Specialised Experts in Court: Interpreting Manner Remotely - Expertise, Ethics and Evidence in Courtroom Communication

Abstract

In interpreter-mediated courtroom proceedings, especially those conducted remotely, the accurate rendering of manner of speech—including discourse markers, hedges, fillers, and stylistic cues—plays a critical role in ensuring both procedural fairness and linguistic equity. This study positions court interpreters as specialised experts whose ability to achieve pragmatic equivalence depends not only on linguistic competence but also on formal training, certification, and professional experience. Drawing on a 2x2 factorial experiment involving 50 Mandarin-English interpreters in Australian remote courtroom settings, this paper presents empirical evidence that better-trained and more experienced interpreters perform significantly better in accurately rendering manner-related features. The study also explores how different interpreting modes (consecutive/simultaneous) and conditions (audio-only/audiovisual) affect manner accuracy. We argue for curriculum innovation by incorporating modules on forensic questioning, pragmatic style, and interactional pragmatics, supported by real-world data and interprofessional feedback. Ultimately, this research contributes to a deeper, practice-informed understanding of pragmatic equivalence and calls for a pedagogy that fosters critical reflection, strategic reasoning, and ethical judgment in interpreter education.