to take sick leave as a result of the strain they are placed under.