Speak English or What?

Rebecca Tipton, IATIS Blog This richly stimulating work is the product of ethnographic observations, interviews and extensive analysis of recorded interactions in several small claims courts in New York City. Although a good proportion is devoted to the analysis of code-switching and code-mixing in interpreter-mediated court interactions, the significance of the work extends beyond the micro level as it provides a comprehensive picture into organising and delivering interpreting services in a
superdiverse social setting.


Maria Bakti (University of Szeged), Target Vol. 30:1 This book is logically structured and easy to read. In addition to a comprehensive analysis of research literature in the field, Angermeyer provides excellent examples which are then thoroughly analyzed and put into the wider framework of previous research results. Angermeyer strikes a good balance between theory and examples, offering new insights for researchers, interpreter trainers, court interpreters and students of interpreting. In addition, important
consequences are drawn that are of interest to the legal profession and decision-makers not only in the United States but also elsewhere.


Sociolinguistic Studies On the whole, the volume offers clear evidence of the multiple ways in which litigants speaking languages other than English in New York courtrooms (and presumably elsewhere) are disempowered due to monolingual ideologies, institutional and economic power relationships, and failures in the structuring and process of interpreting. Litigants who do not speak English, who appear in court without representation, who do not have interpreting available at all stages of the
legal process, and who are unfamiliar with the appropriate registers and ways of presenting evidence do not get to tell their story in their own voice.


Target This book is logically structured and easy to read. In addition to a comprehensive analysis of research literature in the field, Angermeyer provides excellent examples which are then thoroughly analyzed and put into the wider framework of previous research results. Angermeyer strikes a good balance between theory and examples, offering new insights for researchers, interpreter trainers, court interpreters and students of interpreting. In addition, important
consequences are drawn that are of interest to the legal profession and decision-makers not only in the United States but also elsewhere.


Journal of Specialised Translation ... this book goes beyond court interpreting per se, spotlighting other topics that have been under-researched to date, such as codeswitching in interpreted interactions ... brings new and original ideas and perspectives to the study of court interpreting. A breath of fresh air.


Piotr Wegorowski, Language and Law The book raises important questions about the fairness of trial for speakers of languages other than English (LOTE) as it explores how language ideologies and institutional...

Philipp Sebastian Angermeyer is Assistant Professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures, and Linguistics at York University.

Chapter 1. Indexicalities of language choice in small claims court ; Chapter 2. Challenging claims: Immigrants in small claims court ; Chapter 3. "I've heard your story:" How arbitrators decide ; Chapter 4. Only translating? The role of the interpreter ; Chapter 5. Testifying in another language: What's lost in translation ; Chapter 6. Codeswitching in the courtroom ; Chapter 7. Language ideology and legal outcomes ; Appendix ; References