Resumen de Assessing litigant’s language proficiency: the case of the Bafoussam Court of First Instance
Endurence Midinette Koumassol Dissake
Judicial discourse can grant or deprive liberty to litigants. It is, therefore, important to ensure fair hearing during trials and even more as courtrooms have become multilingual settings. In the Court of First Instance of Bafoussam, French (one of the official languages of Cameroon) often come into contact with more than 250 national languages. Generally, lay-litigants (accused, plaintiff and witness) language proficiency in French is poor because they have national languages as their first language. The law entitles judges to determine whether or not a witness needs the assistance of an interpreter. In Bafoussam, judges determine litigant’s language proficiency through Language Self-Assessment, a method mainly used in the educational milieu to enable learners to assess their language skills. Through the non-participant's observation method, I recorded three court cases in the Court of First Instance of Bafoussam. The data reveals that judge’s usage of the self-assessment method does not follow any standard, and this uncommon use harms court hearings.
