The Art of Translation

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Dawn Maldonado hustles to get to court first thing in the morning.

In fact, she hopes to appear in at least a half dozen courtrooms before noon.

She is not an attorney, or even an official member of the Milwaukee County Courthouse staff, but she easily spends a comparable amount of time walking the hallways and bouncing in and out of hearings.

Maldonado is a certified court interpreter, earning $40 an hour. She is one of only 71 people in the state who has completed the certification process.

Court interpreters compete more in Milwaukee than in rural courthouse settings where multiple counties share only one interpreter.

It took Maldonado several months to crack the regular rotation of interpreters in Milwaukee and she along with others involved in the profession suggest that while the “freelance” job can be lucrative, it takes more than a bilingual tongue to succeed.

“It is your own business and it is up to you to (find) your clients and make them happy,” said Maldonado, who has provided Spanish interpretation since 2001. “But I think it is tough and a lot of people fall off because they don’t understand the legalese, which is a big part of the job.”

Certification a Plus

According to attorney Carmel A. Capati, who manages the Wisconsin Court Interpreter Program, approximately 1,100 people have applied for the initial two-day training program since its inception in 2004, including 36 for the 2008 fall program.

But only 71 have completed the entire certification process, which includes a two-part multiple-choice and translation test, as well as an oral examination.

Capati attributes a low certification rate in part to the $225 cost of the oral exam and the fact that interpreters need only pass one of the intermediate tests, priced at $30 to be added to the state’s Web roster of interpreters.

But Capati said that full certification, while not mandated by the state, is recommended and should be viewed as an investment. State statute provides an hourly reimbursement rate of $40 to county courts that use certified interpreters, compared to $30 for uncertified.

Maldonado, who works full-time as an interpreter, emphasized the benefits of the certification process. She said it is hard enough for an English-speaking person to comprehend legal terminology, much less an interpreter with no exposure to the courtroom setting.

“It’s like saying I passed the bar exam, but that doesn’t make you the greatest attorney,” Maldonado said. “It’s still the minimum you can ask for and not having that minimum is a little scary.”

Alexandra Wirth, who is a certified Spanish interpreter working part time in Milwaukee County Children’s Court, actually spent two years in law school in Ecuador where she also worked as a translator for oil companies working in the rain forest.

She graduated with the first class of certified interpreters in 2004, but struggled to return to working 15 to 20 hours per week after taking a break to have a child.

“It’s a very competitive profession,” Wirth said. “Coming back is hard once you leave for a couple of months, since we’re all freelancers.”

Talk Is Not Cheap

The majority of people who venture into the court interpreter market only do so part time, because most translate for Spanish-speaking defendants.

Of the 71 certified interpreters in the state, 57 translate Spanish.

“There are more Spanish-speaking interpreters than cases they are needed for,” said Jackie Thachenkary, Milwaukee Court-house interpreter coordinator. “But it’s reversed for every other type of case.”

Both Maldonado and Wirth earn $40 per hour paid by the circuit court and reimbursed by the state, but certified interpreters who speak Hmong, Somalian or Mandarin-Chinese can negotiate higher wages because of their scarcity.

That is especially true in more rural counties, which may only have one interpreter for multiple communities.

Patrick Brummond, court administrator for District 7, said there is only one certified interpreter within the 12 counties in the district. He said for the most part, courts in the district are able get a certified interpreter when they need one, given that some counties border Minnesota, and through teleconferencing.

But there are exceptions.

“Unfortunately, there are languages that are not common in Wisconsin, even in our region, where the odds of getting a certified interpreter, even to fly in from the coast, are rare,” Brummond said. “In those instances we do the best we can.”

Capati said interpreters of rarer languages can sometimes earn between $60 and $70 an hour and Wisconsin currently relies on Minnesota to provide certified interpreters for Russian, Vietnamese and Laotian.

“A place like Milwaukee has a fair amount to choose from, but more remote areas don’t always have someone who can come in person,” Capati said.

In some non-evidentiary hearings, courts will just get an interpreter on the phone, rather than have them appear in person.

“It’s a cost efficient measure that doesn’t scrimp on quality of the interpreter,” said Capati, who added that individual counties are responsible for paying compensation which exceeds $40 per hour.

In 2008-09 the state will provide approximately $1.1 million in funding for court interpreters and the next biennium budget request calls for increases of $110,000 in 2010 and $123,000 in 2011.

Capati said the budget request reflects the growing need for certified interpreters and also a higher number of cases which require interpreters.

While an interpreter has always been found for cases which needed one, Capati said there have been some close calls.

“There was a person in Milwaukee who was from Mexico and deaf,” Capati said. “Luckily, we were able to find someone who basically spoke Mexican sign language, but it was a difficult one.”