CALIFORNIA CERTIFIED COURT INTERPRETER INFORMATION

Exams for Language Access Providers in the California Court - California Certified Court Interpreter

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Limited Bilingual Interpreting Examination (BIE)—Registration Will Open June 3, 2024

Registration for the BIE will open to all interested candidates on June 3, 2024. The anticipated exam languages include Arabic (Egyptian), Farsi (Persian), Mandarin, Portuguese, Russian, and Spanish. The administration of the BIE will occur from August 1, 2024, through October 14, 2024, on various days at multiple test locations in northern and southern California. Please visit this page on June 3, 2024, for registration and exam administration details. 

 

New and Returning Candidates

There are 15 spoken certified languages in California.

Arabic

Armenian (Eastern)

Armenian (Western)*

Cantonese

Farsi (Persian)

Filipino (Tagalog)

Japanese*

Khmer **

Korean

Mandarin

Portuguese

Punjabi (India)

Russian

Spanish

Vietnamese

 

If your language of choice is not listed above as a certified language, click here to be redirected to information about becoming a registered interpreter. *Examinations for the Western Armenian and Japanese languages are unavailable indefinitely. **Registration for the Khmer Language is not available in 2024.

 

STEPS FOR BECOMING A CERTIFIED COURT INTERPRETER IN CALIFORNIA

To become a California certified court interpreter, candidates must first pass the Written Examination before taking the Bilingual Interpreting Examination (BIE).

The Candidate Information Bulletin provides information on testing requirements, testing windows, what to expect on test day, the rescheduling/cancellation policy and much more.

The 9 steps to becoming a certified court interpreter are downloadable here.

 

REVIEW CHECKLIST

Interpreting Candidates must meet the requirements in the order as outlined:

Pass the Written Examination with a minimum score of 80%. The examination tests three primary content areas—English language, court-related terms and usage, and ethics/professional conduct.

Take the BIE in one testing administration and pass the examination with a minimum score of 70% on each testing component in this section.

  • Sight Translation (English language to Foreign language).
  • Sight Translation (Foreign language to English language).
  • Simultaneous Interpreting; and
  • Consecutive interpreting.

Take the interpreter orientation course and provide to the Court Interpreters Program of the Judicial Council of California a copy of the course completion certificate.

Submit the enrollment application to the Court Interpreters Program to become a certified court or registered interpreter (including certificate of completion from the on-line orientation and the enrollment fee).

Complete the required ethics training within the first two years of enrolling as a new interpreter with the Court Interpreters Program.

RECIPROCITY

Effective January 1, 2011, the Court Interpreters Program offers test reciprocity to court interpreters who passed Consortium-developed oral interpreting examinations (the California equivalent to the BIE) administered in member states. Please note that the Court Interpreters Program will only recognize oral interpreting examination standards and scores that meet or exceed the requirements in California. For additional information about reciprocity, click here.

For reciprocity questions, please contact the Court Interpreters Program at CourtInterpreters@jud.ca.gov.