Translator Demand

If you've ever taken a trip to a foreign country, you know how frustrating it can be if you don't speak the language. Close to 8,000 people in Black Hawk County don't speak English, and the numbers keep growing. That means so is the need for interpreters. Sabina Rizvanovic knows what it's like firsthand. She moved to Waterloo from Bosnia and works part time as a translator for the Waterloo Police Department. The latest statistics show in Waterloo alone, there are close to 2,000 Hispanics and approximately 3,000 Bosnians who don't speak English. Waterloo police Captain Bruce Arends says that's why we they need translators. Arends says, "It can range from a simple fight to a traffic accident to a major investigation that we need to interview people." But it's an exhausting job for Sabina who is one of the eight translators on the department's list. Sabina says, "One time I was here until six in the morning because I had to go from here to jail and interpret for the jail." Police departments aren't the only places where translators are needed. They're also needed in courtrooms, hospitals and schools. Rosa Maria de Findlay works as a Hispanic translator and says her job is difficult. But, adjusting to a new community is even more difficult for the people she translates for. "These individuals are workers that need to work six days a week, when or where on Sunday are you going to find a place to teach English?" Rosa Maria is a certified translator. And while Sabina isn't certified, she doesn't have to be. But, laws are changing. Governor Tom Vilsack says he understands the need for qualified translators in Iowa and signed a bill into law demanding stricter competency standards for interpreters in Iowa. He says, "For many, interpretation is a matter of life and death or a matter of freedom or not." Without translators, where do people go for help? Many go to the La Chiquita restaruant and market in Waterloo. Beverly Ayala says, "We've had customers come in here asking us if we could go with them to a doctor's appointment, check out apartments, houses, or talk to someone about buying a car." Many times workers at La Chiquita send people to El Centro in Waterloo, a service that helps Hispanics who aren't fluent in English. But there aren't many services like El Centro, and newcomers looking to fit in have little help. Rosa Maria says "The Hispanic community here are a nice group of people that like to blend in and like to work, that's what they came here for." Hispanic and Bosnian translators do their best to help others blend in. But, that may not happen until there are more translators to help. Interpretor certification is hard to come by in Eastern Iowa. Most courses are offered in Des Moines. But with the new law, many colleges are trying to change that. A court interpreter orientation program is scheduled for May 12 & 13 at the University of Northern Iowa. Participation in this program will satisfy the new court rule that takes effect in November requiring foreign language and sign language interpreters to attend a court orientation program as one of the conditions for being listed on the statewide roster of court interpreters that will be implemented later this year. For more information on U.N.I.'s court interpreter orientation program, call (800) 782-9519 or (319) 273-6899.

Immigrant boom fuels need for courtroom interpreters

By Valerie Schremp Of the Post-Dispatch 04/27/2004

Carolina Diaz-Silva 28, is one of only 15 certified interpreters in Missouri.

Carolina Diaz-Silva 28, is one of only 15 certified interpreters in Missouri. (LARRY WILLIAMS /P-D) For more than a few of us, it's not hard to imagine getting a traffic ticket and going to court. But imagine getting a traffic ticket, going to court, and the judge speaks to you in Farsi. That's great, if you happen to speak Farsi. But what if you don't? For that matter, you may barely know legalese. As more immigrants and refugees move into Missouri and Illinois, more interpreters will be needed to help them if they need to go to court for a traffic ticket, a divorce hearing or even a major crime. Missouri's Hispanic population increased 93 percent from 1990 to 2000, and more people who speak other languages are moving into the state. Last year, Spanish was the most requested language for interpreters in Missouri courts, with over a third of the state's counties asking for assistance. Vietnamese, Chinese, Bosnian (Serbo-Croatian) and Somali were the next most requested languages. Among the requests were one from Lincoln County for a Czech interpreter, a request from Clay County for a Punjabi interpreter, and a request from Platte County for a Laotian interpreter. And yes, there came a time last year in a St. Louis courtroom when somebody needed to interpret the Iranian language of Farsi. Though interpreters don't need to be certified in Missouri, the state administrators who oversee the courts would like them to be. "A lot of folks think that being bilingual is enough," says Phyllis Launius, who works with the Office of the State Courts Administrator and oversees the interpreter program. "It really isn't. In court, you can have everything from auto parts to body parts. You never know what it will be. You need a good grasp for both languages." Illinois does not require its interpreters to be certified and does not have a formal certification program, said Joseph Tybor, press secretary for the Illinois Supreme Court. Individual circuit courts rely on a registry of about 200 interpreters, the majority of whom speak Spanish. The Hispanic population in Illinois increased 55.7 percent from 1990 to 2000. Two of Missouri's 15 certified court interpreters, all of whom speak Spanish, live in the St. Louis area. Carolina Diaz-Silva, 28, a graduate student in Spanish literature at Washington University, hopes to interpret full time. She averages two appointments a week and expects more work once she passes the federal interpreter certification process, which is more stringent than Missouri's. She works in courts in St. Louis and the Metro East area. Diaz-Silva grew up in Peru but has studied English since she was 5. That background has helped her during intense situations in the courtroom. She has to interpret everything that's going on, even the testimony of witnesses or the back-and-forth conversation that often occurs when a lawyer makes an objection. At a recent hearing in St. Charles County, Diaz-Silva translated for a man accused of assaulting a police officer. The judge was trying to determine whether he qualified for a public defender. "I don't know, I really don't know, but I think not," Diaz-Silva translated in a word-for-word response to a judge's question about whether the man could get money from family or friends. "It's very important to them, and very concerning, because they are generally good people," she says of her work. "It's nice to have somebody who knows the language." Registration ends Friday for a two-day court interpreter workshop to be held in St. Louis in June. This summer's workshop will be open to all languages, and Launius hopes to get some who speak Russian and Bosnian because of their growing area population. Court interpreters workshop What: The workshop for court interpreters is open to speakers of any combination of English and other language. The workshop is the first step in getting certified. Written and oral exams must be taken later. When: Class meets June 12 and 13, 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Where: St. Louis Community College at Forest Park, 5600 Oakland Avenue, St. Louis. Cost: Fees for registration and materials are $125 plus $14 for criminal history background checks for Missouri residents and adjacent counties in surrounding states. To apply: Call the Access to Justice Program at 1-573-751-4377 or e-mail Phyllis Launius at phyllis_launius@osca.state.mo.us. Registration must be received by Friday. Reporter Valerie Schremp E-mail: vschremp@post-dispatch.com Phone: 636-255-7211

al knight

Miranda cases multiply By Al Knight

Article Published: Wednesday, April 28, 2004

If it is true that criminals in this country now speak a couple hundred languages, it is a certainty that there will soon be 200 cases interpreting the Miranda warning. That's the warning police must give to criminal suspects prior to questioning them. There are already many Miranda warning cases involving suspects who spoke Spanish, Russian, Arabic or even Kickapoo. More are surely on the way, thanks to court rulings that virtually invite additional and novel challenges. A Colorado Supreme Court decision issued last month nicely illustrates the problem presented by these Miranda cases in a society where language differences are increasingly a barrier to reliable communication. The case involves an illegal immigrant from Mexico, Dagoberto Aguilar-Ramos, who, 15 days after arriving in this country, was accused of kidnapping and raping a woman in Greeley. (Two other men from Guatemala were charged with the same crime, but the court case concerned only the questioning of Aguilar-Ramos.) The issue was whether the suspect had "voluntarily, knowingly and intelligently" waived his Miranda rights before confessing to his part in the crime. The trial court held that because the questioning officer's Spanish was deficient, and because the suspect may have been poorly educated, he did not fully understand his rights and therefore his subsequent confession could not be used in court. The high court, which was bound under law to accept the lower court's findings of fact, upheld the lower court's decision. That ruling has since been denounced on television talk shows as one that may allow an accused kidnapper and rapist to go free. On at least one of these programs, critics complained that the Colorado court ignored the fact that the suspect was given a Spanish-language version of the Miranda warning and read it three times before signing a waiver of his rights to have an attorney present. This fact, in the totality of the circumstances listed by the court, didn't matter. Still, it is premature to embrace the worst-case scenario. There is other evidence that may be used against the suspect, and it is expected he will have to face a judge and jury, although no specific trial date has been set. That is not to say that there aren't legitimate reasons to object to the Supreme Court ruling. The main reason is that this case is just another in a long list of cases that have confused the standard of conduct imposed upon the police. There was no showing in this case of bad faith by the officers, and the suspect didn't allege that his confession was in any way coerced. Language was the problem, and it is a fact that not every police department has a cadre of interpreters on hand. Some defense attorneys have offered a solution for how to get around the inevitable language problems: Don't question suspects who don't understand English. Thankfully, the nation hasn't quite reached that point, but it wouldn't require much of an imagination to envision a case where that principle might be adopted as the standard. The most recent court decision demonstrates how far we have strayed since the original Miranda case in 1966. In that case, the nation's highest court went on at length about what was described as police reliance on "third degree" interrogation techniques that involved threats and intimidation. The holding in that case said simply that police departments must have "in place" procedures to protect a suspect's Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. A lot has happened since then, and courts prattle on about what constitutes an "intelligent" waiver of rights. It can, of course, be argued that there is no such thing as an "intelligent" waiver of rights. Confessing to a crime is almost always not the "intelligent" thing to do. Confessions make police work easy - and that is rarely in the suspect's best interest. What has happened over time is that courts have used expansive and even vague language to create a situation where they are free to enforce a standard on a case- by-case basis, which naturally leads to future confusion and future cases. The only people to benefit from this practice are, alas, those charged with serious crimes.

Al Knight of Fairplay is a former member of The Denver Post editorial-page staff. His columns appear on Wednesday.

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