Acknowledgements

This book would not have come into existence without the support and contribution of many people. First and foremost, I am indebted to the Honourable Madam Justice Queeny Au-yeung, who, in her capacity as the High Court Registrar of Hong Kong, kindly granted permission for me to access the audio recordings of nine criminal trials from three levels of courts in Hong Kong in 2008. Without her visionary support, this authentic data-driven study would not have been possible.

The transcription of the bulk of the audio data, totalling over 100 hours of recording time, was supported by three grants of The University of Hong Kong – the Leung Kau Kui Research and Teaching Endowment Fund (2009), and the Teaching Development Grants (2014 and 2016), to which I owe my immense gratitude.

My thanks also go to my two doctoral thesis supervisors at Aston University in the United Kingdom, Professor Malcolm Coulthard and Dr Krzysztof Kredens, for their insightful advice, enlightenment and guidance during the whole process of my research project, which forms the basis of this book.

I would also like to thank the two anonymous reviewers for their meticulous efforts in reviewing my manuscript and for their judicious and perceptive comments and suggestions, most of which I have adopted in my revision. Their inputs are invaluable and have made this book much more readable.

My special thanks go to Professor Holly Mikkelson of the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, for writing a fabulous foreword for this book. A foreword by a renowned scholar in courtroom interpreting like Professor Holly Mikkelson is an invaluable addition to the book and is certainly the icing on the cake.

My thanks are also due to Dr David Atkinson of Auckland University of Technology in New Zealand, for the hard work of proofreading the manuscript. Any errors that remain are my sole responsibility.

The painstaking transcription work of the audio recordings was undertaken by my many Research Assistants over the past few years, to whom I am thankful. All the transcripts have been checked against the recordings by myself. The responsibility for any errors contained herein is mine and mine alone.

My current Research Assistant, Miss Haidée Ng, also deserves my special thanks for her help with the reference citations and the bibliography of this book.

I am also grateful to the editorial staff at John Benjamins, who have been efficient, patient and supportive throughout.

Last but not least, I must thank my family for their unwavering support for my academic pursuit over the years.