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South Carolina Interpreter Certification Program
The court interpreter is a specially trained
professional who possesses a variety of skills that distinguish him or her from
bilingual persons who simply speak two languages. The interpreter plays a vital
role in facilitating communication within the judicial system for the
non-English speaker and ensures due process by putting the non-English speaker
on the same footing as the person who understands English. It is much more than
being bilingual. Court interpreters must be able to do sight translation,
simultaneous and consecutive interpreting.
Summarizing, paraphrasing, changing or omitting is
not acceptable.
Certification is a three-phase process and includes participation in a two-day Orientation,
successfully passing the written exam (80% or greater), and passing an oral
certification exam (70% or greater on each of the components).
Phase I: Two-day Orientation. Topics include Rules of
Professional Conduct for Court Interpreters, court interpreting modes and
skills, justice system structure and procedure, legal terminology, and
self-study aids and techniques to improve one's skills. This is a mandatory
workshop and a prerequisite to the Written and Oral Tests.
Phase II: Written
Test. This three-hour test includes general English proficiency, legal
terminology and professional ethics. Candidates must receive 80 percent or
greater on each component of this written test before they can proceed to Phase
III.
Phase III: Oral
Proficiency Test. This test simulates
what a court interpreter will be expected to do in court. It has three parts:
sight translation of documents from English to the target language and to
English from the source language; consecutive interpretation of testimony in
both the target and source languages; and simultaneous interpreting of English
into the target language. A candidate must score at least 70 percent on each
portion of the test to receive certification.