How to Earn 100 Dollars an Hour as a Spanish Court Interpreter

Court interpreting is a service rendered by highly-trained bilinguals in legal settings, rendering one spoken language into another in realtime. Spanish interpreters Marco Hanson and Lorena Devlyn discuss how to get into this highly-paid, high-demand specialty within the language services sector. Marco is a Texas master licensed court interpreter and American Translators Association certified translator (Spanish to English). He oversees training at Texan Translation, and teaches some college classes on court interpretation. Lorena has both the Texas license and the federal court certification, and is director of the Austin Community College translation and interpretation program. She interprets Spanish and French.
They describe the four general steps in the process of becoming a credentialed court interpreter in any US state: learning your second language well, learning how to interpret in general, training for and passing the state exams, and building your freelance business.

[@edensarai21]

Just applied for the written test! I’m excited because this is what I love doing. Helping people in vulnerable situations & leveling the playing field.

[@marcohanson9197]

Congrats! Exactly.

[@TexanTranslation]

You can do it!

[@eteresa3598]

Can you share the link to the written test? Or what test is it?

[@RemeAguirreSullivan]

I loved Lorena’s comments about pricing towards the end of the video!

[@MadeIn619]

This video was beyond helpful and informative. Thank you so much! I am particularly interested in some of the difficulties that non-native speakers can have. I also started learning Spanish in my 20s and while I am now a Certified Healthcare Interpreter (CCHI) in California, I still have a hard time feeling like my Spanish would be strong enough to work as a court interpreter. I realize that even native speakers can have a hard time understanding different accents and persons with varying levels of education, but this obviously feels like it would be amplified when it is not a language you grew up with. Any other information or tips you could provide would be amazing!
I wanted to add: I have taken college level courses in Spanish / Legal Interpreting, many years of self-study, and a few years of experience working as a contracted medical interpreter. And I am still struggling with this. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

[@marcohanson9197]

Glad you liked it! Thanks. Good questions. Practice and experience are the short answer, but it has a lot to do with perspective, too: think about how much better you probably are at understanding the English of medical providers from India, Africa, and other English-speaking regions outside of the US. Capitalize on that. No one understands everything he or she hears, but we negotiate meaning until we believe we understand enough.

[@JulioCesarZermenoLotina-vl6jp]

This video gives me hope.

[@TexanTranslation]

Mission accomplished :)

[@Felix-qz9cy]

Good information

[@TexanTranslation]

Thanks, Felix!

[@coffeekidsanddreams647]

Do you know whether most of this info applies to California as well?

[@jf4173]

Would I be able to apply for interpreter jobs in the US as a Canadian ?

[@goddestroyer3416]

I want this so bad.

[@TexanTranslation]

Go for it!

[@angieescalante1045]

Where can I get the certification?

[@marcohanson9197]

What country do you live in? If the US, what state?

[@angieescalante1045]

@@marcohanson9197 - I live in New Braunfels, TX

[@TexanTranslation]

www.txcourts.gov/jbcc/licensed-court-interpreters/initial-licensure/

[@saraR223]

I'm live in New Braunfels, Tx too. I am interested in court interpreter too.

[@Alexandracardon60]

I live in NJ, how can I get certified?

[@lolandevanking3511]

does the pay rate 100$/hr apply to other language like mandarin？

[@TexanTranslation]

In general, the rarer the language, the more it pays but the fewer gigs come up. Setting rates is a dynamic process involving the end user's budget and policies, the contracted interpreter and the agency in the middle (if any). In your specific language pair and jurisdiction, it would be helpful to ask colleagues what they're charging for a more realistic range.

[@anhtai988]

i don’t live in US, is this any chance I can get a certificate?

[@TexanTranslation]

The exams in Texas are only offered in person, so you'd have to travel to Austin at least twice (written then oral). I don't know what the citizenship requirements are, but in general you don't have to be residing in the US to interpret remotely for US hearings. There may be certain exceptions, such as for calls dealing with classified material.