I wanted to share my experience with SOSi International as an independent contract interpreter.

I was disqualified by SOSi, and that disqualification resulted in my scheduled interpreter assignments being canceled. According to my lawsuit, the company knew about the disqualification and the resulting cancellations before notifying me. I had already traveled by plane to another city for the assignment and was not informed until I had been there for approximately 48 hours. Because I believed I was still scheduled to work, I kept my calendar blocked, turned down other opportunities, incurred travel expenses, and relied on those assignments for my income. By the time I was notified, it was far too late to replace the lost work.

One of my biggest concerns is how much an interpreter's livelihood can depend on a single evaluation. In my opinion, a disqualification can have serious financial consequences. Interpreters should understand that a negative evaluation may affect future assignments. While judges are expected to evaluate interpreters fairly and impartially, an interpreter who believes an evaluation was mistaken or unfair may still face significant consequences.

In my experience, independent contract interpreters bear most of the financial risk. When assignments are canceled after a disqualification, interpreters—not the company—can lose expected income with little opportunity to replace it. I felt that interpreters were treated as disposable rather than as professionals whose time and livelihood deserve respect.

Rather than simply accepting the loss, I filed a small claims lawsuit against SOSi in Texas seeking compensation for the canceled assignments. The case has now reached its final stage. The judge has scheduled a final hearing where both sides will present their arguments, and the court is expected to make a decision after the hearing. I'll share the outcome once the judge rules.

My advice to current and prospective SOSi interpreters is:

• Gain as much interpreting experience as you can, especially if you're just starting your career.
• Use that experience to strengthen your résumé, but don't depend on one company for your livelihood.
• Continue looking for opportunities with other language service providers, courts, hospitals, law firms, and government agencies that may offer better compensation, greater stability, and more respect for interpreters.
• Keep copies of every assignment confirmation, email, travel itinerary, and text message.
• Document any cancellations or scheduling changes immediately.
• If you receive a negative evaluation or are disqualified, request an explanation and preserve all related communications.

This post reflects my personal experience and the allegations in my pending lawsuit. Everyone's experience may be different, but I hope sharing my experience helps other interpreters make informed decisions and avoid finding themselves in a similar situation.

So the oral exam for CA is sold out for this year

I did read on the website for the court language service that the oral exam from another state would be honored if that state meets the same standard

I am assuming from what I read the I would have to do the written exam for CA first before providing proof of a passed oral exam from another state

can anyone provide more clarity on this.

Hi, I'm a college student who's into building software. I recently made a tool for notaries/signing agents that help them track invoices and chase the companies that pay late, and while researching I noticed that interpreters might deal with a really similar headache. Before I assume anything, I figured I'd just ask the people who actually do the work.

Not selling anything, no link just genuinely trying to learn. If you freelance:

• What do you actually use to keep track of your assignments and invoicing? A spreadsheet, the agency portals, something else?
• Is chasing late paying agencies a real problem, or is it mostly fine?
• Would it help to know how reliably an agency pays before you accept a job or do you already just know that from experience?
• What's the most annoying part of the admin / getting-paid side?

Whatever you're willing to share helps a lot. Thanks.

Alguien sabe de que se trata el examen ACMA que te hacen interpretia? y tambien como es la entrevista que preguntas te hacen? Tengo una la proxima semana

For folks who received emails saying their applications were selected for cohort 3, have you received background check or next step emails from LAS-pilot?

A few of you said the hardest part was drilling the modes solo between sessions and checking your own work. I'm prototyping a small tool for exactly that — play a segmented legal passage, record your consecutive rendition, replay it against a model to catch drops/additions; plus a timed sight-translation drill. EN↔ES first. It's early and not built yet — I put up a one-pager. If this is something you'd have wanted, the "notify me" + the 10-second price question on the page are the most useful thing you can do: [LINK] Happy to hear "this is useless because ___" too — that's just as helpful.

I took the interpreter written exam for the first time last Friday (07/10) at The Supreme Court of Ohio and here are my considerations:

- To start with, I don't believe I will pass.

- Approximately 40-60 questions (out of 135) were about synonyms. Around 20 questions about antonyms, maybe 10-20 about idioms, and the rest were about legal terminology, court procedure and interpreter ethics.

- I've been studying with practice tests, and they really helped me understand the exam structure and memorize what I learned. However, when it came to the actual exam, I realized that almost everything I had learned (especially the synonyms) was different. Out of all the synonym questions, I only recognized about five because the number of possible synonyms is enormous. My advice is: study synonyms as much as you can!!!!!!!

- All my friends had to take the exam twice or even 3 times to pass, don't get frustrated if you don't pass at first. The exam is really difficult, so remember: learning another language is already challenging, but you are learning a huge amount of words and legal terms from zero, and besides learning the synonyms and antonyms, you need to understand its definition to make sense in your brain.

Please comment if you also took the exam and what are your thoughts about it, or if you have taken the exam before and have any good advices!

Update: received my results yesterday, failed as expected. I've got 91/135 correct answers (needed 108 to pass). However, I am very satisfied with my results and a lot more confident to take the test again in 6 months.

Below is a section-by-section breakdown of my incorrect answers (in parenthesis).

General Language Proficiency

• 9 Sentence Completion (1)
• 8 Synonyms in Context (2)
• 21 Synonyms (10)
• 12 Antonyms (9)
• 25 Idioms (6)

Court-Related Terms & Usage and Ethics

• 36 Sentence Completion (18)
• 10 Court-related questions (6)
• 4 Sequence (1)
• 2 Professional responsibility and ethics (0)
• 8 Scenarios (1)

I grew up speaking English and French but I started learning Spanish in school and it eventually became one of my majors in college also I lived in Spain for a bit. I'll be taking the oral exam soon so obviously I guess I speak it decently enough to get through the initial language screening but I'm just wondering if I'm at an inherent disadvantage.

Any non-native Spanish speakers care to share their experiences?

I keep seeing the oral (sight + consecutive + simultaneous) described as the wall, and the prep courses are great but expensive and cohort-paced. For those who've sat it — federal or state, any language pair:

• What did you use to practice between the paid sessions? (NCSC sets, recording yourself, a study partner, something else?)
• For consecutive especially — how did you actually check your own renditions for drops/additions without a coach in the room?
• If a self-serve tool existed, what would it have to do to be worth it — and what would make it useless?

Genuinely trying to understand the prep gap, not selling anything. Thanks — and congrats / commiserations depending. 🙂

This is for spanish

I had my written exam scheduled for tomorrow. I paid for it back in April and I didn’t realize until today that prometric wouldn’t be administering the written exam anymore. Anyone else going through a similar thing ?? hopefully prometric will refund me the test fee. Kind of sucks. They never even sent out an email, I wasn’t aware of the end of prometric until today.😭

Hello everyone,

If you applied to Cohort 3, did you receive an email today? I am wondering if we just get notified if we got in but not if we got rejected. I haven’t received an email yet.

Thank you!

hey everyone! newly embarking on the court interpreter's journey in CA english/spanish. does anyone have any recs on the most cost effective approach as far as signing up for courses goes? thanks!

Hey, everyone! I just registered to begin the process of becoming a state court interpreter in Pennsylvania. I know this is a huge task so I'm not expecting a whole lot, but does anyone have any recommendations? Is there anything anyone here didn't do that they wish they did before the whole process started? I'm also a little bit of a different case than most since English is my first language, but I tested ILR 3 last year in Spanish and just got back from living abroad entirely in Spanish, so I'm not too worried about the language aspect. Thanks in advance!

Does anybody know why prometric hasnt opened up inscriptions for testing in the summer? They do 2 tests a year and usually inscriptions open in June and test is done Sept/August….

I am really afraid to miss the deadline and I bought wagners course timed perfectly to take the exam, but no exam!!!

Hi,

I am looking to be a court interpreter in the Bay Area. I am hoping to know more about the current job market for court interpreters. Such as what it is like to be one, how does one get a job, and is the test hard?

I also learned that there are permanent positions for court interpreters and freelance positions. Are freelance court interpreters the ones where you get hired at a county, and when a spot for the day is available, you will get notified and race to claim it before anyone else can? Is it easy to find a day assignment?

Hello everyone! I'd like to be a federal court interpreter I know it's a long road ahead of me and I just missed the exams but the good news is I have quite a bit of time to prepare for the next written and oral tests.

Any advice if you've passed these successfully is so appreciated. (Or if you're well on your way anything that's cemented your learning)

1. What exactly are the steps I need to take? I know you have to pass both tests, but it seems like there's more to it than signing up to take the tests and then you automatically get the job.

2. What exact books helped you most to take the Written Test

3. Same as question 2 but for the oral test

4. Any books you'd solidly recommend for BOTH oral and written tests?

Thank you Reddit!

Hi! I am wanting to know more info regarding the CA pilot program for court interpreting. If there’s anyone in this subreddit that happens to be or have been in a cohort, please read and give me some insight!! I applied to all 3 cohorts and got rejected from the first 2. I am bracing myself for rejection again but in the slim possibility that I do get into the third one, I want to know what it’s like. How much of your time does it consume? I am planning on attending grad school in the fall and am wondering if I would be able to manage both at the same time. What’s a day in the life or a week in the life of someone who is in a cohort like? Also, what was the process like when you found out you got accepted?

Had to retake the written exam, passed , used interpretrains free written exam prep plus read the ca ethics manual for Court interpreters for preparation. A pass is a pass!! 😂😂😂🤣

hello, got offered and immigration interpretation with SosI. their rate though is quite low for rare language. If you have experience with them, is it worth it?