When You Suffer from Acyrologia, We Suffer Right Along With You.

 

I recognized this condition right away. I have suffered at the hand of those who suffer from Acyrologia. Yes it happens in other languages too.

When I am on the stand or in a deposition and I am sight translating a document in Spanish out loud in English, I am following the word sequence of whatever is written to be able to process the translation correctly. And when the words in the document stop making sense, I am halted in my flow.  What usually happens then is the quizzical looks and even an objection- directed at me and my interpretation of which I am innocent.

And no matter how funny the words sound, we are not allowed to laugh, as per our regulations. Even if everyone else in the courtroom is laughing.

So this  is not just the result of untrained translators or online translation apps, but people writing without proofreading. So, now attorneys and Judges can put a name to this condition.

So it was a relief to know there is a condition with a root cause and behavioral symptoms of the author of a source document that causes difficulty in my work. Now maybe if they can come up with a cure.

This description starts serious and then gets funny.  See if you can count the malapropisms.  But the truth is, a lot of us legal translators on a regular basis see this in the most sensitive of documents.