Speaker 1: Thank you, Krystal, for being here and for your patience.

Speaker 2: No, thank you for having me.

Speaker 1: It looks like we're finally up and running. And I'll just introduce both of us for anybody who's joining us. My name is Marco Hanson. I'm a Spanish court interpreter in Texas. That means that I help people who only speak Spanish to interact with the court system, whether it's inside of a trial or a hearing or sometimes at a deposition or an interview or a meeting with an attorney, that kind of thing. And I teach a class at the University of Texas Austin on court interpreting. And one of my students this last fall was Krystal Morones, one of my star students, I should say, very dedicated and enthusiastic. And she signed up recently to take the written exam, which is sort of the first milestone, the first obstacle if you want to become a court interpreter. And that's given here in Austin on a quarterly basis, I believe. And so I talked to her after she got out of the test this week and asked her if she would share some comments with us on what it's like so that other people who are interested in becoming court interpreters can kind of psych themselves up and prepare for it. Everybody gets nervous going into an exam, a high stakes test like this. You have to pay for it. Whether or not you pass, you have to pay for it. And half the people who take it the first time don't pass. And so there's a lot on the line. And so I just asked her if she would share us a little bit about her experiences, starting with introducing yourself. Krystal, what do you do for a living currently?

Speaker 2: Hi, so like Marco mentioned, I am Krystal Morones. And right now my occupation is a Commissioner's Court Secretary for Matagorda County. And so with me being in the field, in the legal field, that is why I decided to pursue my career becoming a licensed court interpreter.

Speaker 1: All right, thank you. And do you have a lot of Spanish speakers that come into the courthouse that you're called upon to deal with because you're the bilingual staff member?

Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely, I do. There's probably two of us who speak Spanish in the whole courthouse. And I am constantly having to be called to translate or interpret in every office. So yes, definitely much needed.

Speaker 1: So you feel like the next career step is to get your license so that you can interpret in any setting inside or outside of court?

Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely.

Speaker 1: Okay, good idea. So after you decide to become a court interpreter, you have to take an orientation course, which you did, the one through UT. And then you have to submit an application to an office with the state government, is that right? Yes, that's correct. And you have to pay a fee and they run a background check. Have you done that? Have you given your fingerprints?

Speaker 2: Yes, yes. And actually, there was one issue with the whole fingerprint thing. I had to go get my fingerprints done and I submitted it when I submitted my application. Turns out it was the right fingerprints. So I had to go back and get it redone. It's something that BBCC requires. And so I just want to make sure that everybody, when you guys go and do this, make sure you're doing, you're getting the right fingerprint tests done.

Speaker 1: So you went to the right place, but they offer different kinds of tests and the first time you did the wrong one. Okay. There's a lot of detailed paperwork you have to double check before you go in.

Speaker 2: Yeah, for sure. Make sure you read every single email word for word.

Speaker 1: So you mentioned the JBCC. Is that the organization you deal with to go through the process?

Speaker 2: Yes, yes.

Speaker 1: The Judicial Branch Certification Commission?

Speaker 2: Yes.

Speaker 1: And then once you pass your criminal background check and your orientation course, they give you a date or you choose a date to take the written test. Is that the next step?

Speaker 2: Yes, they do offer a few dates and you choose the one that you would like to attend.

Speaker 1: And yours was last Monday or Tuesday, wasn't it?

Speaker 2: Yes, sir.

Speaker 1: And so you have to drive out to Austin, even if you live in El Paso or Lubbock or Brownsville or wherever?

Speaker 2: Yes. For me, it was a three hour drive. I made the decision to stay the night before to get a good night's sleep.

Speaker 1: Okay, good. Because it's a morning test. It was too early to drive straight out.

Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, yeah. Way too early. So I would have had to leave at five in the morning if I wanted to, but didn't want to get there exhausted.

Speaker 1: So when I took the test, it was a while back and things have changed since then. And so I'm wondering, what's the experience like now? You show up on test day, do you have to have some piece of paper with an approval number or how does it work? What do they ask you?

Speaker 2: So I don't know if the process is different now because of COVID, but the process for me was they wanted you to appear 15 minutes before just to make sure that they're going to check your temp and you had to have your ID with you. And so I think with you applying online, you had received an email saying that you were going to come at such and such date. You have a such and such number for your exam. And I think they have it on the computer. So you had to show up with your ID and they'll check you in and you'll go into the testing site. So they asked us to arrive 30 minutes prior, but they didn't start checking us in until 15 minutes before the exam time. So just to make sure that we had everything that we needed, make sure that you don't have your cell phone, anything at all. You couldn't even take a pencil, just yourself. And if you did have to have a wallet, they were going to check through it and make sure you don't have a cell phone or anything else with you. And very, very easy process. There was little of us there. So it was quick and easy to come in.

Speaker 1: Do you have to go through a security checkpoint, kind of like the airport to get into the building?

Speaker 2: No, actually, no, we didn't have to.

Speaker 1: Okay, but no phone, no water bottle. Can you bring in water or just yourself?

Speaker 2: Basically just yourself. Yes, the less the better.

Speaker 1: And then somebody met you there and checked you off on a list and then showed you into the testing room?

Speaker 2: Yes, that's correct.

Speaker 1: Was it sort of like a classroom or more of a conference room setup?

Speaker 2: It's more like a conference room setup. It was a lot smaller on the smaller side. And there were six of us that were testing. So I think that's why they are limiting, they're also limiting how many people they're letting in with COVID going on. So yes, it was a small conference room.

Speaker 1: Okay, and then is it a paper test or computer based?

Speaker 2: Paper test.

Speaker 1: And I guess they give you the pencils?

Speaker 2: Yes, they did provide the pencils. Afterwards, they just asked if you'd like to keep them or just throw them away. Again, with the coronavirus, I think that's one of the procedures that they decided to take.

Speaker 1: Okay, and I'm looking here at the JBCC website and I see that the written exam has 135 multiple choice questions and that you're allowed up to two hours and 15 minutes. Do you think you need two hours and 15 minutes or does it actually take less time than that?

Speaker 2: I can see someone needing more, using the two hours and 15 minutes. For me, I took about an hour and 40 minutes to take the exam. And that was with me taking my time not skimming through everything, taking my time doing the exam and rechecking all my answers, making sure that I had everything correct. So an hour and 40 minutes, I think was the max with everybody else also taking the test.

Speaker 1: Okay, I'll put in a couple of links underneath the video after this post with some written information on what the exam contains. But I'm just looking at the webpage now and I see that the three sections cover general language proficiency, are you fluent in English, either your native language or have you been educated in American English? Two, court related terminology, do you know what things like subpoena and filing and affidavit mean? And three, ethics and professional conduct. Do you have an awareness of what your expectations are as a court interpreter, what you can and cannot do and what things you have to be aware of? And as I recall from back when I took it, it was mostly just general language knowledge, synonyms, antonyms, idioms, figures of speech. Was that the bulk of the test still?

Speaker 2: Yes, yes, it was. Mike, you mentioned general knowledge in English, idioms, colloquialisms, can never pronounce that word. That word is difficult to pronounce. And antonyms, synonyms, procedure in court and court terminology as well. And I think in grammar and sequence.

Speaker 1: Okay, and you're going to be a Spanish interpreter, but there was no Spanish on the written test, right?

Speaker 2: Yes, no, none at all.

Speaker 1: 100% English?

Speaker 2: Yes, 100%.

Speaker 1: Okay, so I see a question that's popped up in the chat. No synonyms and antonyms. Was there a section on synonyms or antonyms?

Speaker 2: Yes, there was one whole section for just antonyms. There was another section of just synonyms as well.

Speaker 1: Okay, so we can't talk about any specific words or questions that were on the test for confidentiality reasons, but can you tell us what your process was like getting ready? How did you study and prepare for this?

Speaker 2: So I had an advantage with the court terminology and court procedure with my occupation. So I was very familiar with a lot of the court terminology and also the procedure and the process. I think what I did was study more on the, because I work with a county judge, so more studying on the felony side and the felony terminology for felony criminal court. And another thing was I had downloaded a few apps on my phone and just to try to get, just to try to expand my vocabulary, trying to get these, I think it's called a word a day or word every day. And so writing new words every day, just in general and also for the exam and taking an hour out of my time, whether it was at work when I had finished all my work or at home. And studying common idioms. And I think that was a huge help. And flashcards also. Flashcards helped a lot. A lot of terminology that I did not know. That was a huge help.

Speaker 1: Were there words on the test that you thought, oh, I just learned this recently. I'm glad I was studying so much.

Speaker 2: Yes, I did actually. I think there was a word that I came across and I was, when I was studying and I'm like, man, I know that word. I know what it means. And then later on, I came across that word again and I looked it up and it meant nothing of what I thought it meant. So I'm glad that I did looked it up. I did study it and it did happen to come up on the test. So I was grateful for that.

Speaker 1: So you don't know yet what your score is going to be. It takes a while to get that back, right?

Speaker 2: Yes, yes. About 30 days.

Speaker 1: And if not, I'm going to assume that you passed. You probably passed. But if not, what are the rules about retaking it?

Speaker 2: So you have to wait six months until you retake the test. You would have to pay the $200 fee again. And I think they wait, they have you wait the six months because of chances of you passing. Again, unless that six months period, it's not likely.

Speaker 1: Okay. Do you have any suggestions for somebody who's watching and is thinking about doing the same thing? How they might prepare?

Speaker 2: I think definitely just preparing yourself with the vocabulary for someone who isn't familiar with the core proceedings and the core terminology. Definitely target your study time in that. Also, I mean, antonyms and synonyms. For I guess someone who doesn't speak English, that would be another thing too. Flashcards, like I mentioned before, written flashcards are a lot better to learn from than phone apps, in my opinion, just because you take the time to actually write it out and draw pictures or do something that you know yourself that you can want to come back and study these words.

Speaker 1: Yeah, I think just the process of making the flashcard is where half of the learning takes place. Looking it up, thinking about it, writing it down, trying to come up with some way of remembering it. And then reviewing the flashcards is just icing on the cake.

Speaker 2: Oh yeah, for sure.

Speaker 1: All right. Well, those are all the questions I had. I told you this was going to be brief, but we will be posting it on the page after this. And so maybe people will jump in and ask some questions later on. If there's anybody on right now who has a question for Crystal before we say goodnight, you can type it in the chat and we will answer that. I'll also be adding some links afterwards of where you can find written detailed information from the JBCC, which is the Texas office that administers it, or the NCSC, which is a national organization that creates the test. And they both have a lot of free resources online to help you study and prepare. And this page, Become a Texas Court Interpreter, is a good place to just find other people who are going through the process who want to study together or who can answer questions for you. There's a lot of aspiring court interpreters and practicing court interpreters who read posts on this page. But it looks like we don't have any other questions tonight. Thank you so much, Crystal. This is exactly what I was hoping for. And I appreciate your willingness to give back and help other people who are in this together with us.

Speaker 2: Yes, absolutely. Study, study, study. That's all I really can say. Once I, I was nervous before I got to the, before I got to the testing site. But once I started, I felt relieved that I did study and I did take the time. So study.

Speaker 1: Thank you so much.

Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely.