KINGMAN – Use of a special interpreter has not resolved the language barrier that has posed problems for police, attorneys, psychiatrists and others involved in the criminal case against the man accused of using hot cooking oil and a knife to assault co-workers at a Kingman restaurant last spring.
Mohave County Superior Court Judge Rick Lambert expressed frustration that literally nothing was accomplished during an hour long, Jan. 21 status hearing for Kien Yun Wong, 70. The defendant was unable to understand a special translator who, like Wong, speaks Fukienese, a rare dialect from his hometown of Fuzhou in China.
“Mr. Wong, why can I understand the interpreter when he speaks English and you can’t understand when he’s speaking Fukienese,” Lambert asked early in the hearing, when challenged communication was glaringly evident and the communication devolved into something reminiscent of the Abbott and Costello Who’s on First routine.
“I’m starting to think that you’re playing games with us. When we get the interpreter that speaks the specific dialect you want and then all of a sudden you don’t speak south Fukienese, you speak Mandarin. If we get a Mandarin interpreter, you don’t understand Mandarin, you speak Fukienese,” Judge Lambert said.
Fukienese translator Huafang Xu informed the Court that Wong speaks Mandarin for terms and phrases that cannot be expressed in his more limited village dialect.
“He does sometimes speak the Fukienese dialect. He switches back and forth, back and forth,” Xu told Judge Lambert.
Defense attorney Paul Amman assured Judge Lambert that his client was genuinely confused and frustrated and was not playing cat and mouse with the Court.
“I don’t believe for a second that Mr. Wong is playing any games,” Amman said. “He truly wants to understand what’s going on.”
Poor acoustics in the historic courtroom and audio issues with the interpreter appearing by telephone exacerbated the communication conundrum. Judge Lambert urged attorneys to continue exploring ways to overcome the language barrier, expressing that the county might have to assume costly travel expense to have the interpreter present to interact with Amman and mental health professionals and for court proceedings.
“It might be highly expensive, but in the interest of justice, we don’t have a choice,” Lambert said. “It’s very perplexing and very complicated to try to solve these issues, but we must keep trying.”
Wong is charged with two counts of attempted first degree murder and four counts of aggravated assault for the April 13, 2020 violence at the Sakura Sushi & Grill, on Stockton Hill Road.
Dave Hawkins
