Are you confident interpreting for police?

Hello,

Just feels like getting this off my chest. XD

Today, when I was driving to work, a police officer stopped me and asked if I speak any Japanese. I assume he did that because he saw through the windshield that I am Asian. There were police cars and firetrucks blocking a lane next to a gas station. I assume something must have happened and someone needed help with their language barrier. Unfortunately, I was on my way to work, and even after years of studying (but lack practice), my Japanese level is at best between N4 and N3. I was in no position to help anybody. I simply said no, and he let me drive away.

Damn. I still feel embarrassed because helping those with language barrier was one of many reasons I studied foreign languages. And yet, with a perfect opportunity, I couldn't do anything. But I was also afraid to just waste everyone's time and get in their way as well. Man... XP

Anyone here confident in their Japanese skills enough that you would have said yes to help in this situation? I am guessing you better be around N2 level to be of any help, right?

「Anyone here confident in their Japanese skills enough that you would have said yes to help in this situation? I am guessing you better be around N2 level to be of any help, right?」

That'd entirely depend on what the specific situation was. If someone is asking me out of the blue "Do you speak Japanese?" I'd assume the person who's asking me doesn't speak any Japanese at all, so the help they need might be something really basic. "Tell this person to please wait here. We want a doctor to examine his injuries" or "Tell this person they can't go into the building because the police are searching it for a criminal" is pretty basic stuff that you don't need to N2-level language skills to convey.

On the other hand, if there was some specific aspect of criminal law that needed to be explained, that'd be something I wouldn't want to be responsible doing interpretation for off the top of my head.

I'm a native speaker so yes, I'm confident enough to have said yes ;) That said, I don't think you should undersell yourself on how useful you can be. Particularly in an emergency situation, even really basic information ("are you ok?" "is there anybody left inside?" etc) can be very helpful. Even rudimentary command of the language is better than nothing, and if something is over your head you can always say "I can't communicate that," and the situation is no worse than before.

I've never interpreted for police, but did for immigrations once. I was in the US line entering Detroit Metro on a flight from Tokyo and they asked if anyone spoke Japanese and could translate. Kinda blows my mind they didn't have an official translator on hand but they must have not been available for some reason. I wouldn't expect you to volunteer in that situation ;)