Translation and interpreting services in Sitka

Language access rules in Alaska

Court interpreter program

Alaska Court System Language Interpreter Services, part of the Language Access Section of the court system's Administrative Office in Anchorage; its statewide Interpreter Services Coordinator recruits, tests, and certifies interpreter candidates and maintains a registry of qualified interpreters contracted for in-person, telephonic, and video remote courtroom interpreting.

Court-certified languages

The court system has two spoken-language tiers: qualified (orientation, ALTA oral proficiency inventory, court interpreter training, NCSC written exam, and criminal background check) and certified (all qualified requirements plus the NCSC oral exam in their language, with at least 70% in each of its three sections). As of October 2026 the court system has temporarily suspended interpreter training and testing and hopes to resume in 2027.

The rule

Alaska Administrative Rule 6(b) requires the court system to provide and pay for the necessary services of an interpreter during court proceedings for all parties, witnesses, and victims with limited English proficiency in all cases, plus parents or guardians in delinquency cases and tribal representatives, foster parents, out-of-home care providers, and grandparents in child-in-need-of-aid cases; Administrative Rule 6.1 requires the court system to provide and pay for interpreters in civil and criminal cases where a party or witness is deaf, mute, or otherwise unable to communicate effectively because of a physical disability.

Second interpreter and table interpreters

Under Administrative Rule 6(d), the court system may provide and pay for a second qualified interpreter at any hearing or trial exceeding two hours, but a party that wants a separate table interpreter at counsel table for attorney-client communications must provide and pay for that interpreter.

Interpreters for people with disabilities

Administrative Rule 6.1 requires the court system to provide and pay for interpreter services in civil and criminal cases where a party or witness is deaf, mute, or otherwise unable to communicate effectively because of a physical disability, at rates set by Administrative Bulletin 82.

Voting Rights Act Section 203 coverage

Alaska is covered under Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act for Alaska Native languages, with the 2020 federal determinations covering Yup'ik dialects (Aleutians East, Bethel, Bristol Bay, Dillingham, Kusilvak, Lake and Peninsula, Nome), Inupiat (North Slope, Northwest Arctic), and Filipino/Tagalog (Aleutians West, Kodiak Island); the Division of Elections provides translated written and oral election materials, on-call Election Day interpreters, and bilingual registrars and poll workers.

Official languages

The 2015 text of AS 44.12.310, as quoted by the state's Council on Alaska Native Languages, names English and 20 Alaska Native languages, including Inupiaq, Siberian Yupik, Central Alaskan Yup'ik, Alutiiq, Unangax, Gwich'in, Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian, as official languages of the State of Alaska.

Court language demand

In fiscal year 2023 the Alaska Court System received 1,159 requests for spoken-language interpreters across 43 languages and 242 requests for American Sign Language; Spanish was most requested, followed by Samoan, Tagalog, Somali, Korean, and Arabic, with requests for Alaska Native languages such as Central Yup'ik.