Court Interpreter Training in the Language Laboratory

Abstract

Demographic studies and statistics from state and federal courts indicate agrowing need for Spanish-English court interpreters with special training in consecutiveand simultaneous court interpretation. The authors conducted a survey of 466 ofCalifornia's Spanish-English court interpreters to determine what the Spanish-Englishcourt interpreter's strongest skills needs are. Survey results are reported in this article,and the five strongest skills training needs are identified. The authors indicate how thelanguage laboratory may efficiently be used to develop and enhance these five skillsand how it may best serve a court interpreter training program. Emphasis is onapplying the work of G.A. Miller and the training techniques of Robert Ingram toSpanish-English court interpreter training.