AS languages grow in vocabulary and more people are likely to use street lingo, court interpreters now have to adapt and make accurate translations, sometimes to judges, lawyers and prosecutors who are fluent in the language the person speaking is using, but have no idea what the lingo words actually mean.
A trial is a communication process and language forms its integrity and outcomes, and it is also the means of realising all the rights of the accused in a criminal trial.
In a recent judgment, High Court Judge, Justice Munamato Mutevedzi stressed the importance for court interpreters to learn and adopt the street lingo to break the language barrier.
The judge made the remarks while delivering judgment in the case of two brothers, Eric and Brain Kagoro, who were convicted of murdering their father.
During trial, one of the key State witnesses was a boy aged 17 who testified in Shona, but his language was dominated by street lingo that the court interpreter could hardly understand.
The boy was testifying in the trial of the two brothers who were convicted of murdering their father Zivanai Kagoro.
Regardless of repeated reprimands by Justice Mutevedzi to stick to proper Shona, the boy found himself frequently wandering into the comfort of his colloquialism, resorting for instance to phrases such as "ngezha ikabva yajamuka" which after a struggle, the interpreter advised the court simply referred to the father's fury!
"It then occurred to us that the transformation that our indigenous languages are undergoing is unrestrained," said Justice Mutevedzi.
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"The youth are prepared to adulterate the languages to suit their tastes and times."
Justice Mutevedzi said the rate the young generation is doing it, Shona, Ndebele and other local languages faced the risk of extinction.
The courts, said Justice Mutevedzi, would be faced with more witnesses who speak such mixed languages.
"As shown in this trial, the youngsters are non-conformists yet their evidence may be vital for the resolution of cases in court," he said.
"The language barrier must be broken. Court interpreters must, therefore, find a way of bridging that gap instead of expecting today's generation to bend backwards.
"They take no prisoners. The only way out is for court interpreters to learn the jargon and integrate it into the formal languages before interpreting into the official court language."
Linguistic complexities such as misunderstandings, translation errors and cultural distance among participants in criminal trials affect courtroom communication, the presentation and the perception of the evidence, hence jeopardising the foundations of a fair trial.
Eric and Brian were convicted of murder and now await sentencing. The fatal incident occurred on June 19, 2022 at Plot 116, Nyagambe Farm, Marondera where the duo strangled their father accusing him of favouring his youngest son.
