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For
Attorneys...
Know the Texas
State stipulations for court certified
interpreters
Have you ever
needed an interpreter? What are the Texas
certification requirements for interpreters? What
House Bill requires a court to appoint an
interpreter? What is interpreting in the first
place? This brief article will shed light on these
questions.
What is the
difference between translation and
interpreting?
This article
focuses on interpreting, but for the sake of
definition, interpreting refers to transferring
meaning from one language to another using oral
communication, while translation refers to
transferring meaning using written
communication.
What are the
Texas State stipulations for interpreters?
State
Court: [Texas]House Bill 2735, which was
passed by the 77th Legislature in 2001, requires a
court in a county with a population of 50,000 or
more to appoint licensed court interpreters if a
motion is made requesting an interpreter and the
judge determines that an interpreter is
necessary.
State
Certification: If a court requires an
interpreter, the next step is finding one who is
officially court certified. The Texas Department
of Licensing and Regulation (TDLR) oversees court
interpreter licenses, and language offerings for
the TDLR are managed by the National Center for
State Courts Consortium. The Consortium provides
language certification in Arabic, Cantonese,
Haitian-Creole, Hmong, Korean, Laotian, Mandarin,
Polish, Russian, Somali, Spanish, and
Vietnamese.
Certification
Requirements: To become certified, the
interpreter must pass a written and oral exam, be
able to perform consecutive and simultaneous
interpreting, speak fluent English, and be
authorized to work in the U.S. Please note that if
you require an interpreter for a deposition (or
other legal interaction) in a state besides Texas,
you must research that state's interpreter
requirements and available language
certifications. They may or may not be the same as
those of Texas.
For more
information, visit http://www.license.state.tx.us/court/court.htm.
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