Legal Language Services ranks Alaska as a state with moderately regulated legal interpreting requirements.
According to Alaska state law, all parties, witnesses, and victims involved in a court proceeding with limited English proficiency are entitled to court-appointed interpreting services at no extra cost regardless of language requirements.
Alaska’s Language Interpreter Center periodically offers exams, both written and oral, for certification in several languages based on the guidelines of the Consortium for Language Access in the Courts. However, Alaska does not require certified interpreters for any legal proceeding.
Alaska offers certification in 20 languages:
The Alaska Federal Clerk of Courts office reports that if legal interpreters are not available locally, individual judges may request the presence of a certified interpreter from outside the state if it is deemed necessary in arbitration, court proceedings, or depositions. Telephonic interpreting services are frequently called upon to fulfill the need for interpreters in the state.
Alaska defines interpreters in the following two ways:
According to a recent American Community Survey, approximately 16.08 percent of the Alaska population speaks a language other than English.
What’s more, almost 85 percent of the non-English speaking population in Alaska speaks one of the following 10 languages:
Other languages spoken in Alaska include Japanese, Chinese, Ilocano, Miao-Mien, Laotian, Polish, Vietnamese, Thai, Arabic, Hawaiian and Italian.
Legal interpreting requirements can vary by district in Alaska. This state has four judicial districts that encompass 28 counties:
1st Judicial District of Alaska
Counties: Haines, Juneau, Ketchikan Gateway, Prince of Wales-Outer Ketchikan, Sitka, Skagway-Yakutat-Angoon, Wrangell-Petersburg
2nd Judicial District of Alaska
Counties: Nome, Northwest Arctic, North Slope, Wade Hampton
(This district includes man-made oil drilling islands/pads in the Arctic Ocean)
3rd Judicial District of Alaska
Counties: Aleutians East, Aleutians West, Anchorage, Bristol Bay, Dillingham, Kenai Peninsula, Kodiak Island, Lake and Peninsula, Matanuska-Susitna, Pribilof Islands, Valdez-Cordova
4th Judicial District of Alaska
Counties: Bethel, Denali, Fairbanks North Star, Southeast Fairbanks, Saint Matthew Island, Yukon-Koyukuk
Call Legal Language Services at 1-800-788-0450 to find Alaska interpreters who meet state interpreting rules for courtroom trials, hearings, depositions, arbitrations, and other legal proceedings.
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 Alaska is believed to be accurate at the time of posting; however, Legal Language Services is not responsible for any errors or omissions.
