Iowa Judicial Branch

The dates for the first orientation seminar, written test, and oral certification exam have now been set. See below for details.

Note: You must complete the orientation seminar before you can take the written test, and you must complete the orientation seminar and pass all parts of the written test before you can take the oral certification examination. The dates for the fall orientation seminar, written test, and oral certification exam will be posted at a later date.

Schedule for the written exams for court interpreters during 2012

The Spring 2012 court interpreter written examination will be held on Friday, June 1, 2012. The exam will be given at DMACC Urban Campus, Building 1, Room 126 in Des Moines, Iowa. Applications to take the June 1st examination must be received in the Office of Professional Regulation no later than 4:30 p.m. on Monday, May 7, 2012. NO exceptions will be made.

Schedule for the Oral Certification Exam during 2012

The 2012 Oral Certification Exam will be held Friday, May 18, 2012 at the Judicial Branch Building at 1111 E. Court Ave in Des Moines, Iowa. Applications to take the May 18, 2012 examination must be received in the Office of Professional Regulation no later than 4:30 p.m. on April 18, 2012. NO exceptions will be made.

Tests for Iowa Court Interpreters

A. Overview

Being bilingual is not sufficient to be a qualified court interpreter. Court interpreters should have college-level vocabularies in two languages - including slang, legal, and technical terms; excellent memory skills and mental acuity; and substantial mental stamina. The best way for a person to demonstrate the knowledge and skills necessary to be a competent court interpreter is perform well on exams constructed to evaluate the knowledge and skills required to be a court interpreter.

Before taking any of the written exams in Iowa, an interpreter must attend a two-day court interpreter orientation program. See "Training Programs" link at the top of this page.

Each year the Office of Professional Regulation conducts the following interpreter exams:

1) Three written exams. These exams assess whether an interpreter can demonstrate knowledge characteristic of a minimally qualified court interpreter. Two of the exams are multiple-choice and entirely in English. Interpreters must pass the two multiple-choice exams to be listed on the Roster of Court Interpreters. The third exam involves written translation of English text into the interpreter's second language. Interpreters must pass this exam to qualify to take the oral interpretation exam for court interpreter certification (Step 2).

2) Oral interpretation exam, or "certification exam." This difficult three-part oral interpretation exam, developed by the Consortium for Language Access in the Courts (Consortium), assesses an interpreter's competence in three types of oral interpretation: sight interpretation of documents, consecutive interpretation, and simultaneous interpretation. In Iowa, interpreters must pass all three parts of the certification exam in a single test session to "pass" the exam. Interpreters who take one of the Consortium's certification exams in another state will be recognized as certified in Iowa only if they pass all three parts of the exam (i.e., at least 70 percent correct on each part) in a single test session. Passing this exam is the final step toward achieving the status of "certified" oral language court interpreter in Iowa. (See section F., below, for information on certification requirements for sign language court interpreters.)

NOTE: If you have questions after reading all the materials on this website, you may email court.interpreter@iowacourts.gov.

B. Written Exams for Court Interpreters

1) Description of the written exams

All noncertified interpreters must pass two multiple-choice exams (Exams 1 and 2 below) to be listed on Iowa's Roster of Court Interpreters. To qualify to take the oral interpretation exam for court interpreter certification, interpreters must also pass a written translation test (Exam 3 below). All three written exams are offered each time the written exams are conducted in Iowa.

ü Exam 1 - The Consortium's standard multiple-choice exam

This is the standard written exam developed by the Consortium for Language Access in the Courts (Consortium). It includes 135 multiple-choice questions; all of them are in English. It tests an interpreter's knowledge in two general areas that are essential for minimally qualified court interpreters:

A. Knowledge of the English language (total of 75 questions):

a. General vocabulary (50)

b. Slang (25)

B. Court-related knowledge (total of 60 questions):

a. Legal terms (36)

b. Court-related issues and procedures (14)

c. Interpreter ethics (10)

To pass Exam 1, interpreters must correctly answer at least 80 percent (108) of the 135 questions and correctly answer at least 75 percent in each of the two sections (A. and B.).

ü Exam 2 - Iowa's multiple-choice exam on the Code of Professional Conduct for Judicial Branch Interpreters (Chapter 48 of the Iowa Court Rules)

The Iowa Court Rules require interpreters to pass a separate exam on the Code of Professional Conduct to be included on the Roster of Court Interpreters. Exam 2 includes 15 additional questions on court interpreter ethics. For purposes of scoring, these 15 questions will be combined with the last 10 questions on ethics in Exam 1 for a total of 25 questions on ethics.

To pass Exam 2, examinees must correctly answer at least 75 percent (19) of the 25 questions on interpreter ethics (10 questions from Exam 1 and 15 questions from Exam 2).

Note: Beginning in 2008, interpreters who passed a 25-question test on the Code of Professional Conduct during 2004 or 2005, but have not passed Exam 1 (above), must answer all 135 questions on Exam 1 -- and -- the additional 15 questions in Exam 2.

ü Exam 3 - Written translation exam

This exam tests an interpreter's ability to accurately translate written English text into the written form of another language. (Sign language interpreters do not have to take this part of the exam.) The exam includes 10 sets of two to three sentences in English, which examinees must translate into the written form of their second language. The written translation exam, which is conducted at the same time as Exams 1 and 2, will be graded "pass" or "not pass" by a certified court interpreter approved by the Consortium.

For a detailed description of the written exams for court interpreters, review the Overview of the Written Exams for Iowa Court Interpreters.

2) Re-taking the written exams

Interpreters who pass only one or two of the three written exams must re-take only the exam(s) they did not pass in the first test session. According to the Consortium's guidelines, an interpreter can take the same version of a written exam only one time in a 12-month period and should never be allowed to take the same version more than twice. Note: Interpreters who pass only one of the multiple-choice exams (either Exam 1 or Exam 2) must pass the other exam within 24 months after the first test session. If they do not pass both exams within 24 months, they will have to re-take and pass both exams to qualify for the Roster of Court Interpreters.

Currently, there are two versions of Exam 1, the Consortium's standard 135-question multiple-choice test, and one version of Exam 2 (Iowa ethics test). We will rotate the test versions so each is given at least once per year.

There are four versions of Exam 3 (the written translation exam). We will rotate the versions of the written translation exam each time we conduct the written exams. There is no required waiting period for taking different versions of this exam.

3) Registration for the written exam

To register for the exam you must submit the following to the Office of Professional Regulation:

ü Exam registration form

ü Registration fee ($40 first-time exams; $20 for re-taking an exam)

ü Application to be a Court Interpreter (if you haven't already submitted one)

ü Release/Waiver form - to authorize a criminal background check

C. Oral Interpretation Exam for Court Interpreter Certification

Before interpreters can register to take the oral interpretation exams, they must:

1) Pass a criminal history check (no felonies or other crimes of dishonesty or moral turpitude);

2) Qualify to be on the Roster of Court Interpreters (attend a two-day court interpreter orientation program and pass the multi-choice exams (Exams 1 and 2); see section B., above; AND

3) Pass the written translation exam (Exam 3); see section B., above.

Registration forms and information are available on this website by clicking on the "Forms" link above.

1) Description of the oral language certification exam

The Iowa judicial branch is a member of the Consortium for Language Access in the Courts (Consortium) and will offer the Consortium's oral interpretation exams for court interpreter certification. Through the use of recorded court testimony, other recorded in-court statements, and legal documents, the certification exam assesses an interpreter's ability to completely and accurately perform three types of oral interpreting:

ü Simultaneous interpreting

ü Consecutive interpreting

ü Oral interpretation of written documents

For more detailed information about the oral interpretation exam review the Overview of the Oral Exam for Court Interpreter Certification.

Also see material available on the Consortium's website:

http://www.ncsc.org/Education-and-Careers/State-Interpreter-Certification.aspx

To pass the oral (certification) exams in Iowa, an examinee must achieve a score of at least 70 percent on each of the three parts in a single test session.

2) Oral languages for which there are court interpreter certification exams

The Office of Professional Regulation offers the Consortium's court interpreter certification exams.

For a list of those languages for which a certification examination is currently available, please see:

http://www.ncsconline.org/D_Research/CourtInterp/ExaminationsAvailableForMembersOfTheConsortiumForStateCourtInterpreterCertificatio_000.html

D. Other Certification Exams for Oral Language Court Interpreters

Interpreters who pass the court interpreter certification exams developed and offered by the following organizations will also meet Iowa's oral exam requirements for court interpreter certification:

ü The Federal Court Interpreter Certification Program

ü The National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators

In addition, interpreters who pass court interpreter certification exams developed by other states that do not use the Consortium's oral exams (e.g., California) might be granted certification in Iowa if the tests are deemed equally or more rigorous than the Consortium exams -- and if the interpreter's scores on those exams meet or exceed the score requirements established by the Iowa Supreme Court.

E. Practice Kit for Spanish Court Interpreters Preparing for the Certification Exam

The Consortium for Language Access in the Courts has developed a Spanish Practice Oral Examination Kit. The Practice Examination Kit includes the following:

ü Instruction Manual

ü CD with audio files containing the practice exam and a passing performance on the examination

ü Hard copies of the test scripts

The Kit is designed to provide purchasers with a step-by-step process to increase their understanding of four basic things:

ü What a real Consortium performance examination looks like, including the "scoring units." Practicing with the kit before taking an operational examination will give the individual an opportunity to take a practice examination and score it in much the same way that trained raters do for the actual examinations.

ü The scoring methodology used by the Consortium to score oral examinations in a fair and consistent way. Purchasers will create their own scoring dictionaries and in the process, learn how to research words and phrases like the trained raters do and make decisions about what should be acceptable or not and why.

ü What a passing performance is really like. The Consortium recorded the performance of a certified court interpreter on this practice oral exam. Listening to the part of the CD will give the purchaser a feel for the pace and quality of a passing performance on the exam.

ü Self-assessment of one's own level of skill and readiness to take a Consortium exam. The purchaser will have the opportunity to take the practice examination in a way that closely replicates the actual test environment and to fairly and objectively assess his or her current level of skill. Candidates should be able to recognize strengths, identify weaknesses, and learn what additional training or practice is needed to improve performance.

If an interpreter completes all of the assignments in a step-by-step manner and in the order provided, users should gain a better understanding of what a real exam is like. More importantly, users should gain a more realistic view of their own level of performance.

F. Certification Exams for Sign Language Court Interpreters

To be classified as a "certified" court interpreter, sign language interpreters must pass a specialized exam in court interpreting and obtain a Specialist Certificate: Legal (SC:L) from the National Testing System of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (NTSRID). For more information on the requirements for sign language interpreters in Iowa, visit the website of the Deaf Services Commission of the Iowa Department of Human Rights.