Shortage of Jamaican Patois Interpreters in Brampton

[Time]

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/04/30...f-interpreters

If affecting the ability of the courts to deliver justice.

Qualifications
1) Ability to understand and speak Jamaican patois dialects including the latest dance hall extensions.

2) Ability to understand and speak English

Hmm, Canadian born Jamaicans don't understand the real Jamaican patois dialects. Canada needs to recruit directly from Jamaica.

[Gamma]

la dah dee la dah dah

[MdmeX]

Well is not everybody who talk patwa can interpret it!!

[Bricktop]

exactly...and it evolves...if you not into dancehall culture you miss out on a whole different part of patois...also some places in Jamaica refer to females as "him" and males as "her"...it is not cut and dry...

[Time]

This link give more details.
http://news.nationalpost.com/2014/04...0501-mistrial/

The interpreter was more inclined to translate word for word but did not carry over the meaning of the sentences.

One of the most glaring examples was a misuse of the Patois term “dash wey,” a Jamaicanized version of the English term “dash away.” In testimony, a defendant had used the term to refer to a lethal threat made against his family; a gangster had threatened to “dash wey” (kill) his father. Instead, the jury was told that the gangster had threatened to “throw away” the defendant’s father.

[Hortical]

???

[Stonigut]

Come on now Time that is not a failure to interpret, that is plain not enough attention is being given to the interpretation and the person is probably just half azzing it.

[Rockman]

The root problem is patwah isn't formalized.

[Gamma]

ah...

[Bricktop]

hard to standardize something that is constantly evolving and a phrase can have several meanings...

[Mosiah]

exactly...and it evolves...if you not into dancehall culture you miss out on a whole different part of patois...also some places in Jamaica refer to females as "him" and males as "her"...it is not cut and dry...

Yuh too **** lie! There is no place in Jamaica where males are referred to as "her"! Unless there exists some gay community somewhere where they might have reasons so to do!

Even so, what changes or "evolves" as you put it, is slang. Every language has that, but they are still recognized as legitimate languages.

And yes, every language evolves, in the real sense of the word!

[Mosiah]

The internet is a wonderful invention. Study up a little bit on what makes a language a language, how slang differs from a language and whether accepted languages such as English "evolve".

[Bricktop]

how many new english words are created each day vs patois words? yuh can use the internet to answer

[Time]

The problem is that this was a accredited interpreter who was who tested using well know Jamaican phrases not the latest street slang. How do you accredit someone in the latest street slang?

Yes, she was not paying attention to the context. If she had translated 'dash wey mi fada' as 'get rid of my father' instead of 'throw away' my father' then would that have closer to 'kill my father' and the jury would probably figure out that it was a death threat.

[Mosiah]

I am not the ignorant one here!