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Certification, Resources

Friday, October 16th, 2009 What’s the difference between certified and registered?

The California Judicial Council (JC) is responsible for ensuring the quality of language services in court. There are two types of license: a court interpreter can be either certified or registered in a particular language, depending on the demand for that language.

Languages that are most often required in court are designated certified. To obtain this license, court interpreters must pass a bilingual written exam and a bilingual oral interpreting proficiency exam: their language and interpreting skills are tested in both languages.

There are currently 13 certified languages:

  • Arabic
  • Eastern Armenian
  • Western Armenian
  • Cantonese
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Mandarin
  • Portuguese
  • Russian
  • Spanish
  • Tagalog
  • Vietnamese
  • American Sign Language

Languages that are less common in court are designated registered. To obtain this license, court interpreters must pass written and oral English proficiency exams: their English is tested but not their foreign language nor their interpreting proficiency.

The JC conducts a study of demographics and use of court services every five years to review the list of certified languages and make adjustments accordingly.

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