Demand for Certified Court Interpreters Increases
With a Special Need for Spanish Language Only 215 of Applicants Pass Federal Certification

The Court Interpreters Act of 1978 recognizes the right of non-English speakers to accurately interpreted court proceedings and governs the use of interpreters in U.S. district courts. This law remedied the situation which had previously enabled a defendant to be present in a courtroom, yet linguistically absent from his or her own legal proceedings.

The law requires the use of certified interpreters in judicial proceedings instituted by the United States. Certification is the principal indicator a person has passed the federal court interpreter examination administered by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts. At the federal level, there are certification examinations for three languages: Haitian Creole, Navajo, and Spanish.

The federal examination consists of a written test and an oral examination. The passing rate for the Spanish/English exam is only 21 percent, and the overall certification rate is eight percent. As a result, while several judicial districts have interpreters on staff, those who do not may use the Administrative Office’s Telephone Interpreting Program (TIP) or hire interpreters on a contract basis.

Demographic changes in the United States have increased the need for qualified, competent, certified court interpreters. Statistics from the Administrative Office of the United States Courts for the years 2000-2005 document an increase in the number of federal court cases requiring interpreters. In 2005, district courts reported that interpreters were required in 227,461 events. Among those most in demand after Spanish are Mandarin, Arabic, Vietnamese, Korean, Cantonese, and Russian.

To become a courtroom interpreter, one must have a high-level proficiency of both languages involved in a trial, as well as knowledge of the cultures and an understanding of legal process and terminology. The interpretation must be impartial, complete, and accurate, reflecting the tone and educational level of the original message. It is the interpreter’s words in the target language, not the original source language, which become the official court record.

The task of interpreting is extremely complex. The interpretation process involves the comprehension and analysis of a spoken or signed message and the rendering of that message in another language, taking into account the cultural and social context.

Court interpretation may be performed by consecutive, simultaneous, and sight translation modes, all of which may be used in a single hearing or trial. In the simultaneous mode, the interpreter conveys the target language message at the same time as the source language speaker. In the consecutive mode, the interpreter waits until the source language speaker pauses, then renders the original meaning in the target language.

Sight translation is the oral rendition into a target language of material written in a source language. This is a hybrid form used when providing defendants with an “oral translation” of written documents such as plea agreements. Tape transcripts, written transcriptions and translations of spoken language, are also hybrid forms.

U.S. Census data and statistics on interpreter use in the U.S. district courts document the growth in foreign language speakers and the need for foreign language court interpreters in the United States. Non-English speakers are appearing in courts across the country with increasing frequency and many courts struggle to cope with a shortage of qualified interpreters.

Approximately 2,000 unique languages have been identified within the borders of the United States. Of the 20 non-English languages most frequently spoken at home, the largest proportional increase was for Russian speakers, who nearly tripled from 242,000 to 706,000. The second largest increase was for French Creole speakers, including Haitian Creoles, whose numbers more than doubled from 188,000 to 453,000.*

The above material was based on a report by Dr. Elena M. de Jongh, a two-time Fulbright Fellow and author of three books and numerous articles on Spanish and Cuban literature and court interpreting. She received the Ph.D. in Spanish language and literature from Tulane University. A federally certified court interpreter since 1985, she has interpreted in thousands of proceedings in the United States district courts. Her book, An Introduction to Court Interpreting: Theory and Practice (University Press of America, 1992) is widely used in workshops and university courses.