1. The position of court interpreters and translators in the Slovak Republic Legislation Practice Perspectives Mgr. Marketa Štefková, PhD. Institute of Interpreting Comenius University Bratislava Slovakia

2. Overview  Current legal regulations for expert witnesses, interpreters and translators in Slovakia  Institute of Interpreting in Bratislava  Experience gained during 8 years  Conclusion

3. Current legal regulations in Slovakia  Act No. 382/2004 Z.z.  Decree No. 490/2004 Z.z. regulating the performance of Act. No. 382/2004 Z.z. on expert witnesses, interpreters and translators and on changing and amending certain laws  Decree No. 491/2004 Z.z., on the remuneration, compensation of the expenses, and compensation for the lost time of expert witnesses, interpreters and translators

4. Registration and administration – Ministry of Justice of the Slovak Republic Register JASPI web-page of the Ministry of Justice www.justice.gov.sk  36 languages  833 translators  245 interpreters

7. Renumeration rates in EUR given by the law Slovak/CzechEuropean languages non- European languages two foreign languages translation13,3019,9223,2326,55 interpretation13,3019,9223,2326,55 printing of 1 page 0,1 lay out2,65 NP = Normpage 1800 signs in Word = about 300 words

8. Current legal regulations in Slovakia  minimum requirements for the education  personal criteria  manner of certification  sanctions  identification symbols  ethical aspects  confidentiality and possible reasons for refusing an order

9. Institute of Interpreting  not an extra entity  four universities in Slovakia (Bratislava, Nitra, Nitra, Prešov, Košice) Institute of Interpreting Bratislava  start december 2004  examined more than 450 applicants in about 25 languages  organized courses of the “legal minimum” for about 50 participants  rate of success about 50%

10. Translations 2010

11. Interpreting 2010

12. Experience gained during five years  No complete educational programme preparing for the examination  The existing courses focused on  knowledge of some partial areas of the legal system of the Slovak Republic  acts regulating the exercise of translation and interpreting activities for the needs of state authorities  ethical aspects of the translator´s and interpreter´s work  foundations of technical translation

13. Experience gained during five years  not enough interpreters - proportion between those interested in interpreting and translating about 1 : 9  ad hoc interpreters - quality  remuneration paid out by government bodies with substantial delay

14. Conclusion  specifying and unifying the minimum requirements for the skills at an international level  elaborating international standards of professional ethics of translators and interpreters  defining rights and position  cooperation in training interpreters and translators in particular combinations of languages (especially for languages not sufficiently represented in our region)

15. Thank you for your interest ! Mgr. Marketa ŠTEFKOVÁ, PhD. mskrlantova@yahoo.com