Translating Culture: Mediating Customary Law Related Language

This paper aims to outline the role of translators and interpreters as cultural mediators for international police forces during peacekeeping and peacebuilding missions in Kosovo. They were an essential source of cultural information concerning informal legal practices, folk culture, speaking style and etiquette with the parties in the procedure. These idiosyncrasies require deep understanding and are a prerequisite for producing meaningful translation. The culture in mediation is represented in a particular way of speaking known as allegorical conversation (biseda me rrotulla). It relies on ambiguous language, on allusions, ellipsis, references to customary law resolutions, folk stories, specific and anonymous people, and traditional procedures to resolve disputes.

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