Rettstolking og rettssikkerhet i et norsk perspektiv

English title: Court interpreting and legal protection in a Norwegian perspective

Abstract

This article comprises a critical report on the status of court interpreting in Norway. The findings are based on an analysis of examples from the Bergen City Court and a survey of court interpreters in Norway. The first part of the article examines the activity of interpreting as a profession, and to what extent the interpreter is a visible professional in a Norwegian court. Thereafter I argue that the Norwegian National Register of Interpreters, with its five-tier classification system, legitimizes the use in Norwegian courts of ‘interpreters’ who have completed no interpreter training and/or possess no interpreting accreditation. While the article demonstrates that improvements have been made in the field of court interpreting in Norway since the start of this millennium, the continuing lack of professional interpreters poses a threat to the legal rights of defendants, as well as hampering the ability of professionals in the court properly to conduct their duties.