The NYS Unified Court System offers an intensive 20-hour internship program to bilingual students. Interested students must be proficient in the English language as well as a second language, and interested in pursuing or exploring a career as a court interpreter. During the internship, students will learn about court interpreter ethics, the three modes of interpreting, the structure of the courts, different case types and lessons from a day in the life of a court interpreter.
The Spring 2023 Introductory Court Interpreter Internships are scheduled on Fridays, for 5 weeks, 9am – 1pm. There are two schedules between February – March 2023.
- Session I:
- Friday, February 3, 2023 (9:30am-1:30pm), Friday, February 10, 2023 (9:00am-1:00pm), Friday, February 17, 2023 (9:00am-1:00pm), Friday, February 24, 2023 (9:00am-1:00pm), and Friday, March 3, 2023 (9:30am-1:30pm)
- Session II:
- Friday, March 17, 2023 (9:30am-1:30pm), Friday, March 24, 2023 (9:00am-1:00pm), Friday, March 31, 2023 (9:00am-1:00pm), Friday, April 7, 2023 (9:00am-1:00pm), and Friday, April 21, 2023 (9:30am-1:30pm)
Eligibility for this internship program is following:
- Interested in court interpreting as a career
- Proficient in English and another language (if you are not sure about your proficiency level, please stop by the Modern Language Lab (B-206) for a language assessment test by 1/5/2023)
- Current student at LaGuardia Community College
The NYS Court System is especially interested in the following high-needs languages (but they are also open to speakers of other languages): Albanian, Arabic, ASL, Bengali, Bosnian, Burmese, Cantonese, French, German, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Karen, Korean, Mandarin, Nepali, Pashtu, Polish, Punjabi, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Twi, and Vietnamese
With support from the Center for Career & Professional Development, student interns will receive a small amount of stipends ($400), Metrocards, as well as pre-internship workshops and orientation for this internship.
Also, those who have completed an internship program have an opportunity to take the Per Diem (part-time) Court Interpreter examination and register as a per-diem court interpreter. The pay rate for part-time interpreters is $300 per day and $170 for a half day. Only a high school diploma is required to become a Per Diem Court Interpreter (but you should be able to work legally in the U.S.).
Please see the website below for more information about the internship program and the Per Diem Court Interpreter position.
- NYS Court Interpreters website: https://www.nycourts.gov/courtinterpreter/
- NYS Court Interpreters flyer (for LaGuardia students): https://bit.ly/3jvQmYy
- Example of Consecutive Interpreting at the court (Spanish): https://youtu.be/tFsKulFcauY
- Example of Simultaneous Interpreting at the court (Spanish): https://youtu.be/2vfpRO2mw9k
If you are interested, please submit your application through this online form (https://bit.ly/LaGCC_CourtInterpret) by Sunday, January 15, 2023. For inquiries, please contact Yacquelin Nava-Shahin (ynava@lagcc.cuny.edu / B-114 / 718-482-5235) or Tomonori Nagano (tnagano@lagcc.cuny.edu / 718-482-5484 / B-234FF).
Those who are interested in the internship program should contact Prof. Tomonori Nagano at tnagano@lagcc.cuny.edu / 718-482-5484 / B-234FF.
[Updated on Tuesday, April 25, 2023]
The NYS Court Interpreter Internship Program was featured by the CUNY Newswire again.
