Court interpreter credentials offered

Credentials offered through the Massachusetts Trial Court’s Court Interpreter Credentialing Program.

Proficient I Court Interpreter

To acquire OLA Proficient I Court Interpreter status, applicants must meet the following requirements pursuant to the Standards and Procedures Section 5.07 (A). If no interpretation examination is available in a particular language pair, an interpreter will be deemed Proficient I if they have successfully completed Steps 1-4.

1. Complete a 12-hour online orientation

   Complete a 12-hour online orientation before registering for the written examination described in Step 2. The orientation costs $150.

2. Take the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) Written Exam

   Achieve 75% on each section, with a minimum of 80% overall on the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) Written Examination. 

   Note:

   Candidates that have previously passed the NCSC Written Examination must have done so within 3 years of registration for the next step. If 3 years or more have passed, candidates will be required to start at Step 1 and take the Office of Language Access Orientation and Ethics Exam before proceeding.

   Written exam schedule

3. Take a third-party oral proficiency interview

   Achieve a minimum score of 11 on a third-party oral proficiency interview in the candidate’s non-English language.

4. Complete 20 courtroom observation hours

   Complete 20 hours of courtroom observation.

   Observation hours form

5. Fill out the registration form

   Fill out the OLA Court Interpreter Proficient I Registration Form.

Start the credentialing process 

Proficient II Court Interpreter

To acquire OLA Proficient II Court Interpreter status, applicants must meet the following requirements pursuant to the Standards and Procedures Section 5.07 (A). If your language pair is not available in the list of NCSC full oral or the third-party alternative oral interpreting examination, you will be credentialed as a Proficient II Court Interpreter upon successfully passing an abbreviated interpreting assessment and completing the following steps as listed in the credentialing requirements. 

Languages available: 

• Burmese
• Dari
• Hausa
• Hindi
• Pashto
• Somali
• Tigrinya
• Ukrainian
• Urdu
• Yoruba

1. Complete a 12-hour online orientation

   Complete a 12-hour online orientation before registering for the written examination described in Step 2. The orientation costs $150.

2. Take the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) Written Exam

   Achieve 75% on each section, with a minimum of 80% overall on the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) Written Examination.

   Note:

   Candidates that have previously passed the NCSC Written Examination must have done so within 3 years of registration for the next step. If 3 years or more have passed, candidates will be required to start at Step 1 and take the Office of Language Access Orientation and Ethics Exam before proceeding.

   Written exam schedule

3. Take a third-party oral proficiency interview

   Achieve a minimum score of 11 on a third-party oral proficiency interview in the candidate’s non-English language.

4. Complete 20 courtroom observation hours

   Complete 20 hours of courtroom observation.

   Observation hours form

5. Attend a skill-building workshop

   Attend a 6-hour skill-building workshop.

6. Pass a third-party abbreviated oral interpretation examination

   Pass a third-party abbreviated oral interpretation examination with a minimum score of 80%.

7. Fill out the registration form

   Fill out the OLA Court Interpreter Proficient II Registration Form.

Start the credentialing process 

Certified Court Interpreter

To acquire OLA Certified Court Interpreter status, applicants must meet the requirements set forth in the Standards and Procedures, Section 5.07 (A). If the NCSC offers a full oral exam in your language pair, you will be credentialed as a Certified Court Interpreter upon completing all steps listed in the credentialing requirements.

Languages available: 

• Amharic
• Arabic
• Cantonese
• Filipino (Tagalog)
• French
• Haitian Creole
• Hmong
• Khmer
• Korean
• Mandarin
• Polish
• Portuguese
• Russian
• Somali
• Spanish
• Vietnamese

If there is no NCSC oral exam in a particular language, the candidate will instead be credentialed as a Certified Court Interpreter upon passing an alternative third-party interpreting exam in the three modes and completing  all other steps listed in the credentialing requirements. Should the National Center for State Courts offer a full oral exam in your language pair in the future, you will be required to take and pass the examination. 

Languages available:

• Albanian
• German
• Cape Verdean Creole

1. Complete a 12-hour online orientation

   Complete a 12-hour online orientation before registering for the written examination described in Step 2. The orientation costs $150.

2. Take the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) Written Exam

   Achieve 75% on each section, with a minimum of 80% overall on the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) Written Examination. 

   Note:

   Candidates that have previously passed the NCSC Written Examination must have done so within 3 years of registration for the next step. If 3 years or more have passed, candidates will be required to start at Step 1 and take the Office of Language Access Orientation and Ethics Exam before proceeding.

   Written exam schedule

3. Take a third-party oral proficiency interview

   Achieve a minimum score of 11 on a third-party oral proficiency interview in the candidate’s non-English language.

4. Attend a skill-building workshop

   Attend a 6-hour skill-building workshop.

5. Take the OLA-administered NCSC Oral Examination

   Achieve at least 70% on the OLA-administered NCSC Oral Examination. All candidates must score a minimum of 70% on each modality and a minimum of 65% on each of the sight translation subsections and an 80% on each section for the alternative examination for language pairs not offered for certification by the National Center for State Courts.

6. Complete 20 courtroom observation hours

   Complete 20 hours of courtroom observation.

   Observation hours form

7. Fill out the registration form

   Fill out the OLA Court Interpreter Designation Registration Form.

Start the credentialing process 

Reciprocity

Reciprocity allows court interpreters who hold a valid certification from an approved state court interpreter program to have that certification recognized by the Trial Court Office of Language Access (OLA). Eligible applicants may obtain Massachusetts OLA credentials without repeating the full certification process, provided they meet all Massachusetts-specific requirements listed below.

To qualify for reciprocity, applicants must:

• Hold a valid court interpreter certification from an approved state court interpreter regulation program that complies with the National Center for State Courts Certification Guidelines.
• Complete a Massachusetts Orientation and Ethics Workshop.
• Read the OLA Standards and Procedures promulgated in August 2024 and sign the acknowledgment confirming that you have done so.
• The following states have approved certification programs eligible for reciprocity: Alaska, Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Washington D.C., Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.