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National Association of Judiciary Interpreters & Translators
1707 L street,
NW, Ste 507, Washington, DC 20036
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The National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT), founded in 1978, is the only nationwide organization of active court interpreters. Current membership stands at 1100 and includes state and federal court interpreters of many languages. We include among our stated purposes: a) to advocate training and certification of interpreters through competent and reliable methodologies, b) to promote professional standards of performance and integrity, and c) to advance the highest quality services. NAJIT’s membership supports certification as an objective, science-based method of testing to ensure that court interpreters meet minimum standards of competence. General consensus in the field holds that testing is an essential step to guaranteeing the provision of competent, cost-effective court interpreter services. These services are fundamental to equal access to the courts and linguistic due process for the deaf and Limited English Proficient (LEP) individuals. We agree with the publication of the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) Consortium for State Court Interpreter Certification: “Court Interpretation: Model Guides for Policy and Practice in the State Courts,” which states “To address the causes of problems with court interpreting, comprehensive, statewide mechanisms and procedures need to be formalized by statute.…” “Formalized testing of language and interpreting proficiency (certification testing) is the best way to assess interpreter qualifications.” (NCSC, 1995, pp. 12, 89, available from http://www.ncsconline.org/D_Research/CourtInterp.htm). We are aware that the Hawaii judiciary began examining court interpreter issues in 1994 and joined the Consortium in 1997. It is our hope that the pending legislation will definitively implement a certification program. HB 600 is a good bill, largely based on the Model Act in the NCSC report cited above. We believe it will put Hawaii on track to improve the quality of court interpreter services. With it, Hawaii will be able to create a meaningful, effective, cost-conscious and legally defensible court interpreting program. We fully support this bill, which will mandate a court interpreter training, testing, and certification program. Please pass HB 600. Thank you. Sincerely, Alexander Raïnof, Ph.D. |
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