Lost In Translation, This Time in Europe
An Arabic translator misled English listeners at an event held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2011. Arabic translators in Europe are misleading law enforcement officials in Germany according to an article published by the Gatestone Institute.
The Gatestone Institute has published a report about Arab-speaking translators mistranslating the testimony of sexual abuse victims in Germany and in some instances going so far as to threaten the victims who try to tell their stories to authorities. The article, written by Stefan Frank, indicates is that there is a “fraternal solidarity between interpreters and criminal defendants” in Germany.
The article is summarizes the story from a book titled Sex in Court written by a German author, Alexander Stevens, who works as a lawyer in Munich. He was approached by a young Syrian girl who had been forced by her family to marry a man who was 34 years older than she was.
After seeking help at a woman’s shelter, the staff at the shelter brought her to Stevens who, after interviewing her, concluded that she was the victim of terrible abuse and humiliation.
He visited her the next day to bring her to the police, but by this point, the young Syrian girl did not want to speak to him. Later he was given a note by a staffer at the women’s shelter in which the girl reported that she had gone to the police station, but that the interpreter intimidated her into not telling her story.
The interpreter told the girl, Sali, that she should not dishonor her husband and family by going to the police.
Subsequently to sending the note, the girl committed suicide.
The Gatestone article also documents how non-Muslim refugees who try to report abuse perpetrated by fellow refugees who are Muslim are oftentimes intimidated by Muslim interpreters who side with the accused. One source quoted in the article states that complaints are often retracted because the interpreters threaten to torpedo the victims’ asylum applications.
The Gatestone article might spark a memory on the part of loyal Snapshot readers. In 2011, Snapshots highlighted a video that documented the mistranslation of a speaker at an event that took place at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Here’s the summary:
The video indicates that in Arabic, [Ahmed] Maher, one of the founders of the April 6 Youth Movement, accused Israel of perpetrating a “genocide” against the Palestinians.
…The translator said in English that (and this is a paraphrase) in a neighboring territory, people are being oppressed and killed and are having their rights taken away. This is a long way from the accusation of genocide apparently leveled initially by Maher.
While the mistranslation at MIT was very disconcerting, imagine how awful it must be for the victims of abuse in Germany to know that they cannot trust the their own translators.
More from SNAPSHOTS
Reuters Falsely Links Jerusalem Embassy, Two-State Solution
January 9, 2019
The Jerusalem office park which houses Guatemala's embassy Multiple recent Reuters articles incorrectly report that moving the Brazilian embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem is a dramatic move away from the two-state solution. For instance, [...]
American Lutheran In Jerusalem Affirms that IDF Soldiers Are “Stormtroopers,” Backtracks
December 19, 2018
Rev. Carrie Ballenger Smith is a pastor at the Church of the Redeemer in Jerusalem. She ministers to the English-speaking congregation that meets at the Lutheran church, which is located in the Old City of [...]
The Washington Post Ignores Antisemitic Attack in Los Angeles
November 29, 2018
The Washington Post has warned about a “rising tide of antisemitism.” But as CAMERA has highlighted, The Post’s coverage of antisemitism has frequently been selective and is often politicized. More recently, the newspaper even ignored [...]
Think Tank: Iran Was Closer to Building a Bomb Than Previously Thought
November 23, 2018
A Nov. 20, 2018 report by a Washington D.C.-based think tank, the Institute for Science and International Security (ISIS) argues that Iran’s illegal nuclear weapons program was “more advanced than Western intelligence agencies and the [...]
AFP Headline Casts Palestinian Assailant as Victim
November 21, 2018
Agence France Presse yesterday published a throwback headline, bringing us back to the period almost two years ago in which media outlets serially produced headlines which depicted Palestinian attackers as the victims. The wire agency's [...]
More Hypocrisy and Anti-Semitism From Linda Sarsour
November 19, 2018
In an earlier CAMERA exposé, we pointed out the self-serving allegiances and disgraceful hypocrisy of Linda Sarsour (of Women's March fame). We demonstrated how she poses as a universal activist who embraces all marginalized people [...]
Small Steps: Improved NY Times Language on Target of Hamas Rockets
November 15, 2018
Earlier this week, we pointed out how a New York Times article about fighting between Israel and Hamas neglected to inform readers that Palestinian rockets were fired indiscriminately toward civilians in Israeli towns and cities. [...]