Interpreters like Isaac are
constantly honing their skills,
attending specialized seminars
on such things as homicide,
ethics, sobriety testing, family
law and small-claims court.
The difficulties in conveying
nuances of language can be a
challenge, she said. “For
example, if I tell you ‘She was
dressed to kill,’ that could
mean several different
things,” Isaac said. “Does it
mean the person is ready to go out and kill someone, or that she
looked really good? It all depends on the frame of reference.”And
the interpreters, who are from a mix of Spanish-speaking countries,
also must struggle with idioms that might be peculiar to one coun-
try and mean something completely different in another.
Training
Interpreting for the court is complex. Interpreters must orally
convey the meaning from and into English and the applicable non-
English language by interpreting in the simultaneous, consecutive,
and sight translation modes. This requires special training. (By the
way, essentially, in the legal context the term translation refers to
written-to-written, while interpretation is oral-to-oral.)
Most training courses take about a year to complete, and can
require a bit of a financial investment but programs vary. In rare
cases very fluent candidates may be able to take extension courses
and do a lot of self-study, while others may attend one of the colleges
offering a four year bachelor degree program. Other types of schools
and a few community colleges also offer special programs and cours-
es in court interpreting. Proper interpretation is complex, so formal
training through professional courses is the easiest and best way.
Regardless of the path, most courts require that the interpreter
candidate pass some form of a credentialing examination.
Competence may need to be validated through an official examina-
tion administered by a court, a professional association, or another
entity. States differ in their testing and registration requirements and
tests for certification in some languages are available only in limited
geographical areas. Most examinations contain written and oral
components. Some contain an
ethics component and some
state court interpreter certifica-
tion tests include a translation
(written to written) compo-
nent.
Certification means an
interpreter or translator has
been tested by a clearly
defined method and has
demonstrated a minimum
threshold of competence. That
threshold may be established
by a professional association,
a governmental organization,
or a court system, and the
standard or criteria may be
different for each. Most courts
S A L U D O S 23 H I S P A N O S
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