What is a Federally certified interpreter?
Federally certified interpreters (interpreters certified by the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts) are those who have successfully passed a rigorous two part examination consisting of a written part and an oral part, testing their linguistic knowledge, ability to provide sight translation of written documents in open court and to render source language, both simultaneously and consecutively, into idiomatic English or target language without altering or adding to, or distorting the original in any manner. With a 96 percent failure rate among test takers, no test is as stringent. Berk-Seligson, Susan, The Bilingual Courtroom, The University of Chicago Press, (2002:218). Additionally, Federally certified interpreters are often called upon to provide transcription and translation of forensic evidentiary recordings and translations of documents. Furthermore, Federally certified interpreters must command a high level [of] cross-cultural awareness and sophisticated skills, including th
