Ep. 34 Language Access in Tennessee Courtrooms

Understanding what happens in a courtroom can be difficult. Even more so when English is a litigant’s second language. There are services in Tennessee to ensure that every litigant has the access to understand their day in court. In this episode of Tennessee Court Talk, host Nick Morgan sits down with Ryan Mouser, the Language Access Program Manager at the Administrative Office of the Courts. Ryan discusses how interpreters are certified and assigned as well as the need for unique language interpreters in Tennessee. 

This episode is for all audiences. 

Produced by Nick Morgan, Tennessee Administrative Office of the Courts

Transcript

00;00;00;01 - 00;00;16;24
Host
If you live in Tennessee and end up in front of a judge, that can already be a fearful experience. But if English is not your first language, ending up in front of a judge in court can seem like an impossible task. In this episode, we're going to talk about just that and the services that Tennessee offers to address that very problem.

00;00;17;00 - 00;00;29;06
Host
Welcome to Tennessee Court Talk. I'm your host, Nick Morgan, Digital Media Lead at the Administrative Office of the Courts. Sitting down with me today is Ryan Mouser, the Language Access Program Manager here at the AOC. Ryan, Welcome to Tennessee Court Talk.

00;00;29;06 - 00;00;30;07
Ryan Mouser
Thank you. Thanks for having me.

00;00;30;11 - 00;00;35;15
Host
So Ryan, I want to start with asking you a little bit about your job here at the AOC and what it provides for Tennesseans.

00;00;35;19 - 00;00;51;04
Ryan Mouser
Sure. So the main responsibility of my job is to administer the court interpreting credentialing program under the Tennessee Supreme Court rule. And that's just the program that credentials interpreters in Tennessee. So the credential that and ready to go into court to interpret.

00;00;51;05 - 00;01;00;22
Host
Always try to help our listeners understand that a lot of the staff roles here at the AOC fall under the Tennessee Supreme Court Rules of Procedure, where does language access fall under the rules and why?

00;01;00;23 - 00;01;21;14
Ryan Mouser
So there's two Supreme Court rules for language access. There's rule 41 and rule 42. Rule 41 is just the rules of ethics for a court interpreters. There's about 12 canons in there that regard ethics, and then also have commentary on situations that court interpreters could experience regarding ethics. And then rule 42 is just our standards for court interpreters.

00;01;21;20 - 00;01;27;27
Ryan Mouser
That covers the credentialing program. And then it also covers what services are provided by the AOC.

00;01;28;03 - 00;01;35;01
Host
So let's jump into the fundamentals a little bit. Being in the courtroom as a language provider, what skills does a court interpreter need to have.

00;01;35;02 - 00;01;58;29
Ryan Mouser
So to be a court interpreter there's really three things that interpreters are tested on. And that's the three modes of interpretation. So there's sight translation simultaneous interpretation and consecutive interpretation. Site translation is just a document translation where you go from English into the target language that you're meeting. Consecutive interpreting would happen more in just a court setting, back and forth between the defendant and the judge.

00;01;59;01 - 00;02;16;15
Ryan Mouser
And it would go back and forth between English at the target language. And then they're simultaneous. And that's probably the most difficult. The skill for an interpreter is the simultaneous interpreting. And that's just when the interpreter listens to everything in English and translate simultaneously into the target language.

00;02;16;15 - 00;02;22;06
Host
Are there any specific skills of court interpreting that someone needs to learn before becoming a court interpreter?

00;02;22;09 - 00;02;41;28
Ryan Mouser
I would say just experience in those three modes of interpretation, because all three of those modes of interpretation are used in court. A lot of interpreters will go and set in courtrooms and just shadow, and kind of learn to see how a court proceeding goes. And then there's YouTube videos, and they just kind of really immerse themselves in that target language.

00;02;42;02 - 00;02;46;04
Host
How does an interpreter become licensed or state approved in Tennessee?

00;02;46;05 - 00;03;07;04
Ryan Mouser
So Tennessee is like most other states in the country. We get all of our testing materials through the National Center for State Courts. They provide testing materials for all, all states. So we're all administering the same exams. But in Tennessee, the first step is to take a 14 hour ethics and skill building workshop that just talks about the basics of court interpreting in Tennessee.

00;03;07;05 - 00;03;29;27
Ryan Mouser
So we offer those all throughout the year, and those are done remotely. The next step is to do a written exam. That's a written exam that's in English. And it just tests synonyms, antonyms, idioms, vocab and court terminology. From there, they'll do oral proficiency interviews, and they'll do those in English and their target language. And that is just to test their fluency, to make sure they're fluent enough to be in a court setting.

00;03;29;27 - 00;03;41;19
Ryan Mouser
From there, they'll do a background check. And that's the last step to become a registered interpreter in Tennessee, certified interpreters. They do all those steps, and then they take a three part oral exam from the National Center for State Courts.

00;03;41;24 - 00;03;43;04
Host
And what's the difference?

00;03;43;10 - 00;04;01;14
Ryan Mouser
So certified is the highest designation an interpreter can receive in Tennessee. Registered is that second tier. And then an interpreter who, you know, is fluent but hasn't done any credentialing testing, which is be considered a non credentialed interpreter. So there's kind of three tiers of interpreters in Tennessee.

00;04;01;14 - 00;04;02;29
Host
But they could still be in court.

00;04;03;00 - 00;04;17;05
Ryan Mouser
They could be. Supreme court rule lays out that a certified interpreter should be appointed first. If a certified is not available then are registered. And if a register is not available then a non credential could be appointed. But that's usually all at the discretion of the judge.

00;04;17;07 - 00;04;27;18
Host
So let's say you're assigned an interpreter for your case. Does that interpreter stay with you for the entirety of the case. Or can your interpreter change throughout your trial or hearing?

00;04;27;18 - 00;04;46;16
Ryan Mouser
It just depends. Interpreters in Tennessee work as independent contractors, so they're called by the courts just when they're needed. So it kind of depends on the interpreters and availability. If you're working with an interpreter and you've got a good relationship with them and your attorney, the attorney could choose to use that interpreter throughout the whole the whole case.

00;04;46;18 - 00;04;51;21
Ryan Mouser
But there could be a time conflict issue and another interpreters brought in.

00;04;51;23 - 00;04;56;15
Host
Is that something that comes to you, or is that all dealt with on a trial level?

00;04;56;17 - 00;05;07;04
Ryan Mouser
So that doesn't come to me. Our office doesn't schedule the interpreters. We just provide a roster of our credentialed interpreters, and then the individual court will, will reach out to each interpreter to schedule them.

00;05;07;09 - 00;05;12;09
Host
What happens if someone speaks a language that Tennessee doesn't have a language contact for?

00;05;12;11 - 00;05;32;11
Ryan Mouser
So there's a lot of times we get a request for a rare language. And Tennessee belongs to the National Center for State Courts consortium, the Council for Language Access Coordinators. So I belong to a listserv with everyone else in the country that does my job. So we get on that listserv and we ask other states for contacts for those rare languages.

00;05;32;13 - 00;05;42;06
Ryan Mouser
And usually in, you know, larger areas, bigger cities, New York, California, they're going to have a larger roster than Tennessee does. So we can usually find an interpreter that's out of state to bring them in.

00;05;42;13 - 00;05;47;04
Host
Does a defendant or a plaintiff in a trial or a hearing have to pay for their interpreter?

00;05;47;05 - 00;05;52;15
Ryan Mouser
No. The AOC and the state covers the costs for all court hearings in Tennessee.

00;05;52;18 - 00;05;56;00
Host
Does the AOC provide language services for virtual hearings as well?

00;05;56;07 - 00;06;08;13
Ryan Mouser
So with Covid, we started doing a lot of remote hearings, obviously, because people weren't allowed into the courtrooms. So with the use of like Zoom and WebEx courtrooms really got comfortable using interpreters remotely.

00;06;08;15 - 00;06;13;29
Host
I guess that made it easier for people out of state, like interpreters out of state to help out. Right?

00;06;14;01 - 00;06;23;02
Ryan Mouser
Right. Especially those in those rare languages that are out of state. They could just do a zoom call and we wouldn't have to, you know, bring the interpreter in from another state.

00;06;23;05 - 00;06;25;24
Host
What are some of the rare languages that pop up?

00;06;26;00 - 00;06;33;04
Ryan Mouser
Here recently, we've been getting a lot of requests for Myan dialects. I would say that is our biggest request right now.

00;06;33;05 - 00;06;44;10
Host
With 95 counties across the state. I'm sure filling every interpreter request can be a challenge. You did mention that the trial courts handle most of that on their own, but do you feel like there are enough interpreters across the state?

00;06;44;10 - 00;06;59;03
Ryan Mouser
It's definitely a challenge to get interpreters in some of the courtrooms. We have more interpreters right now than we've ever had on our roster, but court interpreters are going to multiple counties and courtrooms trying to get things filled, and they're usually scheduled a couple of weeks out right now.

00;06;59;04 - 00;07;11;16
Host
How does. Is there a form online somewhere for someone to fill out if they're interested to even get started in the process? Or like, hey, I know my other language really well, I'm looking to get into something like that. I think I would like it.

00;07;11;16 - 00;07;22;07
Ryan Mouser
The AOCs website tncourts.gov If you go to programs and then court interpreters, it's going to have the whole credentialing process laid out on there. It's going to give a little description about all the testing requirements.

00;07;22;08 - 00;07;30;00
Host
Ryan, thanks so much for joining me today. We've known each other for several years now here at the office, and I'm glad we got to sit down and discuss language access today.

00;07;30;03 - 00;07;31;10
Ryan Mouser
Thank you. Thanks for having me.