Translation and interpreting services in Raleigh

Language access rules in North Carolina

Court interpreter program

North Carolina Administrative Office of the Courts (NCAOC), Office of Language Access Services (OLAS), which sets language access standards for the state courts, provides spoken-language court interpreters, and administers court interpreter training and certification testing.

Court-certified languages

OLAS administers court interpreter training and the National Center for State Courts certification testing, and NCAOC provides certified staff court interpreters in nine counties (Alamance, Buncombe, Chatham, Durham, Forsyth, Guilford, Mecklenburg, Orange, and Wake) plus contract court interpreters; the Judicial Branch bench card directs courts to allow only Judicial Branch-authorized interpreters in court, never family or friends, and not judicial officials or court personnel.

The rule

G.S. 7A-343(9c) directs the NCAOC Director to prescribe policies and procedures, applied uniformly across the General Court of Justice, for the appointment and payment of foreign language interpreters, and under the Judicial Branch's Standards for Language Access Services the state pays for interpreters in all civil and criminal court proceedings; G.S. 8B-2(a) requires the court to appoint a qualified interpreter when a deaf person is a party or witness in any civil or criminal proceeding in superior or district court, including juvenile proceedings, special proceedings, and proceedings before the magistrate.

Court interpreters at state expense

The Judicial Branch's Language Access Bench Card, issued under the Standards for Language Access Services, states that the Judicial Branch provides interpreters at state expense in all civil and criminal court proceedings before magistrates, clerks of superior court, district and superior court judges, the Court of Appeals, and the Supreme Court, plus child custody mediation, permanency mediation, and child planning conferences, and that interpreter costs may not be charged to the parties.

Deaf interpreters in agencies and arrests

G.S. 8B-2 requires a qualified interpreter when a deaf person is a party or witness in an administrative proceeding before any state, county, or city department, board, commission, agency, or licensing authority, and requires an arresting officer to immediately procure one for any interrogation, warning, or notification of rights, with statements taken without a qualified interpreter present inadmissible.

Sign language interpreter licensure

Under G.S. 90D-4, no one may practice as an interpreter or transliterator for deaf or hard-of-hearing people for a fee in North Carolina without a license from the North Carolina Interpreter and Transliterator Licensing Board, subject to limited exemptions (such as educational interpreters and emergencies), and G.S. 90D-14 authorizes civil penalties of up to $1,000 per violation.

Medicaid provider communication-aid costs

NC Medicaid and DMH/DD/SAS Joint Communication Bulletin J351 (December 19, 2019) states that the cost of interpreters and other communication aids for people who are deaf, blind, deaf-blind, or hard of hearing is accounted for in Medicaid reimbursement rates and may never be passed on to the individual, and that the Department may withhold payment or terminate the Provider Agreement of a provider that fails to comply with federal law, including the ADA.

Official language

G.S. 145-12 declares English the official language of North Carolina, while stating that it does not supersede rights guaranteed by the U.S. or North Carolina Constitutions.

Refugee program

The NCDHHS State Refugee Office, within the Division of Social Services and funded under Title IV of the Immigration and Nationality Act, administers refugee cash and medical assistance for up to 12 months and refugee services, including English training and translation, generally for a refugee's first five years in the U.S.