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HomeResourcesJapanese Patent Translation BulletinNo. 3: Taking Depositions by Telephone Japanese Patent Translation Bulletin No. 3 (March 10, 2008) Taking Depositions by Telephone: The Problems Magnify When Interpreting is Required by William Lise Summary:  There are enough problems in providing Japanese/English deposition interpreting without having a bad phone connection and poorly arranged logistics to make things worse. Extremely late on a Tuesday evening I was contacted for an urgent Japanese deposition interpreting assignment involving helping on Thursday (about 32 hours after the inquiry) to prepare a Japanese witness here in Tokyo for his deposition and then flying to Korea on Thursday night to be the checking interpreter on Friday. Everyone was greatly concerned with getting the depositions going, but it was clear that nobody (including perhaps attorneys) had been given enough time to secure the required support services. There was talk of not having a realtime court reporter, and it appeared doubtful as to whether a videographer could be secured for the deposition in Seoul. When we arrived in the deposition room on Friday, it was clear that all the problems had not been solved. Upon entering the room of a Korean law firm being borrowed for the deposition, the examining attorney mentioned that the lead interpreter and the court reporter would be working from the US by telephone. Having myself done an 8-hour telephone deposition several years ago, I knew the difficulties this presents, and was a bit concerned that the going would be rough. My concern was well placed, it turned out. Bad Telephone Connection The court reporter repeated complained of having a bad connection. Speech was broken up, and numerous times the reporter needed to ask people in Seoul to repeat themselves. Lack of a Realtime Feed Since the reporter was in the US, all participants in Seoul were deprived of the benefits of having a realtime display to view. Having this would have made my work as the checking interpreting considerably easier. Exhibits Not Available for the Lead Interpreter In this area, however, the Seoul checking interpreter had an advantage. Attorneys for both parties had all the exhibits with them in Seoul. However, when passages were read off from an exhibit, the lead interpreter in the US did not have the ability to follow along. Also because of the confusing structure and numbering systems used within some of the exhibits, having the documents would have made it easier for the lead interpreter to understand to just what part of an exhibit the examining attorney was referring. Videographer From Japan The videographer from Japan was contacted so late that he made it to Korea very late the evening before the deposition. Not hampered by lack of exhibits or lack of a realtime screen, the videographer did very well. Still, it would have been better to get to the videographer much earlier. Solutions Available But Not Sought Although the lead interpreter did surprisingly well, considering the circumstances, all of these problems could have been avoided. Interpreters, court reporters, and videographers should (and can, given enough lead time) all be in the same room, thereby assuring the smoothest possible interaction with other members of the team. The way to achieve this is to begin efforts to secure these support services early enough that last-minute decisions to use a team spread across the globe are unnecessary. Deposition-experienced interpreters are rare in Japan but are available to do the lead interpreting in Japan or other Asian venues. The same is true for both realtime court reporters and certified videographers. In a pinch, an interpreter can be brought to Japan. Making use of such services in the above-noted case would most likely have avoided the extra stress everyone in the deposition needed to suffer. For most depositions in Japan or other Asian venues, the cost of support services based in Japan is competitive with the option of bringing personnel in from the US, especially when we consider airfare and hotels. Even with the incremental hotel cost in Korea, bringing an interpreter from Japan to Korea would have been an effective solution at a reasonable cost. I was glad to be able to participate in this effort on such short notice, but would hope that US law firms give a bit of thought to approaches for eliminating the need for last-minute panic-driven shopping for deposition support services.

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