The Mississippi Administrative Office of Courts is seeking bilingual speakers to interpret courtroom proceedings.

          An Ethics and Skill Building Seminar will be held Nov. 2-4 at the Gartin Justice Building, 450 High Street in Jackson. The registration deadline has been extended to Oct. 31.

          The registration form is at this link:

https://www.courts.ms.gov/aoc/courtinterpreter/forms/2022Registration%20Form.pdf.  The $125 registration fee includes the seminar, snacks on Wednesday afternoon and a box lunch on Thursday and Friday.

          The seminar will introduce bilingual speakers to requirements for court interpreting. Participation in a court interpreter orientation seminar is the first step in the program which will train, test and certify individuals who wish to serve as interpreters in Mississippi courtrooms.

          Candidates to become interpreters must already be fluent in English and a second language, and must develop an understanding of court proceedings. The seminar will provide an introduction to court proceedings. The program will introduce participants to the role of the court foreign language interpreter, ethical requirements, modes of interpretation and credentialing requirements.

          Participants should arrive by noon on Wednesday, Nov. 2 to sign in. The Nov. 2 presentation will be from 1 to 5 p.m. Class on Thursday, Nov. 3 will be from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Friday, Nov. 4 class will be from 9 a.m. to noon.

          AOC will administer the written exam for interested participants on Friday, Nov. 4, at 2 p.m. Additional fees are required. Participants may wait to take the exam.

          The AOC developed the Mississippi Court Interpreter Credentialing Program to assist state courts in their endeavors to provide equal access to justice for people of limited English proficiency (LEP). AOC provides all state courts with a roster of foreign language interpreters who have demonstrated proficiency in interpretation of court proceedings.

          Deenie Miller, who joined AOC in July, is AOC’s first full-time Language Access Coordinator.  She is in charge of educating judges, court staff and attorneys about requirements for providing court interpreters for people of limited English proficiency as well as recruiting, training and certifying language interpreters.

          Miller said, “When a person of limited English proficiency is involved in a legal proceeding, it is imperative that they be provided a qualified court interpreter. A court interpreter is not only for an LEP to understand the proceedings, but also so a judge can effectively administer justice.”

          Data from the National Center for Immigration Studies shows that from 1980 to 2018, the population of people who speak a language other than English at home grew by 140 percent in Mississippi. Miller said that 3.8 percent of Mississippi’s population is people of limited English proficiency.

          For more information, please contact Deenie Miller at 601-359-4469 or deenie.miller@courts.ms.gov.