CYPRUS

Country:                                            

Official or co-official languages

Greek and Turkish

Unofficial but enjoying high status: English

Brief description of linguistic diversity

Due to the ongoing division of the island after the Turkish invasion in 1974, the Greek-speaking and the Turkish-speaking communities live separately. Armenian is spoken by a very small community living in the country. Thus bilingualism is practically inactive, but demand for Turkish interpreting in court hearings still exists.  Due to its geographical and financial position, Cyprus has many, smaller or larger, immigrant communities of various languages (a. o. Tagalog, Arabic, Swahili, Urdu, Russian, Romanian, Bulgarian, and, recently, Chinese)

Foundations:

Current legislative mandates for LIT and certification

No certification exists.

Responsible parties:

Current accrediting bodies

No certification exists.

Does register exist?

The situation in Cyprus is highly unsystematic. Each Court Registrar sets up a semi-official list of people, which is recognized by the judges. For lesser-spoken languages (e.g. Urdu, Chinese), this list includes people who know English well and interpret from English into their mother tongues and vice versa. Interpreting between English and Greek is then done by another interpreter from the same list. Who is included on the list is left to the Registrar’s discretion. Usually, the Registrar him/herself decides on the quality of interpreting (based on the performance into English) as the criterion of inclusion. Educational level or relevant degrees play a less important role. Extremely few people in this list are trained interpreters (usually conference interpreters). Lawyers may themselves hire interpreters for specific cases (i.e. people who are not on the list), but acceptance of such interpreters is subject to the judge’s discretion. The Registrar him/herself manages the list and calls in interpreters according to the needs.

Who develops certification exams?

Who/How many rate performances?

Collaboration

No

Test Format:

T & I in one exam?

Screening exam? Describe.

Test type/format

Domains tested

Scoring

Transparency:

Website? Dissemination of info about certification

Requirements to sit exam

Sample questions or practice exam available?

Additional qualifications for certification (experience, training, educational level, nationality)

Cost to candidate/#of locations/ frequency

Feedback on exam performance

Maximum nº of sittings

Post-certification:

Revocation of certification possible?

If so, for what reasons?

Performance monitored? If so, how?