Nebraska courts resort to unqualified interpreters
At times, we all have to ‘make do’; times of shortage are a classic example of an occasion when this is certainly the case and judging by the sound of reports from the Nebraska Supreme Court, it seems that times like these have definitely befallen the Nebraska Judiciary. In this particular case, the shortage is of Certified Court Interpreters and the remedy has been to use non-certified interpreters for the role, in fact, almost 60% of interpretation work carried out in Nebraska courts in 2007 was carried out by such non-certified interpreters.
This particular situation has arisen because the State of Nebraska currently has only 21 of the 2,500 certified court interpreters in the United States and in order for a case to proceed at all against an individual of limited English proficiency, the individual must be able to understand the proceedings against them.
That is not to say that the interpreters being used are not ‘qualified’; many possess an advanced language qualification, however, a court certification attests to proficiency in specific court related areas of expertise, such a knowledge of basic legal methodology and terminology and such skills as sight, consecutive and simultaneous interpreting.
To address this nationwide issue, the Supreme Court of Nebraska has joined with the judiciary of 39 other States in a consortium to set up a State Court Interpreter Certification Program. Centres will be based in every participating State where the previously mentioned skills will be coached, tested and certified in a total of some 16 different languages.