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
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