The Court Interpreter

Orsolya had interpreted in the civil courts for eleven years, and the first rule of the work was also the hardest: be a pane of glass. Nobody should notice the person standing between the witness and the bench. If she did her job properly, the judge would hear the witness's voice and see only a faint reflection of her in the window.

Orsolya sudah sebelas tahun menjadi juru bahasa di pengadilan perdata, dan aturan pertama dalam pekerjaan itu sekaligus yang paling sulit: jadilah kaca bening. Tak seorang pun boleh menyadari keberadaan orang yang berdiri di antara saksi dan majelis hakim. Kalau ia bekerja dengan benar, hakim hanya akan mendengar suara si saksi dan melihat bayangan samar dirinya di jendela.

The case that morning concerned a rented workshop and some money that had changed hands three years earlier. The witness, a retired carpenter in a jacket too warm for the season, answered every question slowly, as if each word had to be sanded before he let it go. Orsolya rendered his sentences half a beat behind him, in the first person, the way she had been trained. By eleven o'clock her notes covered four pages and her mouth had gone dry.

Perkara pagi itu menyangkut sebuah bengkel sewaan dan sejumlah uang yang berpindah tangan tiga tahun sebelumnya. Saksinya seorang tukang kayu pensiunan dengan jaket yang terlalu hangat untuk musim ini. Ia menjawab setiap pertanyaan dengan pelan, seakan-akan tiap kata harus diamplas dulu sebelum dilepaskan. Orsolya menerjemahkan kalimat-kalimatnya setengah ketukan di belakangnya, dalam sudut pandang orang pertama, seperti yang diajarkan kepadanya. Menjelang pukul sebelas, catatannya sudah memenuhi empat halaman dan mulutnya terasa kering.

It was in the corridor during the break, refilling a paper cup at the water cooler, that the word came back to her. Describing the money he had given the landlord, the witness had used a term that means a sum paid in advance and expected to be returned. She had said "loan." Her mind, hurrying to keep pace, had reached for the commoner word and let the exact one slide past. A deposit and a loan are not the same thing, and the whole case turned on which of them had been handed over.

Di koridor saat jeda, ketika ia sedang mengisi ulang gelas kertas di dispenser air, kata itu tiba-tiba teringat lagi. Saat menggambarkan uang yang ia berikan kepada pemilik bangunan, si saksi memakai istilah yang berarti sejumlah uang yang dibayar di muka dan diharapkan akan dikembalikan. Orsolya tadi mengatakan "pinjaman". Pikirannya, yang terburu-buru mengejar kecepatan, menyambar kata yang lebih umum dan membiarkan kata yang tepat lewat begitu saja. Uang jaminan dan pinjaman bukan hal yang sama, dan seluruh perkara ini bergantung pada mana di antara keduanya yang telah diserahkan.

Standing there with the cup overflowing in her hand, she went through her options with the cold clarity her training had given her. Nobody had noticed. The other side's lawyer was working from her words and would soon build an argument on them, and the witness, who understood only a little of the court's language, had not so much as blinked. Had she said nothing, the error would have stayed in the record for good, and records, in her experience, had a way of hardening.

Berdiri di sana dengan gelas yang meluap di tangannya, ia menimbang pilihan-pilihannya dengan kejernihan dingin yang dibentuk oleh pelatihannya. Tak seorang pun menyadarinya. Pengacara pihak lawan bekerja berdasarkan kata-katanya dan sebentar lagi akan menyusun argumen di atasnya, sementara si saksi, yang hanya sedikit mengerti bahasa pengadilan, sama sekali tidak berkedip. Kalau ia diam saja, kesalahan itu akan tertinggal selamanya dalam berkas, dan menurut pengalamannya, berkas punya kecenderungan untuk mengeras.

What troubled her was not the mistake itself; every interpreter made them. It was the prospect of speaking up, of becoming a person in a room that had finally agreed she was not one. Every head would turn to look at the crack in the glass, and a case already running behind would stall while the lawyers argued about what to do with her confession. If she had been a more careless interpreter, she might have slept easily on it. As it was, she knew exactly what her silence would be worth, and exactly who would pay for it.

Yang mengusiknya bukan kesalahan itu sendiri; setiap juru bahasa pernah membuatnya. Yang menghantuinya adalah membayangkan dirinya angkat bicara, menjadi seseorang di sebuah ruangan yang akhirnya sepakat bahwa ia bukan siapa-siapa. Semua kepala akan menoleh untuk menatap retakan pada kaca itu, dan perkara yang sudah tertunda akan macet sementara para pengacara berdebat tentang apa yang harus dilakukan dengan pengakuannya. Seandainya ia juru bahasa yang lebih ceroboh, mungkin ia bisa tidur nyenyak malam ini. Namun ia tahu persis berapa harga diamnya, dan siapa yang akan membayarnya.

When the court resumed, she waited for a pause between questions. Not until her own pulse had settled did she speak, and even then her voice came out thinner than she would have liked.

Ketika sidang dilanjutkan, ia menunggu jeda di antara dua pertanyaan. Baru setelah denyut nadinya tenang ia berbicara, dan suaranya tetap terdengar lebih tipis daripada yang ia inginkan.

"Your Honour, the interpreter requests leave to correct the record. This morning I rendered the witness's word for the money as 'loan.' It means 'deposit,' a payment made in advance and meant to be returned. I apologise for the error."

"Yang Mulia, juru bahasa memohon izin untuk mengoreksi catatan. Pagi tadi saya menerjemahkan kata yang dipakai saksi untuk uang itu sebagai 'pinjaman'. Maksudnya adalah 'uang jaminan', yaitu pembayaran di muka yang dimaksudkan untuk dikembalikan. Saya mohon maaf atas kesalahan ini."

For a moment nobody moved. The other side's lawyer let out a long breath through his nose. The judge's pen stopped, then started again.

Sesaat tak ada yang bergerak. Pengacara pihak lawan menghela napas panjang lewat hidung. Pena hakim berhenti, lalu bergerak lagi.

"Thank you," the judge said. "We will adjourn for twenty minutes while the recording is checked, and counsel may use the time to reconsider their positions."

"Terima kasih," kata hakim. "Sidang kita skors selama dua puluh menit sementara rekamannya diperiksa, dan para penasihat hukum boleh memakai waktu itu untuk mempertimbangkan kembali posisi mereka."

Somewhere behind Orsolya, a clerk groaned softly.

Di suatu tempat di belakang Orsolya, seorang panitera mengeluh pelan.

In the corridor, the witness was waiting by the water cooler, holding a paper cup he had not filled. He spoke in their own language, quietly, so that only she could hear.

Di koridor, si saksi menunggu di dekat dispenser air, memegang gelas kertas yang belum ia isi. Ia berbicara dalam bahasa mereka sendiri, dengan suara rendah, sehingga hanya Orsolya yang bisa mendengarnya.

"I heard it the first time," he said. "I wanted to see whether you would."

"Saya mendengarnya sejak pertama kali," katanya. "Saya ingin melihat apakah Anda juga mendengarnya."

Then he opened the courtroom door and held it, waiting for her to go first.

Lalu ia membuka pintu ruang sidang dan menahannya, menunggu Orsolya masuk lebih dulu.