How do you format your transcript when there is an interpreter involved???

[Janiece Young]

I have not done a transcript with an interpreter in a long time.  I know people have discussed this on here but can't remember what people said.  I have the situation where there is an interpreter.  The witness understands some English so he is answering in English sometimes.  How do you format this?

Example 1

Q  Were you hit by a car?

A  Yes.

A (The Interpreter)  Yes.

or

Example 2

Q Were you hit by a car?

A  Yes.

    THE INTERPRETER:  Yes.

I'm kind of leaning towards Example 2.

Thanks,

Janiece

[Jannette]

Oh, I just noticed Rosalie doesn't have a second A symbol.  I do add two answer symbols when the witness answers in English and then thru the interpreter.  That would be the only difference between how she does it and how I do it.

[Debbie Taggart]

AOEUFRPBLGTS - A.  (In English):

EUFRPBLGTS - A.  (Through the Interpreter):

[Janiece Young]

I chose to go with Rosalie's suggestion.  I went with hers b/c it is all the same answer so it made sense to me to just paragraph the answer and insert the parenthetical indicating that the interpreter was speaking this part of the answer.

If I had two answer symbols when I do my spell check, it's going to indicate that that is an error.  Anyway, it seemed understandable to me what was going on.

I thought all your ideas were good.  Thank you for sharing how you handle this issue.

Janiece

[Keith Rowan II]

GL-RB = (In English)

[Peggy Feyche]

When an interpreter is present do you swear in both the witness AND the interpreter?  I'm thinking the answer is yes, but just want to be sure what to do.  I have a depo coming up soon with an interpreter and want to act like I know what I'm doing.  :)  I've only done one other and it was never ordered, plus it was a long time ago. 

Was really glad I saw this discussion on here to get all the great suggestions!

[Rosalie DeLeonardis]

Yes, you swear the interpreter in first, then the witness.  If you would like a format that I've been using, you can e-mail me at [e-mail] and I will forward.