Non-English Speaker Witnesses

Have you ever been at depositions where the law firm, in an effort to cost cuts, doesn't hire an interpreter for the witness and the transcript ends up sounding like Greek? I just did one expert witness (an NYC engineer) who had such bad English that 50 percent of his answers don't make sense.

Have I ever been to a depo where they have a non-English speaker without an interpreter?  Yes, I have.  It was a difficult day, believe me!  On top of that, they wanted the transcript expedited.  I've been doing this for a while, and I'm confident, but this was over the top.  I asked the attorney for a break.  I phoned my agency, and told them what was happening.  They told me to talk to the attorney and told me to let him know that they could send an interpreter.  I explained to the attorney that I felt I was unable to put a cert page on a transcript that I wasn't sure what the witness was saying.  I was very calm.  I also told him that the transcript could be challenged in court, and that I would have to tell the truth, that I really could not understand the witness.  After my conversation and a phone call to the company for a followup conversation, he agreed to an interpreter.  The woman arrived within 30 minutes, and the deposition resumed.  I later found out that the opposing counsel did make the beginning of the depo an issue.  Since the attorney reasked most of the questions, it was a no-go.  If you feel professionally uncomfortable with certifying a transcript, save your career.  I know this may be difficult for a newbie, but keep in mind you are an the capacity as a notary of an officer of the court.

Just FYI I recently picked up a very useful word on the NCRA forum.

I was scoping my 9 hour video depo/circus with a hysterical Haitian witness, Creole interpreter (who had a strong accent and paraphrased the witness's answers which she was giving half the time in "English" and he used different words and left out part of what she was saying); meanwhile the questioning attorney was actually shouting over the hysterical witness to try to get her to answer and her own attorney was repeatedly saying on top of all this "You have to answer yes or no" over and over again.  And in spite of me telling him he might as well send me home because it was impossible, it just continued - 

So I never use the word "inaudible" and that was not the case; I don't like "unintelligible" because it doesn't seem accurate; "indecipherable" - well, maybe SOMebody could decipher it, but my new word is "indiscernible" which seems just about right for trying to make out what each of the four people are saying when they are all talking at once.  Also "indiscernible crosstalk" for these talking-together situations.

Just thought I'd share that - can't wait to see what this attorney thinks of those peppered through his transcript!

And I do know that it is the reporter's job .... but this was obviously the attorney's intent to create this circus and keep the witness displaying her hysteria for the video, so when I tried to address it, all I got was five voices at once instead of four.  I'll bet he doesn't ever get the same reporter twice.

And he was an expert too? Jeeesh, you must have been ready to pull your hair out.  (Or his).  I have had situations where the attorney had a difficult accent and he himself almost needed an interpreter.  That was fun.

Good luck on deciphering that remaining 50%, binita!

It is the reporter's resonsibility to make sure a usable transcript can be prepared.  If the witness is that difficult to understand, the attorneys are probably having a difficult time also.  And the time that you let it go and don't ask for clarification will be the time you get asked to read it back!  Don't get caught in that situation!

I personally have never had a deposition with a witness so hard to understand that I thought they needed an interpreter. 

Oh, unfortunately they're not all that uncommon in SoCal.  I love it when the witness speaks a bunch of gibberish on the record, then the attorneys want you to read it back.  Then I read back gibberish.  I really want to say, if you didn't understand, what makes you think I did? 

I think in the absence of an interpreter, a good attorney should try to clarify the answer by stating what their understanding of the answer is, then asking the witness if that's what they meant.  If the client is nice, I would even ask for a break and suggest it, in the interest of having a clearer record.

I've also had a very bad interpreter who translated answers into completely nonsensical phrases.  But the attorney spoke Spanish herself and was really listening to the answers in Spanish, and not the interpreted English, so I don't think she even noticed it.  Opposing counsel kept looking at me with a confused look on his face, and I would shrug back!  So I felt trapped writing a transcript that would seem incorrect, even though that's what was said.  So a few times I included the interpreted answer as colloquy, with the crazy statement said in quotes, just to ensure to whoever reads it that it was not my mistake!  And I'm sure opposing counsel now knows he wasn't he only one confused!

And I am an ESL speaker myself, so I think I am pretty good with accents.  But once I had a witness from my own country whose English was so incredibly bad even I cound't understand her.  Then I realized that whenever she didn't know how to say it something in English, she would just say it in her first language.  I interrupted a lot on that one.

And I know we're not supposed to, but I have helped on occasion when the attorneys don't understand their accent.  I approach it as unrequested read-back :)  I did get it anyway, didn't I?  But that's only with attorneys I'm comfortable with...