Best practices for new attorneys working with a foreign language interpreter during a civil deposition

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During my career as a certified court interpreter and translator, there are various mistakes and pitfalls I have seen again and again. That’s why I’m writting about the best practices for new attorneys. Hopefully, after reading this article, you will understand what to avoid when working with interpreters and translators. Keep reading to find out how to improve your depositions.

Best practices for new attorneys: watch out for double negatives, triple negatives, and long, complex questions

The first tip you are going to learn about in this article is straightforward. Avoid double and triple negatives at any cost. They are confusing enough for native speakers, so think about the potential misunderstandings and increases in complexity while translating them. In English, double negatives usually turn the sentence or thought into a positive. However, in common usage, it might still be intended as a negative. Avoid any possible misinterpretation by phrasing your sentences without double or triple negatives.

Examples:

Isn’t it true that you did not go out that night?

Isn’t it true that you didn’t see the car that caused the accident?

The evidence is certainly not irrefutable.

Additionally, a general rule you should go by is “the simpler, the better.” Avoid complex sentences in a foreign language. This will prevent your client from looking like a liar simply because they failed to understand or misunderstood the question.

Let your client know they can ask for clarification or a repetition

Some people avoid asking questions or clarification for fear of being perceived as not intelligent or ignorant. Assure your client that they are always welcome to ask for clarification and repetition if needed. Some clients understand enough English to realize when something was not interpreted as they intended. They can simply state that it was not what they were trying to say. Please keep in mind that the interpreter is only going by what it is being said. He/she cannot change or add to the original statement for the sake of clarity. This is the case even if the interpreter is aware that their interpretation of the client’s statement does not make any sense.

Confusing words for Spanish speakers

There are various words and word groups that you should be keeping an eye out for. Whether the words are confusing and how confusing they can be, depends on how long the person in question has been in the United States and their country of origin. However, there are some common ones which you will find out about in the following:

Body parts

Often, clients will say hand when they are referring to their arm and said foot instead of saying leg. Though, the one that tops it all in Spanish is when they say “cintura”, for which a literal translation would be waist. However, they often do so while pointing to their lower back. One way to avoid these pitfalls is to have a precession or a so-called depo prep before doing the actual deposition.

Best practices for new attorneys: Autos and trucks

Car and truck have different translations throughout Latin America and even within the same country. Now add Spanglish to the mix, and you will reach an even greater level of confusion. The following illustrating examples are from Mexico and California.

The word troka could be either a pick-up truck, a semi with a trailer or without it, or a big truck.

Camion can mean either bus, truck, trailer, or semi-trailer, with or without the trailer.

The expression trailer can be used to refer to an actual semi, a trailer house, or just a trailer (as in a hitch cargo carrier and ramp).

Personally, I have typically seen people from Mexico say camioneta for a truck, as in the context of a pick-up truck.

Street names, addresses, and people’s names

A name in English most likely will sound totally different in another language. This can potentially create confusion when interpreted back into English. For example, the town of Curathers is sometimes phonetically assimilated to Corrales (corrals) in Spanish and, when interpreted back, can be lost in translation. Another example would be the expression of Ta va lu for (Top Value Supermarket). I had clients who said they worked at Home Depot, when in fact, they waited for work outside Home Depot as day laborers. Giving a list of names to the interpreters will also be of great help in avoiding confusion.

Give them a brief summary of what to expect and what kind of questions they will be asked

Instruct your clients to wait for the full interpretation of the questions even if they understand English. Also, tell them this will allow the court reporter to have a clean record of the proceeding (we know this, but they don’t) since he/she can only type for one person speaking at the time. Also, instruct them about what to do if there is an objection, what to do if they do not remember something, or if they feel tired. In addition to that, it helps if they understand the structure of the deposition.

Best practices for new attorneys: Hire two certified court interpreters for long depositions

For a long deposition (more than half-day), hire two interpreters. Interpreting is very taxing on the brain. Most courthouses and government agencies understand this and prepare accordingly. As there are multiple things happening simultaneously, it is recommended that interpreters switch every half-hour. Remember, it is helpful to have the second interpreter remain in the room. They can be there for extra support and will notice if something was not interpreted correctly or misinterpreted. It is always important for the interpreters to follow their code of ethics and be neutral parties in a deposition.

In conclusion, there are multiple things you should look out for when dealing with interpreters and translators and that represent the best practices for new attorneys. When working with multiple languages, there is always room for misunderstandings and misinterpretations. However, if you follow the recommendations of this article, you should be able to greatly reduce your chance of this. Keep the recommended tips of this article in mind for easier communication with all people who are involved. Thank you and good luck to you!

How Do I Become a Certified Court Interpreter in California?

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Would you like to become a Certified Court Interpreter in California? Due to the Civil Rights Act, and the Language Access Plan implemented in California, as well as through the United States. Government funds have been allocated to hire certified, registered or qualified court interpreters and translators. Spanish is one of the most spoken languages in the USA. This is how I decided to become an interpreter. At first, I was not sure if I wanted to work for the courts.

Back in college, I decided to work as District Translator. Obviously, the difference in the pay rate is significantly more favorable to Court Interpreters, but with that comes more training, more knowledge, and more responsibilities (higher and faster interpreting skills, performing well under pressure in high profile and difficult cases, continued education classes, etc.).

The Acts mentioned above made it mandatory for courts, hospitals and other institutions to provide interpreters. Courthouses are among the ones with the most demand for interpreters. In order to comply with the law, they must hire certified court interpreters, when available, and registered or qualified interpreters (when there is no bilingual test for other languages).

Legal interpreting is a demanding job that requires an extensive understanding of the legal framework of the country as well as foreign languages skills. The following skills are the most important: consecutive and simultaneous interpreting, and sight translation from the source language into the target language. A description of those skills will be provided below.

1. Master a foreign language, culture, and traditions

Assuming you already speak a foreign language fluently, and that you are also familiar with their history and culture. You can start training to become an interpreter. Contrary to popular belief is not only about being bilingual or speaking multiple languages.

Being bilingual is a good start but is like a basketball or football player who plays at the park. In order to get to the big leagues, one needs to train/learn new words and techniques every day. If you do not like studying, and do not have a curios mind. Reconsider your decision. Do you still want to become an interpreter?  If you have a passion for learning, and for helping people communicate objectively. This is for you.

If you feel one of your languages is stronger than the other(s), do not get discouraged, we all start somewhere. Even if you think one of your languages is significantly weaker than the other one. Usually, interpreters and translators are more fluid and faster in their first language than in their second or third language(s). Although, that is not always the case. 

There are some institutions that would only let interpreters or translators work into your first language. However, I can attest to have met and work with great interpreters who are far better than native ones.

Those are the professionals who have dedicated their life to studying and improving themselves, every day. They have my outmost respect and admiration.

Okay. If you do have the skills mentioned above, great. They are many other skills that you also need to master in order to realistically increase your chances of becoming a Certified Court, Interpreter, Medical Interpreter, Community Interpreter, Special Education Interpreter or even a Diplomatic Interpreter.

Although, having a legal background does help, is not mandatory. The best way to prepare for this career and for the tests, contrary to popular belief is not only about taking a test even if you a PHD in a foreign language, or even a degree in translation studies. Remember interpreters work with speech and translators with text. The most important skills to develop in order to become an interpreter are the following:

Consecutive interpreting is this mode of interpretation in which the interpreter waits until the speaker has finished his/her statement before rendering into the other language.

Simultaneous interpreting is when the statement or speech is being transferred into the other language in real time. Some languages might require a small delay because their grammatical structures are vastly different. This technique is used in opening statements, closing statements, jury instructions, etc.

Sight translation is the interpretation of a text on a document or even a mobile device from one language into another one by way of speech. Like text to speech, so to speak.

Becoming a legal translator

If you rather work with documents or transcribing, and having more time to research words, consider becoming a translator. In fact, I think being a translator helped me a lot with the sigh translation section of the test.

My experience as a translator allowed  me to better restructure the sentences when delivering the message into the target language, smoothly.

If this is the case, your first stop should be the American Translators Association (ATA). There, you will be able to find resources and workshops on how to prepare for the test.

Seriously consider an interpreter training program rather than studying on your own.

Although, some people have managed to develop great interpreting techniques on their own and memorize thousands of legal words, most certified interpreter hold at least a bachelor’s degree.

This is according to data provided by the California Judicial council. Many of the interpreters I have the pleasure of working with hold JDs back in their country of origin, or even from the United States. But for some reason they like interpreting better.

Networking is especially important in this filed. You are not alone.

There are national and local legal interpreting associations that offer workshops, training, and most importantly networking events (hopefully they will bring them back after Covid). I am a member of Najit, Aijic, and IGA. I like the local ones better for networking with colleagues.

Gain some work experience

The next step is to gain some experience. You can look for a part-time or voluntary job at a legal firm to get some hands-on work experience. Ask for permission to shadow other interpreters. Go to the courthouse and be an active listener at all different kinds of proceedings.

You might see an interpreter in action. This will help you understand how court interpreting actually works. Needless to say, this will also add a lot of value to your resume.

Schedule and take your Court Certification test

The last step is to become certified in your home state. Please note that the US court website is for Federal Certification, not for state certification.

After getting certified, you can then start working as a certified court interpreter employed by the court. You also have the option to work full-time, part-time, freelance, or even work on a contract basis.

Your income will increase as per your experience and skills.  Remember, if at first, you do not succeed try again. I suggest you take the test even if you do not think you are 100% ready.

If you keep postponing it, you might not do it after all, or you lose your edge and forget you have memorized. Also, by taking the test you will win either way, at the very least you know exactly what to study, your areas of weakness, or you might find out that you were in fact ready and aced all parts of the exam.

The first one the written test on a computer, and the oral and sight translation component is the second and last component of the test, given on different dates after you pass the written. In California, Prometric is the one that administers the test. 

For additional information please visit the official website of the local court in your state to know more about testing and local training programs.

For instance, this official webpage of California Courts, it offers detailed information about how one can become a certified legal interpreter. There is also a a free Court Interpreter Self-Assessment Practice PDF that you can download and test your skills.

After 8-12 weeks of taking the test. You will receive a letter from Prometric notifying you of your scores.

If you passed the test. A welcome package by the Judicial Council will follow. Complete it and send everything back as soon as possible. Then just wait for your official badge.

Once you have it you can start working with agencies, direct clients or the courts.

Good luck on your endeavor of becoming a certified court interpreter!