Translation problems are becoming increasingly common in the United States today. With all of the various languages spoken in the US, it is inevitable that it will not be possible for everyone to communicate with each other. However, normally these problems result in the mild annoyance of a customer with a cashier or of a citizen with a ticketing police officer, for example. Yet, in some cases the barrier to communication between two languages can have much deeper effects. For instance, when a doctor cannot understand his patient, his diagnosis is based on a third person’s account of the patient’s symptoms. When this direct link of language is severed, it is much more difficult to develop personal connections.
A dramatic example of the far-reaching consequences of the language barrier is captured in a recent news article from Arizona News. In Phoenix, a Nigerian couple arrested for child abuse was released from jail because they cannot understand English. This couple was put in police custody after the gang rape of their 8-year-old daughter. She is a Nigerian refugee and was allegedly raped by four other young Nigerians. In addition, the parents are accused of leaving their daughter to beg for food at night and they hit her repeatedly with their fists or with crueler objects, such as barbed wire. The two were arrested and jailed on charges of abuse. However, the judge decided that the trial could not continue because the couple does not understand the proceedings. Instead, he decided to release the parents from jail until an interpreter can be found. Their passports were taken away from them, but they were still allowed to go home and be in contact with their other children.
There isn’t a simple answer to a situation such as this one. The parents have the right to understand why they are being held in jail and what charges are being leveled against them. Simply placing a person in jail when he has no idea what he did is a crime in itself. However, allowing a prisoner to be free solely because he can’t speak English doesn’t seem quite fair either. The judge in this case obviously thought that the individual liberties and freedoms of the accused parents were more important thanthe risk that they posed to society. It is a very difficult decision and would probably vary from judge to judge. This judge decided to postpone the trial until the court finds an interpreter. That is an equitable solution because then these parents can understand why they are being arrested. However, there are over 500 languages spoken in Nigeria and finding an interpreter for the specific dialect of the accused parents seems to be a daunting task. Hopefully, an interpreter can be found quickly so that the trial can continue. However, there is still the possibility of some inequities and misunderstandings when the trial is based solely on an interpreter's comments. There will undoubtedly be some distrust on both sides because neither the Nigerian couple nor the judge will be able to fully understand one another.
In addition, the article has some inconsistencies and some unanswered questions. It reported that last summer the father told a television station that his daughter was fine. They had a doctor examine her and the doctor affirmed that nothing had happened to her. How was the Nigerian father able to communicate with news stations a year ago but suddenly is unable to speak any English in court? The author does not mention the source of this information, which makes it seem a bit suspect as well. Perhaps the Nigerian couple can speak a little bit of English – more than was mentioned in the article or by the judge. This is especially suspicious since English is the official language of Nigeria.
How can the justice system possibly be completely fair in a situation such as this? There are no perfect answers to the complicated issues raised by needing translators in courts. The US justice system was designed with the assumption that the only language used would be English. However, as there is more and more overlapping of cultures and languages in the United States, problems such as these will need to be addressed with as much fairness as possible.
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