Legal and linguistic professionals think a qualification system is needed for court interpreters to weed out incompetent ones who might be doing more harm than good, a recent survey says.
According to the poll, conducted in April and May by an association of legal interpreters, about 60 percent of the 92 respondents said some kind of qualification should be required to become a court interpreter, while 18 percent, or 17 pollees, said a "national" qualification is needed.
The respondents consisted of 72 lawyers and 20 linguistic professionals, 12 of whom have been court interpreters.