Evaluating Job Advertisements for Legal Interpreters and Translators in Zimbabwe
摘要
This chapter provides an appraisal of legal interpreters’ and translators’ job adverts in Zimbabwe. It examines the qualifications requirements in order to ascertain the Judicial Service Commission’s awareness of the relevant legal interpreters and translators’ programmes on offer in the country. The study examines how these adverts contribute to the professionalisation of legal interpretation and translation or lack of it. Critical Discourse Analysis was employed to make sense of the content of the adverts in order to deduce meaning from them regarding legal interpretation and translation as professions and disciplines in Zimbabwe. The findings of this study show that the adverts require irrelevant degree programmes and emphasize bilingualism at the expense of training and a qualification in legal interpreting and translation. The graduates from the stated programmes possess less than to no elementary knowledge of the dynamics of legal interpretation and translation. Bilingualism is in itself, no matter how remarkable, not enough to guarantee competent and adequate legal interpretation and translation performance. Interpretation and translation in this sector are more specialised, demanding, and responsible, hence there is a need to specialise the education of its better exponents. Interpretation and translation in this context are highly complex requiring practical and theoretical knowledge and skills, for which specialist training is essential. The adverts confirm that legal interpretation and translation in Zimbabwe are not recognised as fully-fledged disciplines and professions. This undermines efforts of professionalising legal interpretation and translation as well as establishing them as fully-fledged disciplines in Zimbabwe.