One day interpreting in a deposition in which a deponent from a Japanese company was to be examined by a US attorney, the US official came into the room to administer the oaths as is the normal practice. We were all introducing ourselves and, when my turn came, I indicated that I was the “check interpreter.” It is customary (and almost always the case) that a Japanese/English interpreted deposition is attended by a lead interpreter and a check interpreter, the lead interpreter doing just what the position indicates, and the check interpreter listening to the interpreting and offering any corrections that they feel necessary.
When it was my turn to be sworn in, the Embassy official, whom I had never had the occasion to meet, reading partially from his cheat sheet and apparently filling in as he thought necessary, turned to me and said:
“Do you solemnly swear that you know the English and the Czech languages, and that you will faithfully interpret the questions in English into the Czech language, and that further you wil…”
It turned out that he was new on the job. It was a bit of comedy relief before a stressful day of interpreting between two people, one who wanted to ask questions and the other who was not necessarily cooperative.