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Hoang-Nam Tran, Tokushima University, JapanAbstract
Court interpreters serve as critical intermediaries in ensuring linguistic access to justice for individuals with limited proficiency in the official language of legal proceedings. Despite their fundamental role, court interpreting remains an underexamined field, leading to deficiencies in policy, training, and professional development. This literature review synthesizes Japanese and English academic studies on court interpreting, examining key global challenges such as interpreter shortages, inconsistent qualifications, ethical dilemmas, and the role of cultural mediation in legal contexts. Through comparative analysis of studies in various countries compared to Japan, this study highlights disparities in certification requirements, training programs, and working conditions. Against the increasing foreign resident population in Japan (over 3.4 million in 2023), demand for court interpreters has grown. However, the number of registered court interpreters has seen a declining trend from approximately 5,000 in the early 2010s to fewer than 4,000 in recent years. This gap is exacerbated by the absence of standardized certification, inconsistent training opportunities, and a lack of institutional support for professional development. By examining international best practices, this review underscores the urgency of policy reforms, standardized accreditation, and enhanced training programs to ensure the quality of court interpreting in Japan.
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Conference: PCAH2025Stream: Other Humanities
This paper is part of the PCAH2025 Conference Proceedings (View)
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To cite this article:
Tran H. (2025) Challenges in Court Interpreting: A Comparative Literature Review With a Focus on Japan ISSN: 2758-0970 The Paris Conference on Arts & Humanities 2025: Official Conference Proceedings (pp. 201-209) https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2758-0970.2025.17
To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.22492/issn.2758-0970.2025.17
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