Court interpreters interpret in court proceedings for participants, such as a witness or defendant, who speak or understand little or no English. Court interpreters must accurately interpret for people from any background without changing the language register, whether the speaker is using very formal legal language or less formal colloquial language. They interpret in both criminal and civil cases with a wide range of possible subjects.

Becoming a credentialed certified or registered interpreter shows courts that the interpreter has demonstrated their ability and competency to interpret in a court setting. Being credentialed as a certified or registered interpreter is the highest level of formal accreditation. The primary steps to become credentialed are:

These addition steps typically before or during the Ethics and Protocol Training:

Interpreters who complete the process are placed on the AOC's list of credentialed interpreters. Courts use this list to find interpreters. Some government agencies, attorneys, and private business also refer to this list when are in need of qualified interpreters.

Washington has two kinds of credentialed interpreters: Certified and Registered. Whether someone is a certified interpreter or registered interpreter depends on the language they interpret for. Both certified and registered interpreters are credentialed interpreters.

The oral exam for certified languages directly tests someone's skills to interpret in the modes of interpreting used in courts. Because these certified interpreting exams are only available in a limited number of languages, the oral exam for registered languages assesses the interpreter's speaking and comprehension skills in their foreign language. Registered interpreters meet all other requirements listed for certified interpreters.

Certified Languages
Languages for which certification exams are available:  Arabic (Egyptian or Levantine), Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, Cantonese, French, Khmer (Cambodian), Korean, Laotian, Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Tagalog, Vietnamese.

Portuguese is currently being transitioned from the Registered to the Certified category.

Registered Languages:
Languages for which certification exams are available are:  Afrikaans, Akan-Twi, Albanian, Algerian, Amharic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Baluchi, Bambara, Bengali, Bulgarian, Burmese, Cebuano, Chavacano, Chechen, Czech, Danish, Dari, Dutch, Ewe, Finnish, Fulfulde (Fulani), Ga, Georgian, German, Greek, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hausa, Hebrew, Hiligaynon, Hindi, Hmong, Hopi, Hungarian, Igbo, Ilocano, Indonesian, Italian, Jamaican Patois, Japanese, Javanese, Kashmiri, Kazakh, Kikongo-Kongo, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Krio, Kurdish, Latvian, Lingala, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Malayalam, Mandingo-Bambara, Mongolian, Navajo, Nepali, Norwegian, Oromo, Pashto, Persian Farsi, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Samoan, Sindhi, Sinhalese, Slovak, Somali, Swahili, Swedish, Tajik, Tamil, Tausug, Telugu, Thai, Tibetan, Tigrinya, Turkish, Turkmen, Uighur, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Wolof, Wu, Yoruba.

Please note: At any time, a new language may be added or a current language deleted from the list above due to test availability.

Self-Assessment Tools
See the links below to see if you are ready to begin the process.

• Court Interpreter Self-Assessment Questionnaire  
• Court interpreter Self-Assessment Practice Exercises  
• Qualifications for Court Interpreting and Self-Assessment   
• Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities Essential for Court Interpretation  

Videos about Court Interpreting

• Online Video: The Role of Interpreters in the Legal System (Supreme Court of Ohio)
• Federal Judiciary Careers: Court Interpreter
• Holly Mikkelson: "Everything You Always Wanted to Know about Court Interpreting
• Certification Testing
• Professional rewards of being a court interpreter

All Languages

• Written Exam Webpage
• Orientation
• Resources for Court Interpreters

For Certified Languages

• Becoming a Certified Interpreter
• Certified Process  
• FAQs for the Certified Interpreter Program

For Registered Languages

• Becoming a Registered Interpreter
• Registered Process  
• FAQs for the Registered Interpreter Program