What do court interpreters do?
In English-speaking countries, they interpret for people who come before the courts who cannot communicate effectively in English. These include defendants and witnesses in criminal courts as well as litigants and witnesses in family and civil courts. Interpreters also work in out-of-court settings such as attorney-client meetings, depositions, witness preparation sessions, and interviews with court support personnel (e.g., probation). The interpreter’s job is to interpret (translate orally) from one language to another everything that is said, preserving the tone and level of the original language, adding and deleting nothing. Interpretation is usually in one of two modes, depending on the circumstances: simultaneous or consecutive. Trained interpreters use the same grammatical person as the speaker for whom they are interpreting.
California court interpreters have an important job in the courtroom: they interpret court proceedings for witnesses and defendants with limited English skills or for parties who are deaf or hard of hearing. The position requires strong memory and communication skills. Court interpreters shift between two different languages, in real time, accounting for different types of speech and grammar. They also know legal terms and commonly used courtroom forms and reports.
They orally translate from from one language into another in court proceedings and related events. Their mission is to remove the language barrier for non- or limited-English speakers who come before the courts so that such persons’ access to justice is the same as that of similarly situated English speakers. As the NAJIT Code of Ethics describes it, “Source language speech should be faithfully rendered [by the interpreter] into the target language by conserving all the elements of the original message while accommodating the syntactic and semantic patterns of the target language…The register, style and tone of the source language should be conserved.” A court interpreter’s job is to convey the proceedings exactly and enable communication to take place regardless of the litigant or witness’s ability in English. Interpreters are neutral parties who are not to overstep their role by acting as social worker or legal adviser.
Court interpreters interpret for people in court who cannot communicate effectively in English. These people include defendants and witnesses in criminal court, as well as litigants and witnesses in family and civil courts. Interpreters also work in out-of-court settings such as attorney-client meetings, depositions, witness preparation sessions, and interviews with court personnel. The interpreter’s duty is to • Ensure that the proceedings in English reflect precisely what was said by a non-English-speaking person, and • Place the non-English-speaking person on an equal footing with those who are proficient in English. Interpreters interpret from one language to another everything that is said, preserving the tone and level of the original language, adding and deleting nothing. A bilingual individual is not necessarily qualified to interpret in court. Court interpreting requires additional knowledge and skills.
