Legal Interpreting Guidelines in North Carolina

Requirements for Certified Interpreters in North Carolina

While North Carolina does not require certified interpreters for any situation, the use of certified interpreters are strongly encouraged whenever possible.

North Carolina state authorities periodically offer exams, both written and oral, for certification based on the guidelines of the Consortium for Language Access in the Courts. In addition, the state of North Carolina accepts certification from member states participating in the Consortium for Language Access in the Courts.

North Carolina offers certification in following languages:

Classification of Interpreters in North Carolina

The North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts defines legal interpreters in the following ways:

• Certified Court Interpreter: An interpreter who meets minimum professional competency standards and has achieved a passing score on an oral certification exam for court interpreters recognized by the NCAOC.
  • Master Certified (A1): An interpreter who has passed the Federal Court Interpreter Certification Examination (FCICE), passed the examination administered by the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT), or achieved scores of at least 80 percent on each section of the North Carolina Court Interpreter Certification Examination (NCCICE).
  • Certified (A2): An interpreter who has achieved a passing score of at least 70 percent on all three sections of the NCCICE, and has scored no less than 65 percent on each of the sight-translation portions of the exam.
• Conditionally Qualified Court Interpreter: An interpreter who has passed two of the three sections of the NCCICE or come within 10 points of passing all three sections of the NCCICE.
• Minimally Qualified Court Interpreter: An interpreter who works in a language other than Spanish and has not achieved certification but has met minimum requirements to be considered for court interpreting assignments when a professionally certified or qualified interpreter is not available.

Common Languages Spoken in North Carolina

According to a recent American Community Survey, approximately 10.34% of the North Carolina population speaks a language other than English.

What’s more, almost 84% of the non-English speaking population in North Carolina speaks one of the following 10 languages:

Other languages spoken in North Carolina include Russian, Hmong, Italian, Japanese, Greek, Urdu, Portuguese, Telugu, Kru/Ibo/Yoruba, Mon-Khmer/Cambodian, Laotian, Persian, Mandarin, Tamil, Amharic, French Creole, Panjabi, Thai and Polish.

*This table was created based on respondents’ written answers, the majority of whom wrote “Chinese” while others specified “Cantonese” or “Mandarin.”

Judicial Districts in North Carolina

There are 30 judicial districts in North Carolina that encompass 100 counties. However, certification requirements in North Carolina are statewide and remain consistent across all local jurisdictions.

Call Legal Language Services at 1-800-788-0450 to find North Carolina interpreters who meet state interpreting rules for courtroom trials, hearings, depositions, arbitrations and other legal proceedings.

Please Note

The content provided on this page is for informational purposes only and should not be construed as legal advice. The information about legal interpreting guidelines in North Carolina is believed to be accurate at the time of posting; however, Legal Language Services is not responsible for any errors or omissions.