In today’s Nürnberger Nachrichten, in the Stadt Nürnberg section (also to be found in the Fürther Nachrichten, of course), there is an interview (in German) with Francisco Ludovice-Moreira, the President of the Bavarian section of the Bundesverband der Dolmetscher und Übersetzer/BDÜ, the professional association for translators and interpreters in Germany (there are others, such as ADÜ-Nord and ATICOM, and VdÜ (the last one is for literary translators). Like many German newspaper interviews, it is printed like the script of a play, with the names of the speakers and their texts. I have no idea whether such an interview is unaltered.

The main topic is interpreting for the police and courts. The police are said to be happy, often, to use a student for 15 euros per hour, and they have no interest as to whether a translator is sworn or not. There is also reference to the fact that translator and interpreter certification is a matter of Land law and should be standardized throughout Germany, and some discussion of the variation of payment for translations from court to court. The current statute, the ZSEG or ZuSEG, is soon to be replaced by the JVEG, and that may lay down a fixed line price and hourly rate.