»... dass er treu und gewissenhaft übertragen werde.«

Defendants who do not have a good command of the German language are dependent on the help of an interpreter. Criminal law scholars and criminal law practitioners act on the assumption that it is only a literal translation which will ensure correct interpreting and that only through this will the court's interest in criminal prosecution as well as the accused's interest in his/her defence be protected. Translators take a completely different stance. They point out that literal translations as a criterion for successful interpreting are completely useless. Christian Kranjcic uses these findings to answer the question of how interpreting should be done in criminal proceedings. The key question is whether the interpreter is acting on behalf of the court, the witness or the accused and whose interests he is considering when doing the interpreting.