language

  • West Midlands Police consulting on interpreting contract with Capita

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Politics

    According to a couple of my Twitter contacts, West Midlands Police are currently looking at their interpreting contract with Capita Translation & Interpreting, a name not unfamiliar this blog.

    The first indication of this came yesterday from Agata McCrindle.

    This was followed later by Geoffrey Buckingham, Chairman of the Association of Police & Court Interpreters (ACPI).

  • GNU licences now adapted to Swiss legal language

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Linux, Open Source, Open Standards, Tech

    According to www.opensource.ch, reading the original text of open source licences is very challenging. Swiss IT legal specialist Wolfgang Straub has made a new translation into German of three major open source licences, the GNU GPL, GNU LGPL and GNU Affero GPL and aligned them with Swiss legal language. In addition, he is also providing an introduction to the law on open source licences and various checklists for download free of charge at www.opensource.ch.

    The licences of the Free Software Foundation (FSF) have been amongst the most frequently used open source licences for many years. In 2007 the FSF published version 3 of the GNU General Public License (GPL), the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL) and the GNU Affero General Public License (AGPL). The Berne-based IT legal specialist Wolfgang Straub has now made a new translation of the text of these three licences.

    Linguistically, the initial German translations of the GNU GPL and the GNU LGPL by Peter Gerwinski are based as closely as possible on the original English text. They are based upon German legal language. Wolfgang Straub has made a new translation of the licences and adapted them to Swiss legal language. The wording and presentation are aimed at the best possible comprehensibility. The new translations are published under the Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 licence and are available for download free of charge at the Swiss Open Source Portal www.opensource.ch as PDF and ODF files.

    Wolfgang Straub is the author of several publications on Swiss information technology law. He is also the author of the book “Softwareschutz – Urheberrecht, Patentrecht, Open Source” (Software Protection – Copyright, Patent Law, Open Source) published by Dike Verlag in 2011. The chapter on open source software is now available free of charge for download (PDF). It contains a systematic overview of legal matters concerning open source licences, a bibliography and various checklists for practical use.

  • Court adjournments continue due to interpreter absences

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Media, Politics

    A quick search of the local media reveals that every week courts all over England and Wales are having difficulty booking interpreters when they need them since Capita T&I gained the contract for providing them for the Ministry of Justice.

    On Tuesday The Bolton News reported that a suspected cannabis farmer had to have his court hearing adjourned because his Vietnamese interpreter did not attend.

    The defendant, Hiep Thai, was remanded in custody by Bolton Magistrates Court.

    Meanwhile in Swansea Crown Court, four Latvian defendants were unable to enter pleas in a case concerning an alleged kidnapping and assault in Carmarthen, according to the Carmarthen Journal on Wednesday.

    The defendants were unable to enter any pleas because the court had been unable to arrange for a Latvian interpreter to be present.

    Judge Peter Heywood ordered the 4 defendants to return to Swansea Crown Court on 5th September (will Crapita be able to arrange an interpreter at such short notice? Ed.) for their next hearing, when they will be asked to enter pleas. In addition, the court was informed that a Latvian, Polish and a Bulgarian interpreter would probably be required for the trial to take place.

    One defendant, Juris Udrins, remains on remand in Swansea Prison, whilst the other 3 – Aleksandrs Turcans, Armands Nikiferovs and Guntis Goldins were bailed.

  • Dorchester Crown Court: Crapita found in breach

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Politics, Social Media, Tech

    Earlier today barrister Charles MacLean Cochand tweeted the following from Dorchester Crown Court:

    It is understood that the replacement Portuguese interpreter booked via Crapita is travelling to Dorchester from Nottingham, a round trip of over 400 miles. This interpreter is due to arrive at 2.00 pm, according to Mr Cochand.

  • Juvenile errors

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Media, Politics

    Today’s online version of the Bristol Post carried a piece with a real howler of a typo in its headline, as shown by the following screenshot.

    screenshot of Post headline stating Bristol councillors' pay is BELOW the minimum age

    After reading the headline, I was uncertain as to whether our councillors are below the minimum age or ‘earn’ less than the minimum wage for their services.

    The typographical error in the headline has since been corrected.

    By equating the councillor’s allowance with a wage or salary, the Post is making yet another juvenile error. Elected members of the City Council receive allowances in recognition of the time, work and costs involved in allegedly representing the people of Bristol; a wage is defined by Collins English Dictionary as a “payment in return for work or services, esp[ecially] that made to workmen on a daily, hourly, weekly, or piece-work basis.”

    Furthermore, yesterday the Post lifted this story from The Guardian about probable nuclear targets in the UK in the 1970s and completely misinterpreted the map (PDF) produced by The Guardian to accompany the piece, which clearly shows Bristol as a probable nuclear target, one of 106 around the UK. Instead the Post confidently proclaimed in its story that “Bristol was not thought to be important enough to be a target for Soviet missiles, according to government papers made public yesterday”.

    Fellow local blogger Stockwood Pete commented this was “Horribly inaccurate reporting even by the Post’s low standards.”

    One has to wonder if quality control is beyond the abilities of the Bristol Post.

  • Crapita makes one L of a mistake

    Steve WoodsLanguage

    image of Scarborough Justice CentreCapita Translation & Interpreting has made yet another linguistic cock-up, landing the taxpayer with a bill for £3,000 when asked to supply interpreters for a Lithuanian accused of stealing two bags for life worth 20p, according to Thursday’s Yorkshire Post.

    Tadas Tarkutis was accused of stealing these low value items from Sainsbury’s in Scarborough and arrested. A Lithuanian interpreter was arranged to attend the police station, making a 120 miles round trip from Harrogate.

    However, when Tarkutis appeared in Scarborough Magistrates Court the following morning the same interpreter was unavailable and Capita T&I arranged for a substitute – a Latvian interpreter who made a wasted 320 miles round trip from Rugby. Tarkutis was then remanded in custody overnight while a replacement interpreter was sought for the next day.

    This time Capita T&I were able to supply a Lithuanian interpreter, Tarkutis admitted the crime and was jailed for 6 weeks breach of a suspended sentence.

    One court source is reported by the Post as saying: “It was as if someone somewhere had just picked out a country that begins with ‘L’. It was ridiculous.”

    Quite.

    Capita describe as a company “you can rely on”. One can definitely rely on Capita to cock things up.

    The Yorkshire Post’s reporter refers throughout the piece to the linguists involved as translators. He or she – should they happen to visit this blog – definitely needs to read my illustrated guide to the difference between the two.

  • Avon (still) calling

    Steve WoodsBristol, Language, Oddities, Politics

    The Heath government’s Local Government Act of 1972 radically overhauled local government arrangements in England and Wales.

    In particular, it redrew the map of the shire counties, some of which had been in existence in some form since medieval or Saxon times.

    coat of arms of Avon County CouncilOne of the Act’s results was the creation of the County of Avon, a non-metropolitan county, which survived from its creation on 1st April 1974 until its abolition on 31st March 1996, when it was succeeded by the present unitary authorities of Bristol, South Gloucestershire, Bath & North East Somerset.

    Despite its abolition and its failure to engage popular support during its existence (it was widely derided at the time as a “cardboard county”. Ed.), Avon is proving harder to eradicate than a vampire. Its legacy can be found all over the West of England and the defunct county’s former administrative area.

    In organisational terms, its name crops up in the following public and private bodies:

    In addition to the above, there’s still an Avon Coroner’s district, the Forest of Avon community forest project and one can by an Avonrider ticket on local bus services.

    Although it ceased to exist nearly two decades ago, many bodies still insist that Avon forms part of the postal address of places like Bristol in spite of the fact that the Royal Mail long since indicated that it was not necessary to include Avon as part of any address as Royal Mail itself had abandoned the use of postal counties in 1996.

    The inspiration for this post came from a conversation this morning on Twitter.

    Any further instances of the survival of Avon can be posted in the comments below.

  • Lack of interpreter delays Staffordshire court case

    Steve WoodsLanguage, Politics

    image of gilded statue of Justice on top of Old BaileyMonday’s Stoke Sentinel reported that magistrates at the North Staffordshire Justice Centre in Newcastle under Lyme had to adjourn a case until 30th May to allow for an interpreter to be arranged for the defendant.

    Antonia Lakatos, of Gladstone Street, Basford, Stoke on Trent, is charged with theft of alcohol and clothing worth £345.15 from Asda in the Wolstanton district of Newcastle under Lyme, as well as going equipped for theft with an item used for de-tagging shop merchandise on 31st March.

    Will an interpreter turn up? After all, some of the interpreters working for Capita T&I cannot even be bothered to turn up for a case being heard by someone as senior as the President of the Family Division of the High Court of England and Wales (posts passim).

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