Introduction to the Written Exam for Court Interpreters
A One-Hour Class Based on Guidance from the National Center for State Courts
Court interpreting is a fascinating, rewarding, important, and potentially lucrative profession. If you are fluent in two or more languages, and like helping people in real need, you should consider it. First, gain interpreting experience in other contexts (volunteer, community, medical, business, religious, etc.) to build your skills before attempting the stressful and high-stakes legal sector.
One big milestone on the path to becoming a credentialed court interpreter in most US states is the written exam. This test, designed by the National Center for State Courts (NCSC), is entirely in English. (The NCSC written and oral exams used to be known as the consortium exams, which you may still hear sometimes.) If English is your native language, you went to college in the US and happen to work in the legal system, you have a good chance of passing it the first time. In that case, this review of the official NCSC instructions should be enough to get you oriented.
Otherwise, one or more of the sections is going to take extensive, focused study: sentence completion, synonyms, antonyms, idioms, court-related terms, legal procedures, ethics and professional conduct. This hour-long training will help you decide if you want to proceed, and if so, what you should work on next. It includes a practice written exam and resources for further learning. At the end, you can download a certificate of completion.
Your Instructor
Marco is a federally certified and state licensed Spanish court interpreter, and is one of the authors of the book Firearms and Other Handheld Weapons. He has twenty-three years of experience in translation and interpretation, a Master of Arts degree in Spanish, and is a frequent conference speaker on language access topics at legal conferences. He is also an American Translators Association certified Spanish to English translator. He sometimes teaches court interpreting at the University of Texas and legal translation at Austin Community College. Marco is past president of the Austin Area Translators and Interpreters Association and the Texas Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, and was the state's first Language Access Coordinator.