Trailld: Training in Languages of Lesser Diffusion

The number of foreign language speakers involved in criminal procedures has quadrupled over the last thirty years. In many of these cases, the person's native language is an LLD (Language of Lesser Diffusion): a language that has relatively few speakers in one specific location or geographical area, in relation to the population as a whole. These people have the right to be addressed in their own language. The need for legal interpreters and translators of LLDs is therefore great, and still rising. Given the particular characteristics of these types of languages, specific methodologies and programmes are required for LLD interpreter training. Existing strategies in organising training were analysed by the TraiLLD consortium in order to test their efficiency, to improve them, and to develop alternative approaches. The result is an evidence-based set of practical recommendations, brought together in one volume.

Katalin Balogh is the coordinator of the Legal Interpreting and Translation training programme at KU Leuven. She is involved in several European projects on legal interpreting and translation. Heidi Salaets is the head of the Interpreting Studies Research Group of KU Leuven. She too is an important figure in a number of European projects on legal interpretation and translation. Dominique Van Schoor is a member of the Interpreting Studies Research Group of KU Leuven. Her research focuses mainly on legal interpreting.