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Federal Court Proceedings Feature Many Languages

November 14, 2006 — A total of 117 languages required interpretation in federal court proceedings in fiscal year 2006 (the 12-month period ending September 30, 2006). The overwhelming majority - 95 percent - of the 205,550 language-interpreting events were in Spanish.

Federal courts use language interpreters or sign language interpreters under federal law (the Court Interpreters Act, 28 U.S. Code Section 1827) in any proceeding where a participant has a communications disability. Court interpreters are expected to be highly skilled in simultaneous and consecutive interpreting, and in document sight translation.

Interpretation services in FY 2006 were provided by about 80 full-time staff interpreters or by contract interpreters. The staff interpreters provided help in Spanish and Navajo. Contract interpreters provided help in the rest of the events.

Other frequently used languages were Mandarin (1,480 events) Vietnamese (988), Arabic (908), Korean (871), Cantonese (868), Russian (610), Portugese (492), Haitian Creole (447), and Punjabi (375).

To facilitate access to qualified interpreters, the Judicial Conference of the United States in 1994 approved the Telephone Interpreting Program (TIP) for simultaneous interpreting of short proceedings, such as pretrial hearings or initial appearances. TIP provides remote interpretation in situations in which certified or otherwise qualified court interpreters are not locally available.

In FY 2006, courts reported using TIP in over 3,770 events in 47 events. An estimated $1.1 million was saved in travel and contract costs as a result. There are seven courts providing telephone interpreter services, and staff interpreters handled 70 percent of the TIP events.