State of Connecticut Judicial Branch
Court Interpreter and Translator Services

Interpreter and Translator Services is a unit of the Superior Court Operations Division. It was established to serve the Judicial Branch in court-related proceedings at no cost to the parties. One of the goals of the unit is to ensure meaningful access to the courts by providing interpreters to all persons with limited English proficiency in criminal, juvenile, housing, support enforcement, and family matters. Another goal of the unit is to provide the courts with highly qualified and trained court interpreters for this purpose.

The Connecticut Judicial Branch will offer qualifying examinations to candidates that address its current needs, and to candidates in other languages. Successful candidates should expect to travel within the state and have the use of a car to cover interpreting assignments.

• Role and Qualification of Court Interpreters in Connecticut
• How to qualify to become a Court-Appointed Interpreter
• How to become a Certified Court Interpreter
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Resources
• Contact Us
   

Role and Qualification of Court Interpreters in Connecticut
Court interpreters serve the Connecticut Superior Court by helping to provide due process for persons with limited English proficiency. Court interpreters must not only be bilingual and bicultural; they must be educated speakers of English and another language, and be able to interpret all levels of discourse in court proceedings. Furthermore, a court interpreter must be familiar with court procedures and protocols, and maintain the high ethical standards required by The Code of Professional Responsibility for Court Interpreters of the State of Connecticut, including a commitment to lifelong learning. Certified court interpreters are highly skilled professionals who are able to perform at a very high level in the three modes of interpreting (simultaneous interpretation, consecutive interpretation, and sight translation).

The State of Connecticut Judicial Branch joined the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) Court Interpreter Consortium Program in 2001. The Consortium is a program administered by the National Center for State Courts in Williamsburg, Virginia on behalf of the state courts systems in the United States. It was created as a way to develop court interpreter proficiency tests, make them available to member states, and regulate the use of the tests.

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How to Qualify to become a Court-Appointed Interpreter
To qualify to work as court-appointed interpreter directly for the Connecticut Judicial Branch in any language(s), a candidate must:

1. Have a superior command of English and another language(s), and demonstrate this fluency on the exams described below.
    
2. Have access to a car and be willing to travel within Connecticut as needed to provide interpreting services, according to court needs.
    
3. Send the following four prerequisite items to Interpreter.Employment@jud.ct.gov:

1. Resume
2. Cover letter stating the candidate’s desire to participate in the qualifying process in order to work as an interpreter for the Connecticut Judicial Branch
3. Contact information sheet (see “Resources for New Candidates”) including:
4. Date the candidate wishes to take the Written Examination:

4. Register for and pass a Written Examination in English.

   For preparatory information, see “Resources for New Candidates”. A candidate must provide all four prerequisite items above before he/she can register for the Written Examination, and must pass the exam with at least an 80%. (Spanish-language candidates must also pass a Translation Component from English into Spanish with at least a 70%.) The Written Examination is provided by the National Center for State Courts (Consortium), and tests general and court-related vocabulary. Candidates will be notified of their results within 3 weeks. Candidates who ask to have their written exam rescheduled three times, or who twice do not appear on exam dates they have requested, will be disqualified from the qualifying process.
   
   

5. Pass an Oral Screening/Qualifying Examination from English into another language.

   This examination is not provided by the National Center for State Courts (Consortium). Candidates eligible to take the oral screening will be automatically contacted within 3 weeks after having passed the Written Examination, and will be notified of their oral screening examination results within 3 weeks.
    

6. Pass a criminal background check and be offered employment by the Connecticut Judicial Branch.
    
7. Fill out employment paperwork.
    
8. Attend and successfully complete:

How to Become a Certified Court Interpreter
To become a certified court interpreter in Connecticut, a candidate must pass an oral, entry-level certification examination administered by the Connecticut Judicial Branch or other accepted entity. The Connecticut Judicial Branch currently administers oral certification exams provided by the National Center for State Courts (Consortium) for the following languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Russian, and Polish. (The Connecticut Judicial Branch may administer oral certification exams in other languages in the future, based on its needs and the availability of eligible candidates in those languages.)

The Consortium Oral Examination tests the candidate in the three modes of interpreting.

1. Sight translation of an English document into the other language, and sight translation of a document in the other language into English.
2. Consecutive interpretation, English into other language, and other language into English.
3. Simultaneous interpretation from English into the other language.

To pass the Certification examination, a candidate must have a minimum total average test score of 70% and a minimum score on each of the individual test sections of 70%. The exam must be passed in its entirety in one sitting.

Reciprocity / Other Accepted Credentials
If a candidate presents proof that he or she has already passed any of the following certification examinations, the candidate need not take the Written Examination, Oral Screening/Qualifying Examination, and the Oral Certification Examination described above, and will be considered certified by the Connecticut Judicial Branch, provided the candidate passed those exams with scores which meet or exceed Connecticut’s minimum requirements.

1. Consortium Oral Examination administered in any member state (as of July, 2008, 40 states belong to the Consortium)
2. Federal Court Interpreter Spanish-English Certification Examination
3. National Judiciary Interpreter and Translator Certification (NJITCE)

To qualify to begin working for the Connecticut Judicial Branch, a certified candidate will still be required to follow the steps in How to Qualify to become a Court Appointed Interpreter, except for the Written Examination, Oral Screening/Qualifying Examination, and the Oral Certification Examination steps.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. How can I judge whether I am likely to pass exams to become a court interpreter?
Please see the National Center for State Courts’ research report, Court Interpreting Qualifications.

2. What happens if I fail an interpreting examination administered by the State of Connecticut Judicial Branch?
The answer depends on the type of interpreting examination involved. You may take each version of an examination a maximum of two times. We urge you to develop your language skills, legal vocabulary, and interpreting skills between tests (see Resources section). 

3. What do the interpreter exams cost?
Currently, the Written Exam, the Oral Exams, the Mentoring Program, and the Orientation Programs (when available) are offered by the Connecticut Judicial Branch to eligible candidates at no cost.

4. What does an interpreter working for the Connecticut Judicial Branch earn?

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Resources

Resources for New Candidates for Written Examination

• Contact Information Sheet - [MS Word]   [PDF]
• Overview of the Consortium Written Examination
• Written Screening Examination – Spanish Translation Component
• CT Judicial Branch Glossary of Legal Terminology: Most Frequently Used Terms

Resources for Spanish-language Candidates

• CT Judicial Branch Glossary of Legal Terminology: English to Spanish

Resources Related to Ethics

• Code of Professional Responsibility for Court Interpreters of the Connecticut Judicial Branch

Resources for Candidates Seeking Full Certification

• Overview of the Consortium Written and Oral Exams
• Overview of the Oral Certification Exam

General List of Interpreting Resources

• The National Association of Judicial Interpreters and Translators
• National Center for State Courts, Court Interpretation
• The Interpreters Division of The American Translator’s Association

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Contact Us
For more information about interpreting for the Connecticut Judicial Branch, send your questions to:

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