The Superior Court of California, County of Orange is committed to Justice. Providing equal access to Justice is the role of the court interpreter, whose duty it is to act as a medium between the court and anyone who needs language assistance.
The Court is staffed with 86 interpreters at 7 justice centers who together
with over 250 additional contract interpreters serve the court and public
by providing access to justice in over 49 languages.
How to become a court interpreter
Learn more about California’s Court Interpreter Program (CIP) and how to become
an interpreter by visiting: http://www.courtinfo.ca.gov/programs/courtinterpreters/
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's)
*Click on a FAQ to read our answer
A court interpreter is anyone who interprets in a court proceeding (e.g.,
arraignment, motion, pretrial conference, preliminary hearing, deposition,
trial) for a witness or defendant who speaks or understands little or no
English. Court interpreters must accurately interpret for individuals with
a high level of education and an expansive vocabulary, as well as persons
with very limited language skills without changing the language register
of the speaker. Interpreters are also sometimes responsible for translating
written documents, often of a legal nature, from English into the target
language and from the target language into English.
Yes. Court interpreting is a very demanding job that requires complete
fluency in both English and the foreign language. The level of expertise
required for this profession is far greater than that required for everyday
bilingual conversation. The interpreter must be able to handle the widest
range of language terms that might be presented in the courts, everything
from specialized legal and technical terminology to street slang. Most people
do not have full command of all registers of both English and the foreign
language and, therefore, require special training to acquire it. Although
there are no minimum requirements th at must be met in order to apply to
take the state certification test, applicants are encouraged to complete
formal, college-level course work and training in both languages and modes
of interpreting before applying for the examination. At present there are
colleges and universities throughout the State of California that offer
introductory courses and certificate programs in interpretation or translation.
However, most of these are for English/Spanish. We encourage you to contact
the schools and request information about their programs. For the other
languages, the following self-study techniques are suggested: (1) expand
your vocabulary, (2) develop your own glossaries, and (3) develop interpreting
techniques. Suggested skills-enhancing exercises are available to help you
develop three interpreting techniques: (1) consecutive interpretation, (2)
simultaneous interpretation, and (3) sight translation.
Only interpreters who pass the Court Interpreter Certification Examination
and fulfill the corresponding Judicial Council requirements are referred
to as certified interpreters. Currently, there are Court Interpreter Certification
Examinations for 12 designated languages: Arabic, Eastern Armenian, Western
Armenian, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish,
Tagalog, and Vietnamese. Interpreters of spoken languages for which there
is no state certifying examination are required to pass the English Fluency
Examination and fulfill the corresponding Judicial Council requirements
in order to become registered interpreters of a non-designated language.
There is a great demand in Orange County for certified and registered
court interpreters. Many certified and registered court interpreters work
as permanent employees while others work as freelance contract interpreters,
hired by the day or the half day by the courts. A contract interpreter must
be willing to travel from one trial court to another, and often from one
county to another, to be assured of full-time work. Currently, contract
court interpreters are paid $282 a day and $156.56 for half day. The Orange
County Superior court currently pays staff interpreters $5,742 - $6,274
per month, depending on experience and subject to negotiation with organized
labor.
Under California Evidence Code §754(f) a qualified sign language interpreter
is an interpreter who has been certified as competent to interpret court
proceedings by an organization approved by the Judicial Council. The Registry
of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. is currently the only organization authorized
by the Judicial Council to certify court interpreters for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.
http://www.rid.org/
A translator reads and writes documents. Contact the American Translators
Association at 703-683-6100 or visit its Web site at http://atanet.org/
