Hello everyone. My name is Mai Sekine, and I am an Indiana-based Japanese–English interpreter. Today, I would like to share some of my takeaways from the JLD February webinar, Court Interpreting in Arizona, presented by Ms. Kaori Hashimoto.
Provisional vs. Fully Certified Court Interpreter (California Case)
Whether you are a provisional interpreter or a fully certified interpreter is often not simply a matter of personal choice or skill level. In Kaori’s case, she was not able to complete the full certification process and remained an interpreter with a provisional qualification due to the wait periods for the final part of the exam.
What I found especially interesting was that she did not experience any inconvenience in receiving job offers while working as a provisional interpreter. Did she ultimately choose to become fully certified? What could that mean in terms of impact to someone’s interpreting business? She captivated the audience with stories that piqued our curiosity about “What happens next?”. Watch the video to get those answers and more.
Ethics! Ethics! Ethics!
This was the most striking part for me. Kaori explained the ethics of court interpreting in depth, and frankly speaking, I was in awe.
Accuracy is absolute. You cannot omit, add, or summarize anything the speaker says—even fillers or expressions of confusion. This part may be well known, but what truly surprised me was the expectation that you must not engage in any casual conversation with defendants or lawyers during waiting times. You should not do anything beyond your assigned service—interpretation.
Court interpreters are ethically obligated to take action, including requesting speakers to slow down and pointing out your colleague interpreter’s mistakes, all because you are accountable for your service.
Mental Resilience and Coping Techniques
To be honest, I felt completely intimidated by all this—until Kaori generously shared her own stories of failure. She emphasized the importance of emotional and physical resilience as key aptitudes for court interpreters. “Detachment” and “compartmentalization” were new words for me in this context, and I am eager to explore them further.
I am still reflecting on whether court interpreting is truly the right fit for me. Unexpectedly, my biggest takeaway was realizing just how cool court interpreters are.
Kaori clearly embodies a role model that all fledgling interpreters can aspire to.
I would like to close by expressing my sincere appreciation to Kaori and JLD for this wonderful session and opportunity for reflection.
Last but not least, to all my fellow interpreters—happy interpreting 😊
Mai Sekine
Editor: Syra Morii, audra lincoln
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