Translation and interpreting services in Pike Creek

Language access rules in Delaware

Court interpreter program

Delaware Court Interpreter Program, managed by the Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) under the direction of the Court Interpreter Advisory Board, which recruits, tests, and certifies interpreters and maintains the Court Interpreter Registry used by the courts and state agencies.

Court-certified languages

The program offers oral certification exams in Amharic, Arabic, Bosnian/Serbian/Croatian, Cantonese, Filipino (Tagalog), French, Haitian Creole, Hmong, Khmer, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Turkish, and Vietnamese, and qualifies interpreters in other languages through oral proficiency interviews; the Registry lists Certified Interpreters, Conditionally-Approved Interpreters, and Registered Candidates.

The rule

Delaware Supreme Court Administrative Directive No. 107 (April 1996) established the Court Interpreter Program, and the AOC Court Interpreter Program Policy Directive governs court-provided interpreters for LEP adults, juveniles, and parents of juveniles in all state courts; 10 Del. C. § 8907 gives deaf parties and witnesses in any legal proceeding the right to a court-appointed qualified sign language interpreter.

Interpreter order of preference

Delaware's judiciary Language Access Plan directs courts to use in-person Certified Interpreters first, Conditionally-Approved Interpreters next, and Registered Candidates only for arraignments, capias returns, minor violations in the lower courts, and non-evidentiary hearings, and to make every effort to use only Certified Interpreters in trials of more serious matters.

Limits on telephone interpreting in court

The judiciary's Language Access Plan states that, under the AOC Court Interpreter Program Policy Directive, telephonic interpreting in court proceedings is permitted only after a good-faith effort to obtain an in-person interpreter fails and the proceeding is non-evidentiary, expected to last no more than 30 minutes, and needs only one interpreter, except for preliminary arraignments, emergency PFA proceedings, and other emergency proceedings.

Deaf parties and witnesses

10 Del. C. § 8907 requires the court to appoint a qualified sign language interpreter for a deaf party or witness in any legal proceeding, with fees set by the court and paid from government funds in criminal cases and as the court directs in civil cases.

Social services interpreters and translation

Delaware Division of Social Services Manual § 1009, final effective February 10, 2013, requires DSS staff to arrange interpreter and translation services for limited English proficient applicants and clients through bilingual staff or a contracted vendor, and DSS translates forms and documents into languages common in Delaware.

State agency language access reporting

Title 29, Chapter 106 of the Delaware Code (84 Del. Laws c. 454) required selected state programs to report each December 1 on language access and disability communication and defined vital documents, but the Code annotation states the chapter expires September 30, 2026.

Court language demand

In fiscal year 2020, 4,138 Delaware court events required 6,776 foreign-language interpreter hours for an estimated 8,104 LEP individuals; Spanish, Haitian Creole, and Mandarin were the top three languages, and the program provides certified and otherwise qualified interpreters in 50 languages.