An Ear for Nuance:
Contreras Interprets Court for Defendants

OAKLAND — In California’s courtrooms more than 80 different languages are spoken daily. To make sense out of the confusion people like Gloria Contreras, a Spanish interpreter, lend their expertise.

Contreras, 59, has worked for 35 years translating English into Spanish, and Spanish into English, for defendants and other courtroom participants throughout California. Her current workplace: The Alameda County Courthouse on Fallon Street in downtown Oakland, where she can be found nearly daily leaning in close to a defendant and simultaneously listening and translating trial proceedings into his or her ear.

A certified interpreter, Contreras is licensed to take the court’s political jargon and all the nuances of the Spanish language and translate it both ways sothat everyone present can understand.

In the courtroom, Contreras seamlessly flows between the languages, but it wasn’t always like this. When Contreras first started out certain words would slow down the translation process. For example, the word "arraignment," the judicial procedure in which a defendant first hears the charges against him or her, and pleads either guilty or not guilty. In Spanish, "it doesn’t translate," said Contreras. "Arraignment is a concept."

What she and other Spanish interpreters have used over the years is "lectura de cargos," which literally means "reading of the charges." In the past, interpreters would have to take a moment to explain the term. Nowadays, with the spread of media, the vocabulary used by Spanish court interpreters is becoming a fixture in the Spanish language. U.S Spanish language radio stations and translated television shows such as Perry Mason are using the same vocabulary as court interpreters, said Contreras.

Although court interpreters work with an accepted vocabulary when translating U.S. legal terminology, Contreras said she nonetheless sometimes finds herself in a quandary. Defendants charged with shoplifting have used in their defense the Spanish saying "se me hizo f ácil," which means, "I thought it would be easy" or "I didn’t think much of it." Contreras worries that this translation might mislead the judge. "It’s going to prejudice him," she said, because in this specific context the sentiment is more "I wasn’t thinking."

Currently, certification to perform court translations is offered in Arabic, Cantonese, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese. For those who translate in other languages they can become what the courts call registered interpreters, where people meet the basic requirements developed for court interpreters.

, Some languages offer very rare vernaculars, such as the Mung language, a dialect of the Vietnamese language Phunoi, thus presenting courts with unique challenges of interpretation.

"That’s when people have to become creative," said Beth Gatchalin, a court service annalist with the state’s court interpretive services. Court officials will then call other counties looking for a registered interpreter. If none can be found, they will also check online, reach out to colleges, community organizations or even call up a restaurant.

Most of the state’s interpreters work as independent contractors and are paid $265 a day and $147 for half day. Permanent positions pay between $30,000 to $66,000 a year.

Even though California is the most linguistically diverse state in the nation, speaking over 220 languages, Contreras and other state certified interpreters have never been formally hired as employees. The California Federation of Interpreters, together with organizations such as the Bay Area Court Interpreters Association, have been fighting for job stability, heath care and pension plans. Last week, on Sunday, September 29, Governor Grey Davis signed the "Trial Court Interpreter Employment and Labor Relations Act," which will make interpreters court employees. State courts have till July 2003 to honor the bill.