Justice system relies on interpreters

By Trish Mehaffey
The Gazette
 

Court interpreter Samuel Nzoikorera (left) of Cedar Rapids translates English to Kirundi and visa versa for Bernard Nyabugulu (second from right) and his attorney Kjas Long (right following a hearing at the Linn County Courthouse in Cedar Rapids. Nyabugulu's wife Mwajuma Ntibagirinzigo is in the background./Photo by Jim Slosiarek, The Gazette

CEDAR RAPIDS — Most people would assume court interpreters fluent in Spanish are in high demand.
But who would have thought such a demand for Kirundi would exist in Linn County district courtrooms?

Kirundi is a Bantu language spoken in Burundi, Africa, and Samuel Nzoikorera is the go-to guy when someone from that area is accused of a crime in Linn County.
Statewide, the demand is greatest for Spanish interpreters, followed by Bosnian, Croatian, Arabic and Vietnamese.

The state has 249 certified and non-certified interpreters. The roster lists no Kirundi speakers.

Nzoikorera, a Burundi native now living in Cedar Rapids, isn’t listed because he hasn’t completed the formal courtroom interpreter training. But he started interpreting for the courts in 2003 before the state interpreter program started 2004.

Lori Schoon, Linn County District Court case specialist, said the legal system latched onto Nzoikorera because he’s the only English/Kirundi- speaking person in the area.

Recruiting interpreters isn’t new for Linn County, Schoon said. They used to rely on 6th Judicial District Judge Fae Hoover-Grinde, when she was with the public defender’s office in the late 1990s.
Hoover-Grinde wasn’t strictly an interpreter, but she was fluent in Spanish and the law.

“I was the only Spanish-speaking attorney around,” she said. “They would call me for initial appearances.”

Schoon said interpreters with no formal training, like Nzoikorera, have to sign a waiver for the state to be paid. The waiver allows them to interpret at initial appearances in a criminal case, for simple misdemeanors (more minor crimes) and during civil court proceedings.

Nzoikorera, a freezer worker at Heinz, said he only interprets on his days off. He’s interested in going through the formal training for interpreters, but notes the work doesn’t pay enough — $25 an hour, but only occasionally — for him to make a living at it.

Ed Duran of Cedar Rapids gets the most calls in Linn County as a non-certified Spanish interpreter, but he also can’t give up his day job as an assistant manager with Wal-Mart. Duran interprets about two or three hours a week and makes $40 an hour.

The hourly pay is determined by training and certification. Certified interpreters can make up to $55 an hour.

Duran, who was born in Cuba and grew up in Miami, started out teaching English as a Second Language classes in Sioux City and then later went through the court training program. He said he enjoys being the “invisible person” who helps offenders understand charges and their rights.

Starting without formalized training in court procedures — the case for Nzoikorera and Duran — is common, said Beatriz Cochran, a certified Spanish interpreter in Iowa City.
That’s how she started about 12 years ago when she moved from Mexico to Marshalltown. She had a friend who interpreted for the police and then they started calling her — mainly in the middle of the night.

Cochran, who mostly works in Johnson County, was in the first class to go through the court training in 2004.

To be listed on the state roster, interpreters must attend a two-day orientation and pass two exams. The first exam tests the interpreter’s knowledge of general English vocabulary, slang, legal terminology and court-related issues.

The second exam covers ethics. Interpreters must follow rules such as interpreting an answer exactly as an accused person states it, without embellishment, and phrase responses in the first-person.
Hala Scheetz of Cedar Rapids, a non-certified Arabic interpreter, said getting certified is hard.

Certified interpreters must pass exams where they orally interpret written documents and do consecutive interpreting and simultaneous interpreting. They also must pass an exam on written translation.

Scheetz, a Jordan native, only has the oral part of the certification process to complete. She started without training while working for an Omaha, Neb., law firm in 1992.
She said interpreters have to make sure offenders know the interpreter is not on their legal team.

“We are a tool of communication for them,” she said.

2009 Gazette Communications