SERVING NON-ENGLISH SPEAKERS IN THE VIRGINIA COURT SYSTEM LOCATING COURT INTERPRETERS PAGE 4-1

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1 LOCATING COURT INTERPRETERS PAGE 4-1 CHAPTER 4 - LOCATING COURT INTERPRETERS This chapter provides information on locating court interpreters. The court or magistrate is responsible for locating certified or otherwise qualified interpreters for proceedings. Each court should designate specific individuals to coordinate language access services for all cases that require them. All interpreters appointed should be as highly qualified as possible. Some of the sources discussed below may provide names of interpreters with only marginal skills and no court experience. Recognizing that simply being bilingual is insufficient qualification for court interpreting, court officials should exercise discretion when determining an individual s qualifications to serve as an interpreter. I. SELECTING FOREIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS A. Certified Interpreters The first recommended step in selecting an Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish or Vietnamese language court interpreter is to consult the Certified Foreign Language Interpreter List. The Judicial Council of Virginia encourages the use of court-certified interpreters first, where available. This list is generally updated twice yearly and is available to court staff on the intranet. See the Voluntary Certification Process for Spanish Language Interpreters Serving Virginia Courts chapter for additional information on the foreign language court interpreter certification process. If no certified foreign language interpreter is available, the court may use a noncertified (but qualified) foreign language interpreter. B. Foreign Languages Other Than Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish, And Vietnamese (And Non-Certified Interpreters In Those Languages) For all language interpreter appointments other than those who are certified, court officials must assess the qualifications of candidates before appointing them to interpret. The (OES) has developed resources in other languages, and courts may contact OES staff interpreters or the Foreign Language Services Coordinator at 804/ to gain assistance identifying qualified language resources. The court should maintain a roster of interpreters in various languages whose skills have been meaningfully screened and assessed. Please refer to the Conducting Interpreted Proceedings chapter and the Miscellaneous appendix for information on qualifying interpreters. When a court official is attempting to evaluate the qualifications of a non-certified court interpreter, there are several important criteria to consider that may aid in the selection of a qualified individual: Attendance in the two-day orientation workshop offered by the Office of the Executive Secretary. This course covers basic interpreting protocols and ethics for interpreters in all languages.

2 LOCATING COURT INTERPRETERS PAGE 4-2 Membership in an interpreter organization requiring peer sponsorship and monitoring or testing. This is generally regarded as a higher level of assurance of competence than is service as an interpreter through a private commercial agency. Service as an interpreter for an official organization, either as a conference interpreter or a simultaneous interpreter, is more indicative of competence than service as an escort interpreter, or only academic study of the language. Most importantly, the court should assess the interpreter s ability to communicate in English. If the interpreter and the court have trouble communicating due to the interpreter s inability to speak and/or to understand English adequately, the interpreter is most likely not qualified to serve in court. II. SOURCES FOR LOCATING FOREIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETERS A. For Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese language interpreters, the court system should refer to the Certified Foreign Language Interpreter List provided by the on the intranet. At the present time, court interpreter certification in Virginia is offered in the Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese languages only. All other foreign language interpreters are eligible to be trained in interpreting protocol and ethics by the that maintains a list of these trained individuals. Courts and magistrates may also maintain rosters of individuals whose skills have been assessed by court officials. Courts and magistrate offices within jurisdictions may wish to consider collaborating to promulgate local rosters of qualified court interpreters in other languages. Sources for locating potential court interpreters are suggested below. B. State And Federal Courts The clerk or court administrator in other state courts and in federal courts, particularly in larger jurisdictions, may have names of qualified interpreters for the particular language or dialect needed. C. Telephone Interpreting Services If appropriate, courts and magistrates may wish to consider using the telephone interpreter service. Information on the use of this service is available on the intranet. Please refer to the Telephone Interpreting chapter for more detailed information, including how to arrange for interpreting services via the telephone. It is

3 LOCATING COURT INTERPRETERS PAGE 4-3 recommended that courts and magistrates should only use telephone interpreting services in the following situations: for emergency matters for relatively short proceedings for facilitating at the counter communication between court staff and the public if the court is having difficulty determining what language a person speaks D. Nongovernmental Organizations Some schools, churches, and ethnic community organizations may be able to assist in locating a candidate for interpretation. E. Colleges And Universities Foreign language departments and international student organizations of local colleges and universities are a source of potential interpreter candidates. F. Medical Facilities Hospitals and clinics that use interpreters are a source of potential interpreter candidates. G. Private or Commercial Interpreting Companies For private language schools and commercial interpreting agencies, refer to the yellow pages of the local telephone directory. Courts should not rely on the acquisition of interpreters through private interpreter agencies as presumptive evidence of an interpreter s qualifications for court interpreting. H. Professional Associations Two of the main professional associations are NAJIT and the ATA. They may provide the names of candidates for interpretation that are locally available. National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT) 551 Fifth Avenue, Suite 3025 New York, NY Telephone: 212/ FAX: 212/ American Translators Association (ATA) 225 Reinekers Lane, Suite 590 Alexandria, VA Telephone: 703/ FAX: 703/

4 LOCATING COURT INTERPRETERS PAGE 4-4 I. International Agencies United Nations World Bank International Red Cross International Monetary Fund Inter-American Development Bank Economic Commission for Latin American Pan American Health Organization Inter-American Defense Board Organization of American States J. Colleges And Universities That Offer Courses In Interpretation And Translation This is not a complete listing but provides the names of several programs on the east coasts. Georgetown University University of Charleston (South Carolina) University of Delaware Montclair State College (New Jersey) University of South Carolina III. USE OF A NON-CERTIFIED FOREIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETER WHEN A CERTIFIED INTERPRETER IS AVAILABLE For the Spanish language, the Judicial Council of Virginia encourages the use of certified interpreters first. Where available, courts should utilize the names of individuals on the Certified Foreign Language Interpreter List on a rotating basis, before appointing a noncertified interpreter. Even if the court has regularly used a non-certified interpreter in the past, as the names of certified interpreters are added to Virginia s certified roster, courts should seek to ensure that they are utilizing the services of certified interpreters first, since they have proven their competency. Courts should encourage all non-certified foreign language interpreters to earn court certification, if available. IV. ROTATION OF INTERPRETERS Unless the has awarded a contract to individual interpreters or a group of interpreters based upon a competitive bidding process, the court should offer assignments on a rotating basis among the available interpreters for each language. This practice is especially relevant with regard to the appointment of certified Spanish language court interpreters from Virginia s list. Whether certified or not, no one interpreter or subset of interpreters should be given any kind of preferential treatment in the offering of assignments. Special consideration should be given to the practice of utilizing the same interpreter for every stage of a case, if other qualified interpreters are available. This practice ties the remuneration of an interpreter to the number of service events within a

5 LOCATING COURT INTERPRETERS PAGE 4-5 particular case, and may give the appearance of the interpreter s having a vested interest in the case having more and longer service events. V. INFORMATION FOR PERSONS INQUIRING ABOUT BECOMING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE COURT INTERPRETER When persons inquire directly with local courts about court interpreter certification, the first step is to ascertain for what language. If an individual is seeking information on Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish, or Vietnamese language interpreter certification, refer them to the of the Supreme Court of Virginia at 804/ or for information about participating in the certification process. At the present time, court interpreter certification in Virginia is offered in the Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese languages only; it is generally offered twice a year. For all other foreign languages, Virginia does not offer court certification at the present time. However, these interpreters may attend a two-day orientation class about interpreting ethics and protocols. OES maintains a list of these language resources. The local court must ascertain the qualifications of these individuals before considering them for appointment. As detailed above, the names of interpreters for languages other than Arabic, Korean, Mandarin, Russian, Spanish and Vietnamese that are deemed qualified by a local court should be kept on file by that court.