How are speaker errors handled on court ready transcripts?
Speaker errors speak for themselves, and they do not need to be highlighted for the jury on the transcript. The jurors will read the transcript with the equivalent error in the translation and can determine, on their own, the significance, if any, to be ascribed to such verbal error, very often stemming from code-switching or the use of an incorrect word. When the transcriber/translator encounters code-switching or other linguistic phenomena, he should not use italics or any other form of punctuation that may constitute editorializing. (See Santana v. New York City Transit Authority, 505 N.Y.S.2d 775, 778-79 (Sup. Ct. 1986). Errors that are difficult to translate, such as the addition of a diphthong to the word diferencia (diferiencia), in general, do not affect the meaning of the utterance. In such cases, the potential prejudice of translator interjections greatly outweighs the potential benefit of parenthetical translator explanations and, additionally, same have a negative impact on
