The right to a fair trial is a well-knownright in a state governed by the rule of law. Thisarticle delves into the subject of problematic interpretationsand addresses the right to a competentinterpreter as part of the right to a fair trial. It derivesfrom a socio-legal research project in Swedennamed “Negotiations in court and equality beforethe law: an ethnographic approach to negotiations ofculture, gender and age during trials related to streetcrime.” Our conclusion is that entering a Swedishdistrict court today, as a non-Swedish speaker, thereis an obvious risk that you will not be able to narrateyour version of whatever brought you to courtin the first place, nor can you be sure that courtrepresentative narratives are mediated to you in asatisfactory version.