Third Branch eNews

It is likely no surprise that Spanish is the language most frequently requested to be interpreted in Wisconsin circuit courts. In 2021, Spanish-language court interpreters logged an impressive 19,465 hours. Spanish interpretation requests remain at the top in every county in Wisconsin, and the trend is not slowing down.

Though it is vital to train and certify Spanish interpreters for our courts, the Wisconsin Court Interpreter Program is also highly involved in recruiting interpreters of other languages. These languages are known as LOTS (Languages Other Than Spanish), and they often pose the most significant challenges when securing qualified interpreters to work in our courts.

In recent years, Wisconsin courts have received language interpretation requests in more than 120 languages. Unlike the Spanish language, the vast majority of languages used in our courts do not have a certification exam. Accordingly, it is important for judges and court commissioners to understand the background of these interpreters and to take additional steps to ensure the court system is providing litigants with quality interpreters.

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Many court cases requiring LOTS interpreters involve providing language access to former refugees who have resettled in Wisconsin. For decades Wisconsin has had the third largest Hmong population in the United States, and thus Hmong has been one of the most frequently-used languages in our courts. However, in recent years, there has been a slight decline in interpreter requests as the Hmong population ages and newer generations of Hmong are now native speakers of English. Currently, Wisconsin has no Hmong-certified interpreters, meaning certified interpreters must travel from Minnesota or California for trials.

A new influx of refugees from Burma (Myanmar) has generated many requests for Burmese and Karen interpreters. (The two languages come from the same region of Burma but are not mutually intelligible). In addition, neither language has a certification exam, and most of the Karen interpreters who are qualified for court interpreting assignments reside in Minnesota. For years, Arabic has been one of the most frequently used languages for interpreting services in our courts. Though there is a certification exam for Arabic, Wisconsin does not have certified interpreters in any Arabic dialects. Currently, the Wisconsin roster of interpreters has four provisional Arabic interpreters who have attained an exam score that qualifies them for less complex hearings. However, those provisional interpreters should not interpret at trials.

In 2021, a considerable number of refugees arrived from the Republic of Congo, where the official language is French. As a result of these arrivals, French interpreter requests have increased. We currently have three certified French interpreters on the roster, but only one resides in Wisconsin.

Another common LOTS language is Somali; there is only one certified Somali interpreter on the Wisconsin roster, and he resides in Minnesota.

Finally, Chinese Mandarin and Russian are both LOTS languages that have certification exams. Wisconsin has five Mandarin interpreters on the roster, but they reside in Illinois and Washington. Wisconsin has five certified Russian interpreters on the roster, but only one lives in Wisconsin.

It is important to understand that many of these LOTS interpreters are not technically “qualified” or “certified” under the standards set by the Wisconsin Court Interpreter Program, but for good reason. Several interpreters who interpret in refugee languages do not have formal education or training as interpreters. Some of them come from refugee camps and are skilled bilingual individuals who have learned to interpret without proper training. Some of these interpreters interpret in several languages. For instance, it is not uncommon for these individuals to interpret in their third or fourth language, where they are less fluent than in their native languages.

In addition, many of these interpreters are also recent immigrants and unfamiliar with the court system. Because of their life experiences, they often distrust authority figures, and quite often interpreting is only a part-time occupation for them. These interpreters frequently do not invest in their training because interpreting does not generate enough income to justify such a significant investment of money and time. In smaller linguistic communities, interpreters tend to know the parties of a case more closely. As a result, there may often be conflicts of interest due to the familiarity with victims and perpetrators.

Many of these LOTS languages have challenging linguistic structures and interpreters are less likely to work in the simultaneous mode. Courts that are accustomed to working with seasoned Spanish interpreters might find it difficult to accept that interpreters in other languages refuse or are unable to interpret the proceedings simultaneously. As stated earlier, most of these languages do not have a certification exam and, therefore, these interpreters do not have to pass a rigorous interpreting exam where they must demonstrate they can interpret in the three modes of interpreting: sight, consecutive and simultaneous.

If no certification exam exists for a particular language, then it is important for the court to take extra steps to ensure the interpreter is qualified. The court should conduct a “voir dire” of the interpreter under oath to establish the interpreter’s qualifications on the record. The court should ask questions such as:

• How did you learn English?
• How did you learn your other language?
• What is your experience interpreting in court?
• What types of cases have you interpreted in?
• Have you read Wisconsin’s Code of Ethics for Court Interpreters?

A more comprehensive list of suggested questions is found on the interpreter bench card.
https://www.wicourts.gov/services/judge/interpret.htm

The first step is to use the Wisconsin Court Interpreter Program online roster. The roster contains the names of certified and authorized interpreters only. For languages with no certification, contact the Court Interpreter Program to obtain information about additional resources.

You can also refer to other states’ online rosters. Requirements differ from state to state, but states with similar requirements include Minnesota, Kentucky, California.

For more information Wisconsin’s Court Interpreter Program, contact Program Manager Alexandra Wirth, Alexandra.wirth@wicourts.gov.

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Third Branch eNews is an online monthly newsletter of the Director of State Courts Office. If you are interested in contributing an article about your department’s programs or accomplishments, contact your department head. Information about judicial retirements and judicial obituaries may be submitted to: Sara.Foster@wicourts.gov