The language divide
Jun. 1st, 2006 12:23 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
sparkindarknessI am a Criminal lawyer and a family lawyer. Unfortunately I also took classes in law school and have attended seminars for immigration and asylum law as well. In theory I am qualified. Emphasis on the theory. Still, our firm wants to go into the lucrative and ever growing immigration market and when the Avatars, Those who Must be Hailed as God, Ruler of all they Survey (aka the Senior Partners) command we must obey. So I get a few caes shunted my way. I tend to think they all suck because I don't like doing it much so I give them a free pass.
However, some stand out
Mr. A, you are Algerian. You speak French. You do not speak English. I know this because you force me to conduct law interviews in French. My French is rusty as an ancient old saw that has been marinated in warm salt water for a millennium. No matter how much you like languages, a law interview in a foreign language is not fun and the accent tends to stay with me after the fact.
Still, I can live with that – my language headaches are my problem, not yours, right?
But you can’t speak or read English, but still INSIST on looking at every piece of paper on your file and from the opposition. You NEVER take my word for it – so look at the writing itself. The writing is in ENGLISH. You CAN’T READ IT. You don’t even try to take it to an external translator or anything, you just frown at it blankly for 10 minutes silence. What do you expect? A sudden divine wonder endowing you with the ability to speak English? I can hit you with a haddock a few times for inspiration, but really that’s more for my amusement than anything; you aren’t going to be able to read that letter.
And there is NO need to dissect every single little note with me – a process that requires me to translate EVER SINGLE WORD OF A LEGAL LETTER TO YOU ONE BY ONE. I told you what the letter says. That doesn’t mean we need to spend an hour while I explain their address to you.
I have never lied to you about anything. I have always told you the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth – why do you insist on this linguistic torture for every single note? I can command the Hounds to kill in several languages and I will do so if you try to make me translate case law again.
However, some stand out
Mr. A, you are Algerian. You speak French. You do not speak English. I know this because you force me to conduct law interviews in French. My French is rusty as an ancient old saw that has been marinated in warm salt water for a millennium. No matter how much you like languages, a law interview in a foreign language is not fun and the accent tends to stay with me after the fact.
Still, I can live with that – my language headaches are my problem, not yours, right?
But you can’t speak or read English, but still INSIST on looking at every piece of paper on your file and from the opposition. You NEVER take my word for it – so look at the writing itself. The writing is in ENGLISH. You CAN’T READ IT. You don’t even try to take it to an external translator or anything, you just frown at it blankly for 10 minutes silence. What do you expect? A sudden divine wonder endowing you with the ability to speak English? I can hit you with a haddock a few times for inspiration, but really that’s more for my amusement than anything; you aren’t going to be able to read that letter.
And there is NO need to dissect every single little note with me – a process that requires me to translate EVER SINGLE WORD OF A LEGAL LETTER TO YOU ONE BY ONE. I told you what the letter says. That doesn’t mean we need to spend an hour while I explain their address to you.
I have never lied to you about anything. I have always told you the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth – why do you insist on this linguistic torture for every single note? I can command the Hounds to kill in several languages and I will do so if you try to make me translate case law again.