Resources for Interpreters | North Carolina Judicial Branch

In courtrooms throughout North Carolina, litigants and witnesses who speak more than 50 different languages need the services of court interpreters. Court interpreters provide an essential public service, giving direct assistance to parties in interest who are limited English proficient or deaf or hard of hearing. The need for qualified interpreters is growing. The demands of court interpreting are great, but so are the rewards. It is the goal of the Administrative Office of the Courts to provide certified, skilled, professional interpreters to work in our court system. Simply being bilingual is not sufficient to ensure equal access to court proceedings and court operations.

In many courtrooms, court officials have no way of knowing if an interpreter is competent to interpret for a limited English proficient party or witness. . Through state certification, the AOC is better able to ensure the quality and professionalism of interpreters provided in courts across the State.

Policies and Guidelines

Spoken Foreign Language Interpreters

Standards for Language Access Services in North Carolina State Courts – updated July 24, 2024
Expansion of Language Access Services to all Civil Superior Court Proceedings – announced July 1, 2017
How to Schedule Interpreters - Chart for Judicial Officials and Court Personnel – announced July 1, 2017
How to Schedule Interpreters - Chart for Attorneys – announced July 1, 2017
Language Access Bench Card for Judicial Officials

Interpreters for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing

Associations

Resource Agencies and Organizations

Other Resources

Ethnologue: Languages of the World

Skill Building Workshop and Continuing Education Providers

American Pie Seminars – Offers online continuing education courses for certified court interpreters.
Athena Sky Interpreting – Online skills-building courses and continuing education opportunities taught by Federally Certified Court Interpreter Athena Matilsky. Courses are available as language-neutral, and also in the specific language pairs of Spanish>English and French>English.
Castillo Language Services, Inc. – Offers skill building and oral exam preparation workshops for State and Federal certification exams, court, medical, community and conference interpreter training, and continuing education courses.
ChinaSona Foundation - Training and resources for Chinese language court interpreter candidates.
Court Interpreter Training Online – Offers online skill building workshops for the oral examination and continuing education training.
Cross Cultural Communications – Approved CEUs only for Medical Terminology for Interpreters and remote interpreting technology courses via its Blue Horizon training platform.
DE LA MORA Institute of Interpretation – Offers live skill building workshops and continuing education courses, in person and online, self paced English written examination preparation, self paced oral examination preparation, and private tutoring.
Interpreter Education Online – Offers online skill building and oral exam preparation workshops in multiple languages, and continuing education training.
Interpreter Translation – Offers court interpreter training for written exam preparation, oral examination preparation, advanced skill building workshops, individual coaching, and interpreter training retreats.
Interpretrain – Offers online skill building workshops and continuing education courses for court interpreters.
National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators
National Center for Interpretation – Offers interpreter training and self-study products, such as Legal Interpretools.
SCSI Media (Online affiliate of Southern California School of Interpretation) – Offers online court interpreter training.
Southern California School of Interpretation – Offers 9 to 12 month court interpreter training program.
TransInterpreting – Offers training and continuing education for Spanish speakers and for all languages.