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Superior Court Interpreter Services

From Afghani to Zulu, Superior Court's Office of Interpreter Services has interpreters for more than 160 different languages to assist non-English speakers with court matters. Interpretation services are provided at no cost for all court events.

Interpreters assist during attorney-client consultations and arraignments, hearings, trials, and other court events. They also interpret for deaf jurors, classes for parents and truant youth, and appointments with court personnel.

In most cases, we do not assist with child abuse and neglect cases. The Department of Children, Youth, and Families coordinates interpreter services for these cases.

We provide orientation for interpreters. We also teach judges, attorneys, and court personnel on how to get and use interpreters.

Under state law, we provide court-certified interpreters in:

  • Arabic (Egyptian)
  • Arabic (Levantine)
  • Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian
  • Cantonese
  • French
  • Korean
  • Laotian
  • Mandarin
  • Marshallese
  • Punjabi
  • Russian
  • Spanish
  • Tagalog
  • Vietnamese

We carefully screen interpreters in all other languages, or when no court-certified interpreter is available.

How to request an interpreter

Provide as much notice as possible before your scheduled court event. This will give us enough time to find the interpreter you need. This is especially important for languages where interpreters are scarce.

Our Interpreter Payment Policies details that compensation is a non-negotiable hourly rate.

Request an interpreter using an online form

If you want to use your own interpreter, you will be responsible for paying them. The court will not provide additional interpreter services in this case. Your chosen interpreter must also have the correct expert qualifications to be allowed in.

Locations

We have offices in 3 King County buildings.

King County Courthouse
516 3rd Avenue
Room C-701
Seattle, WA 98104

Maleng Regional Justice Center
401 N. 4th Avenue
Room G0262
Kent, WA 98032

Judge Patricia H. Clark Children and Family Justice Center
1211 E. Alder Street
Room 225
Seattle, WA 98122

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