Northeast Community College launches program to train court interpreters

The Nebraska Judicial Branch is looking for more court interpreters and Northeast Community College is stepping up to help.

The two kicked off their partnership Thursday night. Northeast Community College will offer courses to help prepare those interested in becoming court interpreters for the exams they must pass to become certified.

Those in attendance heard from officials from Northeast and the Judicial Branch to learn more about the program.

Nebraska Supreme Court Justice William Cassel spoke to the importance of interpreters in court.

"[I want] to impress upon you how important it is to the cause of justice that the languages are accurately and precisely interpreted in our court system," Cassel said. "The role of an interpreter in the court system is not to approximate what is being said. It is to translate or interpret precisely what is said."

Cassel stressed that incorrect translations can cause trials to be retried or justice not being applied appropriately to a case. 

According to the Judicial Branch, Nebraska has the largest limited English population in the Midwest. It is second only to Minnesota in providing language access to its Judicial Branch.

Northeast Community College will host an orientation to the court interpreter program on September 28th and 29th.