Interpreter Services

Arabic	Chinese	Korean	Laotian	Russian	Spanish	Tagalog	Vietnamese

From Afghani to Zulu, King County Superior Court's Office of Interpreter Services (OIS) obtains interpreters for more than 100 different languages to assist non-English speakers with court matters. OIS has offices in all three of the Superior Court's facilities.

Types of Assistance

Interpreters assist litigants 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, OIS does not assist with child abuse and neglect cases. The Department of Social and Health Services coordinates interpreter services for these cases.

Making an Appointment

• Litigants seeking an interpreter can leave a message 24 hours a day, 7 days a week at 206-296-9358.
  
• Allow at least 24 hours to schedule an appointment with a foreign spoken language interpreter and at least one week with an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter.

• Caller's Name
• Caller’s Telephone Number
• Litigant’s Name (the person who needs the interpreter)
• Litigant’s Telephone Number
• Nine-Digit Superior Court Case Number
• Language Needed
• Date of Event
• Time and Length of Event
• Judge’s Name or Location of Event
• Attorney’s Name and Telephone Number (if applicable)

Fees

Services are free for clients with a public defender and for ASL interpretation. In other cases, interpreters can assist with completing forms to determine if a litigant qualifies for free or reduced fee services.

Quality Assurance

In accordance with state law, OIS strives to provide only court certified interpreters in the languages listed below, and carefully screened and qualified interpreters in all other languages, or when no court certified interpreter is available:

Office Locations