The Tingjun Cao Trial highlights translation issues in legal proceedings

Complications over interpretation have disrupted legal proceedings in the trial of a Chinese national over the alleged murder of Christchurch real estate agent Yanfei Bao.

Chinese national Tingjun Cao, 53, is currently on trial at the Christchurch High Court for the murder of the 44-year-old in July 2023. He has pleaded not guilty.

The trial began on October 21 and is expected to last six weeks.

However, since the start of the trial, legal proceedings have been interrupted by delays due to various translation problems.

On the opening day of the trial, the jury selection process was postponed after some administrative notices regarding translation were announced.

Translation problems also delayed the start of the trial second day.

Ineke Crezee, professor of translation and interpretation at Auckland University of Technology, said any delays would increase legal costs, but it was important to accurately translate the evidence presented at trial.

Court interpreters typically have to deal with the challenges of translating carefully drafted legal statements, working through material quickly without additional information and dealing with real-time pressure from the court, says Crezee, who also works as a court interpreter.

“One of the problems is that judges, lawyers (and) prosecutors … take great care in formulating what they want to say, and then the interpreter is there without much preparation,” Crezee said.

“It’s very difficult to understand what is being said, what is being asked and how do I put that into another language… in such a way that I have all the meaning and power.”

Crezee said it was especially difficult to translate sentences that contained metaphors that sometimes emerged in witness statements.

“People talk about accuracy, but they forget that sociolinguistic practices are also involved,” she said. “There are a lot of skills required in court interpreting.”

The nature of the legal proceedings meant that translators often interpreted information presented without knowledge of the case from either legal team.

“They get the bare minimum of information… which makes it even more difficult,” she said.

Wei Teng, a lecturer in translation and interpreting at the University of Canterbury and Crezee PhD candidate, said interpreters should focus on contextual translations rather than trying to produce a literal translation.

“(Translators should not be) bogged down by the semantic meaning of words or the literal meaning of words,” he said. “Otherwise they might ignore or neglect the contextual meaning of words or messages.”

Teng said it is important to understand the cultural differences between two places when offering translation or interpretation services.

Crezee said there were many translators active in New Zealand, but it was sometimes difficult to find interpreters for languages ​​spoken by smaller communities.

She said court interpreters in New Zealand are now expected to meet an Australian standard recently adopted by the government.

However, Crezee said it was difficult to obtain the National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters (NAATI) and there was a long waiting list for testing.

According to the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment (MBIE), from July 1, government agencies were expected to use interpreters with NAATI credentials and, if these were not available, an interpreter working towards this certification.

Andrew Lockhart, refugee and migrant services manager at MBIE, said there were no set standards for interpreter qualifications in New Zealand before this change.

“With the NAATI credentials, government agencies can now confidently select interpreters who consistently demonstrate a high level of skill in real-world situations and have demonstrated a strong understanding of interpreter ethics,” said Lockhart.

He said MBIE recognized that some individuals were unable to complete testing for the new standards in time, taking this into account where possible.

Interpreters who registered with the government’s Interpreter Standards Transition Support Package, which provides financial assistance to help people obtain their NAATI accreditation, were given until June 30, 2025 to complete the accreditation, Lockhart said.

Interpreters who did not sign up for the package could fund their own training and testing to gain accreditation, he said.

Isabelle Poff-Pencole, president of the New Zealand Society of Translators and Interpreters, said the profession was “very difficult”, with court interpreters needing more support and reward.

“Having the correct and complete material of the case before interpreting is critical to the accurate and professional presentation of testimony or anything said in court in another language,” she said. “If you don’t have this information, it is very difficult to know everything in advance.”

Poff-Pencole said interpreters typically earned about $65 an hour, not including time spent preparing, when employed on a contract basis by the Justice Department.

If they were recruited for translation through a language service provider, the pay would likely be lower, she said.

Poff-Pencole called on the Department of Justice to review the conditions in which court interpreters worked.

“We are a profession, and we have a code of conduct and a code of ethics that we have to adhere to and providing professional interpretation services at such a low fee is a major problem facing the profession at the moment,” she said .

The Christchurch High Court told RNZ that five weeks had initially been allocated for the trial when Cao made his first performance last year.

An additional week has since been added to the schedule due to translation delays.

Carl Crafar, chief operating officer at the Justice Department, said four court-appointed Mandarin interpreters had been booked to cover this trial.

“This is subject to change depending on the needs of the court and the parties to the proceeding,” Crafar said.