Letters to the Editor

The courts today are nothing more than cash cows. The two worthless parties that govern our country, especially those undemocratic control freaks, are leading us to destruction. An analogy for America today is a freight train racing toward a thousand-foot cliff -- and most watching are oblivious, indifferent or full of apathy.

David D. Fosca
Denver

Interpreting the news:The Colorado Association of Professional Interpreters (CAPI) offers the following information on court interpreting in response to David Holthouse's "Trial and Tribulations":

Interpreting is a largely unregulated field. However, state and federal certification for court interpreters does exist for Spanish interpreters. Colorado administers the National Consortium of State Court Interpreter Certification, which consists of a mandatory sixteen-hour orientation on protocols, ethics and court terminology, followed by a tape-recorded exam to determine competency in three modalities of interpretation: simultaneous, consecutive and sight translation. The orientation and the exam cost $285.

Although the National Consortium offers the certification test in over forty languages, in Colorado it has only been offered in Spanish. So-called exotic-language interpreters can take the exam only if they are able to incur the travel costs. Since the demand for these interpreters is often infrequent, most have other primary careers. Some suffer a net loss in income by missing their regular job to interpret, but they do so in order to give back to their community.

In 2003, CAPI will be organizing an intensive seminar on court interpreting specifically for exotic-language interpreters that will be recognized in lieu of the National Consortium's orientation. For more information, please visit CAPI's Web site at www.coloradointerpreters.org.

Julia Davis
CAPI