Armenian added to court interpreter program

Claudia Peschiutta

GLENDALE -- The addition of Armenian and four other languages to a

state court interpreter program could help improve the quality of

translations in local court rooms, officials said Wednesday.

The state Judicial Council -- a group that seeks to improve the

administration of justice in California -- on Tuesday announced it would

add Armenian, Cambodian, Mandarin, Russian and Punjabi to the list of

eight languages for which court interpreters may be certified.

Interpreters of languages not included in the certification program

are required to pass only a registration exam, which is administered in

English, said Gregory Drapac, assistant court manager of interpretive

services for L.A. County.

To become certified, interpreters must undergo a difficult oral test

in the language they will be translating, he said.

“[With] the interpreters in these five, new languages ... we will have

that much more of an assurance that they are able to effectively do the

job,” Drapac said.

“Sometimes, life-and-death issues depend on how good a job an

interpreter does,” he said.

Glendale is home to the only court in L.A. County with two full-time

Armenian interpreters, Drapac said.

One of those interpreters, Libarid Bedrossian, said the expansion of

the certification program could really improve the quality of Armenian

translation.

“There are a number of interpreters outside and inside of the court

who may know the English language perfectly well and may pass the English

proficiency test, but they may not know the Armenian language perfectly

well,” Bedrossian said.

Interpreters must have a strong grasp of court lingo so people on

trial “will be able to defend themselves in the best possible way,” he

said.

The Judicial Council expanded the certification program in response to

a study on the language needs and interpreter use in the state.

Among the top 10 languages for which interpreters were most often

called in the 1998-99 fiscal year, Spanish came in first, Armenian was

fifth and Russian placed ninth.