REQUIREMENTS TO BECOME AN INTERPRETER
OF THE NEW YORK STATE UNIFIED COURT SYSTEM

According At the moment the only educational requirement is a high school diploma and passing a written and an oral test. First, the candidate has to pass the written test: It is a multiple choice test designed to test the English and Spanish proficiency. If the candidate passes, it gives he or she the right to take the oral test, which consists of a video showing a courtroom scenario. It’s not necessary to know any legal terminology at this point. There are normal conversations and they ask the candidate to interpret while watching what’s been said from English to Spanish or from Spanish to English and this is recorded onto an audiocassette. That audiocassette is sent to a person that grades it and combines the result with the score of the written test that determines the final score and the candidate’s ranking on the list. The minimum age to take the tests is 18 years and there is no limitation. The last test was given in 1998 and now there is one coming up on April 27th but the registration was closed in January. The entry salary of the NYS Unified Court System interpreters of the is about $39,000 and the benefits include four weeks paid vacation, thirteen sick days a year, thirteen paid holidays a year, medical insurance and pension. The interpreters may belong to a Union, ‘D.C. 37” that is part of “FACSME”, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal employees.