Interpreter-mediated Police Interviews

Ikuko Nakane is Senior Lecturer at the Asia Institute, University of Melbourne, Australia. Her research areas include language and law, intercultural communication and Japanese sociolinguistics. She is the author of Silence in Intercultural Communication and a number of articles in sociolinguistics and applied linguistics journals.

• Introduction: Tripartite Police Interview Interaction 1. Police Interviews and Interpreter Mediation 2. Setting the Scene: The Police Interviews and the Interpreting 3. Mediated Questioning and Balance of Power 4. Mediated Responses and Balance of Power 5. Miscommunication and Repair 6. Managing Silence 7. Mediated Reality Construction: Conclusions

“Explore the impact of interpreter mediation on police investigative interviews and the challenges that arise for those involved, with a view to recommending strategies towards a more effective handling of these. … Nakane’s monograph sets out to approach the interpreter-mediated suspect interview as tripartite interaction taking place in a specific institutional context. … the monograph by Nakane is directed primarily at researchers specialised in exploring institutional discourse.” (Isabelle Perez, Interpreting, Vol. 18 (1), 2016)