IN THE DOCK OR NOT, YOU NEED A VOICE!
Going to court is a stressful business, whether you’re on a Jury, on the legal team or, heaven forbid, standing in the dock!
What nobody wants, including we taxpayers, is for a court case to be delayed because an interpreter doesn’t turn up, or does turn up but isn’t up to the job. If we can’t provide good interpreters to people who are accused of crime then we risk miscarriages of justice. Also, our brilliant Courts system, which has been copied across the world, falls to the level of a tin-pot dictatorship that doesn’t give an accused person a voice. It’s very frustrating for us at thebigword to see a great system being allowed to descend into chaos in this way.
At thebigword we work with many public sector organisations, both in the UK and U.S. We recognise that many of these are non-discretionary services. By and large, most people don’t want to deal with Border Control or Social Services unless they have to.
Personally, I believe that immigration over the decades has hugely enriched the English culture but whatever our views, it’s a Government decision to allow people from other countries to enter the UK. Once they do that, then those people have to be able to find somewhere to live, get a job and access healthcare and education, and that means they have to be able to communicate.
thebigword has developed some amazing technology through several years’ work (and many millions of pounds). We’ve done that to support the public sector organisations that we work for, which include the Home Office and the Department for Work and Pensions, in communicating with the public that they serve.
We can provide Telephone Interpreting, where two people who speak different languages can converse over a telephone line via an interpreter. This is a fantastically efficient system where an interpreter is usually on the line within 30 seconds.
There are some situations where Telephone Interpreting doesn’t work. For example in a hospital, telling a patient they have a terminal illness; for Social Services taking a child away from its family. And in a Courtroom. This is where you need face-to-face interpreters who are up to the job and get there in time to do it.
Making all that happen is what we at thebigword are brilliant at.
What nobody wants, including we taxpayers, is for a court case to be delayed because an interpreter doesn’t turn up, or does turn up but isn’t up to the job. If we can’t provide good interpreters to people who are accused of crime then we risk miscarriages of justice. Also, our brilliant Courts system, which has been copied across the world, falls to the level of a tin-pot dictatorship that doesn’t give an accused person a voice. It’s very frustrating for us at thebigword to see a great system being allowed to descend into chaos in this way.
At thebigword we work with many public sector organisations, both in the UK and U.S. We recognise that many of these are non-discretionary services. By and large, most people don’t want to deal with Border Control or Social Services unless they have to.
Personally, I believe that immigration over the decades has hugely enriched the English culture but whatever our views, it’s a Government decision to allow people from other countries to enter the UK. Once they do that, then those people have to be able to find somewhere to live, get a job and access healthcare and education, and that means they have to be able to communicate.
thebigword has developed some amazing technology through several years’ work (and many millions of pounds). We’ve done that to support the public sector organisations that we work for, which include the Home Office and the Department for Work and Pensions, in communicating with the public that they serve.
We can provide Telephone Interpreting, where two people who speak different languages can converse over a telephone line via an interpreter. This is a fantastically efficient system where an interpreter is usually on the line within 30 seconds.
There are some situations where Telephone Interpreting doesn’t work. For example in a hospital, telling a patient they have a terminal illness; for Social Services taking a child away from its family. And in a Courtroom. This is where you need face-to-face interpreters who are up to the job and get there in time to do it.
Making all that happen is what we at thebigword are brilliant at.
