For interpreters

The Wisconsin Director of State Courts Office is committed to ensuring equal access to justice for all individuals throughout the court system regardless of the language they speak. To protect the rights of limited English speakers the Director of State Courts office maintains a program to improve interpreter services by certifying candidates who wish to interpret during legal proceedings.

All candidates who would like to interpret in court must complete a series of steps and requirements in order to become certified. Being a certified court interpreter means an individual has attained the highest credential for court interpreting conferred by our state. The Director of State Courts office is the only entity that grants credentials to spoken language interpreters in Wisconsin. The US Administrative Office of the Courts has a separate system for certifying spoken language interpreters to work in federal courts. Find more information on the federal court interpreter certification system here (external link).

Use the navigation to the right to explore the requirements for people interested in court interpreting and find detailed information about each stage of Wisconsin's certification process.

Notice of policy changes affecting non-certified interpreters in spoken languages other than Spanish
In addition to attending orientation, signing an Oath of Office form, and undergoing a character and fitness screening, the CIP will now require interpreter candidates to meet minimum oral testing requirements in order to be listed on the Roster. In the past, our policies only required a candidate to score 50% or higher on a written English Proficiency test in order to appear on the Roster without an assessment of the non-English language. In recent years, more LOTS oral certification examinations have been developed. In addition, we are now able to offer oral proficiency interviews (OPIs) through Language Testing International (LTI) in many languages where an oral certification examination is not available.

We will now require interpreters of LOTS languages to either take the oral certification examination (if one exists) or an OPI and score at minimum levels in order to be listed on the Roster, similar to what is required of Spanish interpreters. It is the intent of the CIP to maintain a pool of individuals on the Roster in all languages who are committed to obtaining the highest credentials available and demonstrate they are qualified to provide interpreter services to the court system.

Policy change #1: New Roster classification levels for LOTS have been adopted and will be phased in over the next 15 months. The "Trainee" level that now exists will slowly be phased out.

Certified: Interpreters in this classification have passed the multiple choice test at 80% or higher AND/OR passed a written language assessment AND passed all three parts of the oral certification examination with a 70% or better on each part. (No change from previous policies)

Provisional: Interpreters in this classification have passed the multiple choice test at 80% or higher AND/OR passed a written language assessment AND achieved a 65% or better on at least two out of three parts of the oral certification examination.

Provisional-B: Interpreters in this classification have passed the multiple choice test at 80% or higher AND/OR passed a written language assessment AND achieved a 55% or better on at least two out of three parts of the oral certification examination.

Authorized: Interpreters in this classification have passed the multiple choice test at 80% or higher AND achieved a Superior level on an oral proficiency interview (OPI). Note: this classification level is available only to interpreters of non-Spanish languages where an oral certification examination does not exist.

Policy change #2: Interpreters who fall into the following categories will be removed from the Roster by April 1, 2012 unless individual testing requirements are met and the requisite scores are achieved:

Category A includes interpreter candidates who:

  1. Speak a language in which a full or abbreviated oral certification examination IS available AND;
  2. Have been listed on the roster prior to 2010 AND;
  3. HAVE BEEN eligible to take the oral examination AND;
  4. HAVE NOT attempted to take the oral examination

Category B includes interpreter candidates who:

  1. Speak a language in which a full or abbreviated oral certification examination IS available AND;
  2. Have been listed on the roster prior to 2010 AND;
  3. HAVE attempted to take the oral examination AND;
  4. HAVE NOT achieved scores that meet the criteria established for the new Roster levels. (See Policy Change #1)

Category C includes interpreter candidates who:

  1. Speak a language in which a full or abbreviated oral certification examination IS NOT available but an OPI IS available; AND
  2. Have been listed on the roster prior to 2010

Category D includes interpreter candidates who:

  1. Speak a language in which a full or abbreviated oral certification examination IS available; AND
  2. Have been listed on the Roster prior to 2010; AND
  3. HAVE NOT been eligible to take the oral certification examination because they have not 1) passed the multiple choice test at 80% or higher (after April 1, 2006) and/or the written language assessment; OR 2) passed the English Proficiency, Ethics, and Legal Terminology written tests at 70% or higher (before April 1, 2006) and/or the written language assessment.

Category E includes interpreter candidates who:

  1. Speak a language in which a full or abbreviated oral certification examination is NOT available; AND
  2. Speak a language in which an OPI is NOT available.

The CIP is currently exploring options with other testing entities that may provide oral assessments in languages currently unavailable from LTI. Candidates in Category E will be informed if an oral assessment becomes available within the next several months.

Policy change #3: Interpreter candidates in the following category will be removed from the Roster by December 31, 2012 unless testing requirements are met and the requisite scores are achieved.

Category F includes interpreter candidates who:

  1. Speak any spoken language other than Spanish; AND
  2. Were added to the Roster in 2010-2011

Policy change #4: Interpreter candidates who are in Category G have already met the criteria commensurate with the new Roster levels. Their Roster classification will be updated by September 1, 2011.

Policy change #5: Interpreters of LOTS where there is only one version of the oral certification examination available who have already taken the test twice are allowed to re-take the oral certification examination should they choose to do so.

For more information about the court interpreter program, please contact:

Carmel Capati
Office of Court Operations
110 East Main Street Suite 410
Madison, WI 53705
Phone: (608) 266-8635
E-mail: carmel.capati@wicourts.gov

Court Interpreter Program Policies PDF (rev. March 7, 2012)

Americans with Disabilities Act Policies and Procedures
The Wisconsin Court System is committed to providing equal access to court programs consistent with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other state and federal laws.

For additional information on court interpreters visit the court services for judges section.