In France, asylum seekers who do not speak French, or who don’t speak it well enough, must use interpreters to tell their story. Interpreting requires much focus and accuracy. Especially when the message of the interpreter can determine the fate of someone who does not speak the language. However, even with practice, translation errors do occur.

“To translate is to betray,” goes the famous saying. Any transcreation into another language has the chance of error. In the case of asylum seekers and refugees, translation problems can have a decisive impact on migrants’ fate.

That is why Ofpra (French Office for the Protection of Refugees and Stateless Persons) has drawn up a new rule for the translators whom they recruit through private translation agencies. In France, asylum seekers may be accompanied by an interpreter free of charge during their interview with Ofpra.

Under this new rule, Ofpra requires its translators to be highly professional. They must translate “faithfully,” “without addition or omission,” “without comment, value judgment or evaluation” and must ensure that “neutral behavior and words” are maintained. These details are especially important in cases like this, where each answer is crucial to the livelihood of the person.

On one occasion, when listening to an audio recording of her client in front of Ofpra, the lawyer noticed that during the interview the interpreter had asked if he could use “Google translate” to check the meaning of a word. “That casts serious doubt on the reliability of the translation,” said Dourouni-Le Strat, who used that as an argument during an appeal.

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At Transtrust, our team of experts take full responsibility of Vietnamese legal translation services. Our experts know well how to present content for the Vietnamese market, especially for legal purposes. You can be certain that with TransTrust, your translations are accurate, and will represent your case in the most accurate way in the Vietnamese legal system.