Court proceedings in Singapore are conducted in English. That is true of the Family Justice Courts as much as anywhere else, even though Singapore has four official languages, namely English, Malay, Mandarin and Tamil, and Malay is the national language. What this means in practice is not that you must speak English to get a divorce. It means that the proceedings run in English, and that if you are not comfortable in English, interpretation is arranged so that you can follow what is happening and give your own account properly.
This matters more than it sounds. A great many people in Singapore family proceedings are more fluent in Mandarin, a Chinese dialect, Malay, Tamil, Bengali, Burmese, Tagalog or another language than in English. Getting the language arrangements right is not a courtesy; it is the difference between participating in your own case and sitting through it. Where the language question fits into the overall sequence of hearings is set out in the step-by-step divorce process.
Asking for an interpreter, and when to ask
Interpretation is arranged in advance, not conjured up on the morning. Interpreters have to be booked, and the less common the language or dialect, the more notice is needed.
- If you have a lawyer, tell them at your very first meeting which language you want to use, and be specific: “Mandarin” and “Hokkien” are not interchangeable, and neither are “Malay” and “Javanese”.
- If you are self-represented, raise it with the Registry of the Family Justice Courts as soon as your matter is filed, and confirm again ahead of each attendance.
- Say which attendance it is for. A request for a hearing does not automatically cover mediation, counselling or a separate application.
- Do not overstate your English out of pride. Managing socially in English is different from following a discussion about direct and indirect contributions to matrimonial assets.
The Family Justice Courts publish current guidance on how to make the request and what languages are routinely covered, and that is the authority to rely on. The guide to how the Family Justice Courts work explains where the Registry sits in the structure.
Less common languages and dialects
Interpretation is not confined to the four official languages. Where a party or witness speaks another language, including Chinese dialects such as Hokkien, Teochew or Cantonese, or a language from elsewhere in the region, arrangements can be made, but the lead time is longer. This comes up often in cases involving foreign spouses and migrant workers, which are dealt with in the guides to divorce for expatriates in Singapore and divorce for work permit holders.
Why a family member should not interpret for you
It is a natural instinct to bring the child or sibling whose English is best. Courts generally do not allow it, for reasons that are worth understanding rather than resenting.
- They are not neutral. Anyone close enough to interpret for you is close enough to have a view on the outcome.
- They edit. Not dishonestly, but instinctively. Family members soften harsh evidence, tidy up rambling answers, and answer questions themselves instead of translating them.
- They may be a witness. Someone who may have to give evidence about the marriage cannot also be the conduit for everyone else’s.
- It is unfair to them, particularly where the interpreter would be an adult child being made to render, in two languages, the worst allegations each parent makes about the other.
- It creates a ground for challenge. If the evidence is later disputed, the reliability of an interested interpreter is an easy target.
An official interpreter is impartial, interprets everything including the parts nobody wants said, and is answerable to the court. That is precisely the point.
Documents in another language
Documents put before the court generally need to be in English. A marriage certificate from another country, a foreign bank statement, WhatsApp messages in Mandarin, a foreign court order, a medical report in Bahasa: each needs a proper translation before the court can rely on it.
A proper translation means a certified one: the translator identifies themselves and their qualification, and certifies that the translation is a true and accurate rendering of the original. Both the original and the translation are normally exhibited together, so the other side can check. A rough translation done by a friend, or run through free software, will usually not be accepted, and offering one tends to invite an argument about what the document really says.
Who pays. The party who wants to rely on the document normally bears the cost of translating it. Costs can ultimately be dealt with as part of the court’s decision on costs, but you should budget on the basis that you are paying for your own translations up front. Two practical consequences follow: translate selectively rather than dumping everything, and translate early, because a last-minute translation is both expensive and a common cause of adjournment.
Affidavits when you do not read English
This is where the language question does the most damage when handled carelessly. An affidavit is your sworn evidence. In a divorce you will file several, including the affidavit of assets and means, which sets out your finances in detail and is the document the court leans on most heavily when dividing assets.
Where the person swearing an affidavit does not read English, the contents must be read over and explained to them in a language they do understand before they swear or affirm it, and the fact that this was done, by whom and in what language, must be recorded on the document itself. That record exists for your protection, and its absence is a real problem later.
Three rules follow, and they are not negotiable:
- Never sign an affidavit that has not been explained to you, no matter who is waiting or how routine you are told it is.
- Correct it before you sign, not after. Once sworn, the document is your evidence, and changing it later requires explaining why the first version was wrong.
- Ask for the explanation to cover the figures, not just the narrative. Most disputes about an affidavit of assets and means are about numbers.
Deaf and hard-of-hearing parties
Accommodations are also made for parties and witnesses who are deaf or hard of hearing, including sign language interpretation and other assistance depending on what is needed. As with spoken-language interpretation, this is arranged through the court in advance and needs as much notice as you can give. Explain what you need in practical terms, what you can and cannot follow, and what has worked for you elsewhere, rather than leaving it to be inferred from a diagnosis.
Working through an interpreter
Even with a good interpreter, a hearing goes badly if you do not adjust how you speak. A few habits make an enormous difference.
- Speak in short sentences. One idea at a time. Long paragraphs get compressed.
- Pause. Say a sentence, stop, let it be interpreted, then continue. Do not talk over the interpretation.
- Address the judge, not the interpreter. Say “I paid the household expenses”, not “tell him I paid”.
- Do not have a side conversation with the interpreter. Everything said must go on the record.
- Speak up if something is wrong. If you believe the interpretation missed or changed something, say so at the time. It is entirely proper to do this.
- Avoid idioms and proverbs. They rarely survive translation and eat time.
- Ask for repetition if a question was long or compound. “Could you please repeat that” is a normal thing to say in court.
Slow, plain and complete beats fluent and rushed. Nobody in the room thinks less of a person for taking their time.
Cost, and help if you cannot afford it
Interpretation arranged by the court and certified translation of documents are handled differently, and you should ask your lawyer or the Registry what applies to your matter rather than assuming that everything is free or that everything is chargeable. What is predictable is that the document translation side is where the cost sits, and that it grows with the volume you put in.
If money is the obstacle, look at assistance before the ancillary matters stage rather than after. The Legal Aid Bureau under the Ministry of Law assists people who meet its means and merits criteria, and community legal clinics run free basic advice sessions, several of which are conducted by volunteers who speak languages other than English. The options and how to approach them are set out in the guide to free and low-cost legal help in Singapore. Language should not be the reason a person gets a worse outcome than their case deserves, and the system contains the tools to prevent that, but only if you ask for them early.
