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English, Spanish, Polish during Sherman crash trial(Dallas Morning News, The (KRT) Via Thomson Dialog NewsEdge) Apr. 10--Spanish, Polish and English simultaneously filled the courtroom, relating testimony in the Grayson County courtroom last week. Two court interpreters worked side by side as testimony was translated to Polish for the immigrant truck driver on trial for killing 10 people, and the two survivors testified in Spanish about the fiery Sherman crash. Communities and their diversity continue growing across the area. So do the number of interpreters needed to make sure everyone -- no matter their native tongue -- gets a fair chance in the criminal justice system. "I have definitely noticed that the need is higher. There are more and more immigrants coming in. But not just in Dallas. I have noticed an increase in Tarrant, Collin and Denton counties," said Access Language Center President Gerda Stendell, whose Richardson business provides interpreters to courts across the area. With that growing need comes an increased cost to counties, which are required by state and federal law to provide an interpreter to people unable to understand or speak English. Collin County paid about $138,119 to court interpreters in 2005 based on payments to the seven interpreting agencies regularly used by the county. That's more than a $32,000 increase over the previous year. Denton County saw a steady increase in court translator costs until 2001, when the numbers jumped after the state required that court interpreters be licensed in counties with more than 50,000 residents, said Denton County auditor James Wells. In 2001, Denton county paid about $39,000 to court translators. Last year, it paid $106,000 for the service, Mr. Wells said. But he points out that in the county's $135 million budget, that increase has a minimal impact. Judge John Barry of Collin County Court at Law No. 3 said the push for interpreters is apparent. "As our county grows, we do have the occasion to use more interpreting than in the past," Judge Barry said. "Spanish is the most common. But we have seen Vietnamese, Chinese, Farsi and Korean," indicating that languages from Asian countries closely follow Spanish in Collin County. Ms. Stendell -- whose company started contracting with Dallas County in April 2005 -- said that Dallas has more requests for Hindi interpreters, because of their larger Indian community. There are also regular requests for Vietnamese, Korean and Arabic translators. But she said Spanish is by far the most requested. The Sherman case was unique, requiring multiple languages translated in court at once. Maria Szumanski was the Polish court interpreter for the truck driver during his plea and sentencing hearings. Dr. Szumanski is not a licensed court interpreter but has worked as a Polish medical interpreter, in which she said the goal is to promote the understanding between patient and doctor. "In court, the goal is fairness. The ideal of court interpretation is that everybody should have the same chances," said Dr. Szumanski, whose doctorate is in biochemistry and nutrition. "And I work like a transformer from one language to the other." Christopher Milner, chief of the special crimes division for the Collin County district attorney's office, said the capabilities of the interpreter factors into whether a trial runs smoothly. "A superb simultaneous interpreter is a joy to work with. And anyone less than superb is a pain in the butt to work with," Mr. Milner said. "I'm reasonably fluent in Spanish. And so I'm always extremely critical of simultaneous English-Spanish interpretation. I don't hesitate to object" when there is an improper translation, he said. Ron Wood, who lost his mother, sister and three nephews in the Sherman crash, sat through the truck driver's plea and sentencing hearing and said that he wasn't bothered by the interpreters. "It was kind of like the United Nations ... but I thought it was all done very professionally," he said. So much so, that he asked Dr. Szumanski to translate a short phrase into Polish, so he could speak directly to the truck driver during his victim impact statement at the end of the hearing that sentenced the driver to 10 years in prison for causing the accident. In Polish, he said: "Though it will be very difficult ... in my life I will try to find it in my heart to forgive you." Afterward Mr. Wood said, "I wanted it to have an impact. I wanted to communicate with him directly." Email [email protected] The costs of providing court interpreters COLLIN COUNTY In 2004, Collin County paid $105,640.45 to seven court interpreter service providers commonly used by the county. Last year, that increased to $138,119.89. DENTON COUNTY There was a steady increase in the amount paid to court interpreters in Denton County over the years with a noticeable jump in 2002. The county paid $60,000 in 2002; $92,000 in 2003; $102,000 in 2004; and $106,000 last year. TARRANT COUNTY Tarrant County has paid less overall. In 2005, they paid $52,572 for interpretation service. But even that number is a slight increase over the previous year, according to the county auditor, who did not have previous figures immediately available. DALLAS COUNTY Between June 2005 -- the first full month that Access Language Center acquired a contract with Dallas County -- and March of this year, the Richardson company saw an 18 percent increase in payments for court interpreters provided to Dallas County. The actual number was not available Friday afternoon, because the administrator who handles that information was not available, according to Rachel Horton, a spokeswoman for the Dallas County district attorney's office. |