Court cases are being adjourned because of a lack of interpreters for the rising number of foreign offenders.
Since the handover, the number of cases involving foreign offenders, mostly illegal immigrants who speak Chinese dialects other than Cantonese, has increased.
Chief Court Interpreter at the District Court Yiu Shun-yuen said more interpreters who spoke the Hunan, Sichuan, Fuzhou, Zhejiang and Xinjiang dialects were needed.
The Judiciary was usually told - by police or the Immigration Department - of offenders' dialects before they were due in court, he said.
'But it is not uncommon for offenders to turn up in court and ask for an interpreter on the spot,' said Mr Yiu.
A case would be adjourned if an interpreter could not be found, usually for about a day.
