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Common Sense Advisory Blogs
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Translators Help Police Solve Mumbai Diamond Heist
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Language services help the world go 'round. We've written before about how interpreters and translators help thwart public health outbreaks, end bomb scares, communicate with populations affected by oil spills and earthquakes, enable fans to enjoy the World Cup, and assist diplomats with international relations snafus. We thought we'd seen it all, until some bright and shiny objects -- stolen diamonds -- caught our attention.
No, these aren't the alleged blood diamonds that recently "inconvenienced" Naomi Campbell, but rather, the 887.24 carat gems that were stolen from a recent jewelry show in India. What's language got to do with it?
Quite a lot. Apparently, four of the individuals who have been detained in connection with the heist speak Spanish. Since Spanish<>Marathi interpreters cannot exactly be found on every street corner in Mumbai, investigators are using a process known as relay interpretation, in which one person interprets from Spanish into English, and then another interpreter renders the information from English into Marathi.
While this addresses the language barrier for purposes of taking the statements from the alleged diamond thieves, more language services will inevitably be needed as the case proceeds forward and justice is sought for all, including the rightful owners of the diamonds, Israeli firm Dalumi Group. Will the language pairs evolve to include Hebrew<>Marathi?
While diamond heists are often the themes of Bollywood and Hollywood films, the very real and growing demand for less common language combinations only stands to increase as globalization continues. In today's world, all people -- including criminals -- are more connected than ever before, making language services an essential component of battling international crime.
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Keywords: Interpreting, On-site interpreting, Translation |
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