High Court says interpretation and translation are not the same thing when it comes to paying fees associated with federal civil lawsuits.

The Supreme Court ruled Monday that Kan Pacific Saipan, Ltd. did not deserve to get $5,517.20 in compensation for interpreters for fighting off a lawsuit from a Japanese professional baseball player.

The company argued that translating written documents was the same as "compensation of interpreters," which can be charged to losing parties.

The high court disagreed. This came in a case where Japanese professional baseball player Kouichi Taniguchi sued a resort owned by Kan Pacific after falling through a wooden deck while in the Northern Mariana Islands. A federal judge and the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out his lawsuit and awarded costs to Kan Pacific.

"Based on our survey of the relevant dictionaries, we conclude that the ordinary or common meaning of 'interpreter' does not include those who translate writings," Justice Samuel Alito wrote for the majority.

"Instead, we find that an interpreter is normally understood as one who translates orally from one language to another. This sense of the word is far more natural. As the Seventh Circuit put it: 'Robert Fagles made famous translations into English of the 'Iliad,' the 'Odyssey,' and the 'Aeneid,' but no one would refer to him as an English language 'interpreter' of these works."

Justice Alito noted that justices made the decision available in English. "Anybody who wants to read it in another language will have to pay to have it translated, not interpreted," he joked.

Alex Dupont

See Also

• More about translation
  A 3-step translation process ensures that your documents are rendered seamlessly and accurately into the languages of your choice, preserving every bit of their original meaning and nuance.
• More about interpretation
  Language Interpreting is the process of translating spoken words from one language into another.
• Friendly Ump: Japanese Ballplayer Wins at Supreme Court
  The legal team of former Japanese professional baseball player Kouichi Taniguchi hit a home run at the U.S. Supreme Court, as a dictionary-wielding Justice Samuel Alito ruled for a 6-3 majority that Mr. Taniguchi?s interpretation of the word ?interpreter? was correct.