Bristol Crown Court judge resorts to Google Translate
The shambles that is the Ministry of Justice’s outsourcing of court interpreting services continues, although it does not have such a high media profile these days.
Today’s Bristol Post reports that a judge was forced to use Google Translate to discuss a case with the defendant.
Bath resident Jaroslaw Nowacki was appearing at Bristol Crown Court on Wednesday 30th August to answer a charge of possession of a kitchen knife in a public place without good reason or lawful authority.
However, His Honour Judge Euan Ambrose was unaware until the hearing that Nowacki would need the services an interpreter.
After confirming the defendant was originally from Poland, the judge decided to adjourn the plea hearing until 6th September to arrange for an interpreter to be in attendance.
The Post continues:
But due to Nowacki’s limited grasp of English, he did not understand what he was being told and Judge Ambrose turned to Google Translate to get his message across.
“Whether Google Translate will accurately translate what I want to say I don’t know,” said the judge.
After spending several minutes typing out a message, Judge Ambrose printed it off and it was handed to Nowacki for him to read in the dock.
Nowacki then confirmed that he understood the message and the case was adjourned.
