During the month of September, Statewide Language Access Coordinator Jennifer Verhein, with outstanding clerical support from Ashtin Pawloski, administered Written Interpreter Exams in Grand Island, Omaha, Norfolk, and Lincoln. Twenty aspiring court interpreters who collectively speak six different languages took the 135-question multiple-choice test of English language, court-related vocabulary, and interpreter ethics. 

Eight who tested achieved a score qualifying them to sit for the Oral Interpreter Exam, which is the final step in court interpreter certification.  This 40% passing rate on the Written Exam is the highest in Language Access Program history and among the highest nationally!  Since Spring 2016, the passage rate hovered between 20 and 25%, a marked improvement from earlier test scores, thanks to establishing a window of study time between Interpreter Orientation and the Written Exam.   This year’s leap in the passage rate is thanks in part to Nebraska’s increasingly successful recruitment of skilled candidates.

Those aspiring court interpreters who passed the Written Exam this month attribute their success to Nebraska’s interactive Interpreter Orientation workshop, twice a week Test Tips and Vocabulary Building emails from Verhein, and intensive study individually and in groups.