Court Interpreters When You Need Them

Florida’s Office of the State Courts Administrator runs the Court Interpreter Certification & Regulation Program, and it sorts interpreters into designations. Here’s what they mean.

Certified is the top designation. It’s the highest state-level designation and the one the courts prefer when interpreters are appointed or privately retained. These interpreters passed a full oral performance exam.

Language Skilled is for languages where Florida doesn’t offer a certifying exam at all. It’s reserved for interpreters who’ve completed every other requirement but are working in a language with no state certifying examination. They qualify through an oral proficiency interview instead.

Provisionally Approved is for languages where an exam does exist, but the interpreter hasn’t cleared the certified threshold yet. They’ve passed the oral performance exam at a lower qualifying level. It ranks below both certified and language skilled.

There’s also Registered, which means the interpreter has met certain baseline state requirements but hasn’t tested into one of the three designations above.

Full oral performance exams are available in Amharic, Arabic, Cantonese, Filipino (Tagalog), French, Haitian Creole, Hmong, Khmer, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Somali, and Vietnamese. Abbreviated exams cover Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian and Turkish. Everything else falls under Language Skilled, because there’s no certification exam to take.

Tell us the language and the proceeding, and we’ll tell you what designation is available.

Federal certification comes from the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts through the FCICE exam, and it’s offered for Spanish/English only. Everything else gets classified differently at the federal level. If your matter is federal, say so when you call and we’ll match accordingly.

More than most people expect. Interpreters attend a two-day orientation run by the Office of the State Courts Administrator, pass an examination, and submit documentation of 20 hours of courtroom observation. There’s also a background check and a continuing education requirement. Certificates are valid for two years and renew only if the interpreter keeps up with maintenance requirements.

Both. Depositions, EUOs, IMEs, arbitrations, mediations, client meetings, site inspections, trial. If two people need to understand each other and they don’t speak the same language, we can help.

More lead time is always better. But for Spanish & Haitian Creole in Central Florida, we can often turn around requests next-day or even same-day. For less common languages & multi-day trials, at least a week is ideal.

That said, call us anyway. We’ve filled a lot of last-minute requests.

Whenever possible, yes, and we recommend it. An interpreter who already knows the terminology, the parties, and the posture of your case is faster and more accurate than one starting cold.

Tell your project manager you want continuity & they’ll build the schedule around it. This is where more lead time is beneficial.

For long depositions or trial days, we recommend a team of two who trade off. Interpreting is cognitively onerous. Your project manager will flag when that’s warranted.

Yes. Our interpreters sign confidentiality agreements & follow the Interpreter Code of Ethics. We’re ISO certified, HIPAA compliant, and fully insured.

Often, yes. We handle video remote & over-the-phone interpreting, and both work well for shorter proceedings, preliminary consultations, and remote witnesses.

For anything where nonverbal cues matter, on-site is still better. Your project manager can help give you a recommendation.

Fill out our contact form or give us a call. You’ll get a project manager who handles your firm’s work, knows your recurring cases, and can be reached when something moves at the last minute.