Ana Mendoza

ENGL 20
Spanish Discourse Community

A discourse community is a group of people who share a set of discourses, understood as

basic values and assumptions, and ways of communicating about those goals. In a Spanish major
discourse community, Swales 6 characteristics takes effect in various ways because there are
various branches one can go into regarding the Spanish community. Regarding my community I
want to become a court interpreter,one who is readily able to interpret spoken language, sign
language, or written language, so I will be required to be involved with certain law
enforcements. In order to obtain an idea on what to expect, I had interviewed Dr. Linda Paredes
who was a court interpreter in the Los Angeles county.
Swales 6 characteristics are Common Public Goal, Informational Exchange, Forum,
Genres, Terminology, and Expertise. These 6 characteristics play a significant role in being a
court interpreter because one is basically reaching out to the community and making sure they
are heard. Knowing that there are people that struggle with the english language it is always nice
to have that extra help around and know that you belong to the community.
To obtain an understanding on what to expect from the community one wants to be
involved in is to reach out to members that are already part of the community. I was given the
opportunity to interview Dr. Linda Paredes who was a court interpreter in the Los Angeles
County Superior court. Dr. Paredes states that she never saw herself being a court interpreter
since she was mainly involved with schools as advisors for the bilingual classes held at certain
schools. Since she was involved with the bilingual community she was required to translate to

parents that did not speak english. After translating for several years she finally decided to sign
up to become a court interpreter. In order to become a court interpreter there are several test
required to be taken in order to be certified . After finally passing all her test, Dr. Paredes started
working in the Los Angeles Court and started interpreting for various court cases.
Being a court interpreter plays an important role in obtaining a Common Public Goal,
meaning that we share the same ideas that are valued by the discourse community. As a court
interpreter one is required to make sure that we address everything the person one is interpreting
for gets stated. As a court interpreter Paredes mentioned that she is required to translate for a
client depending if she knows the language and if she is also certified to interpret for the
adequate language. In the document called Strategic PLan for Language Access in the California
Court, states To address this diversity, the California courts have a long history of developing
multifaceted solutions to overcome language barriers. Meaning that throughout the year more
and more languages are being introduced in the country that are causing court interpreters to be
specialized in a variety of languages to be able to help out the community.
Dr. Paredes claims that the role of Information Exchange in the Spanish major
community is to be able to clearly take notes throughout court cases and be able to obtain a clear
understanding of the english language since that is the primary language used to communicate
amongst the colleagues. Information exchange is the method to which discourse communities
talk/communicate with each other. As Paredes mentioned that knowing english aside from the
other languages is a very important factor because that is the universal language used to
communicate during court and while filing all the paperwork required. As a court interpreter one
is required to communicate with the judge by translating what your client is saying, but also

being a court interpreter obtains an important role throughout the whole court process by being
able to fully explain to the client what is being said and not cut anything short.
Being a court interpreter requires a lot of paperwork aside from all the verbal work done
during the court session so the Forum, common place where all opinions can come together
specific to the discourse community. Paredes claimed that she first spent a lot of time in her
office trying to arrange a one on one bond with her client to make sure what their background
information is like to make sure she obtains all the personal resources needed. During her office
hours, Paredes claims that during that time she can ask her colleagues any questions she has
before she heads off to the court where she is required to obtain all her information in place.
Throughout a court session it is difficult to survive as it is explained from a found article
Whenever court sessions are scheduled for longer periods, breaks will certainly be the order of
the day, since all parties present in the courtroom will request them(Katschinka). While this
topic was brought out, Paredes had brought up a memory of hers when she was required to
translate for one of her clients for a while and she stated that it felt like an eternity inside the
courtroom.
Not everyone obtains the same experience inside the courtroom as it is expressed in the
following quote, I personally never had any difficulties asking a judge for a break, especially
when making all arrangements concerning the court interpreting ahead of a trial. The same is true
for working in teams. Again, the arrangements will depend on the case and the (growing)
understanding of judges or attorneys regarding the work of court interpreters (Katschinka).
There are various people that once they hear the word court interpreter, they feel that it is
an easy task but do not realize the background work that goes on. Throughout the court
interpreter discourse community there are various Genres, the different types of (texts) writing in

a discourse community, in which it it might take time to understand. In the court interpreter
discourse community there seems to be a handful of acronyms used such as LEP which stands
for Limited English Proficiency , DOJ stands for Department of Justice, and there are hundreds
of other acronyms used. Dr. Paredes claims that acronyms does play a role in writing but as a
court interpreter one needs to familiarize themselves on reading information in the format on
how rules would be structured. One of the types of writing I would compare it to it would be a
constitutional format. It seems that regarding the genre this discourse community can be
compared to the criminal justice discourse community since it relates to the law. Both criminal
justice and court interpreter obtain the same genres regarding types of writing, surprising as that
sounds I had to investigate a few articles such as the Indiana Rules of Court, and in Language
Access in Immigration Courts.
Knowing that being a court interpreter requires Terminology, specific vocabulary that
relates to one's discourse community, I have to admit there are times that I need to have a
dictionary next to me to understand certain word. As previously mentioned and statEd by Dr
Paredes, acronyms plays an important role but also others big words are commonly used
throughout this discourse community. Dr Linda Paredes mentioned a few of the words such as
consortium, The Consortium for State Court Interpreter Certification, operated by the National
Center for State Courts, is an organization responsible for facilitating court interpretation test
development and administration standards, Simultaneous Interpretation,an interpretation for a
party at the same time someone is speaking.
Dr. Linda Paredes has been a court interpreter for a long time now and she has decided to
retire, but after all those years, I am sure she has gained a lot of experience. The last of Swales 6
characteristics is Expertise which means that one works for the company and by the time they

quit or leave the company you leave an expert. Now that Dr. Paredes has retired from being a
court interpreter she is enjoying her retirement but is also educating future court interpreters on
what to expect and other helpful tips. One of the quotes she left me to think about was You may
feel overwhelmed by all the test and feel that you will not reach your goal, but never give up
because you are one step closer than you where the previous day.
I learned so much from the court interpreter discourse community by having the privilege of
interviewing Dr. Linda Paredes. I also now obtain a clearer understanding about Swales 6
characteristics and how it is applied with what I want to do with my major. I first thought that the
definition of Swales 6 terms might have not played such a big role in my discourse community
but that had all changed after this interview.

Abel, Laura. "Language Access in State Courts." SSRN Electronic Journal SSRN Journal. Web.

Dr. Linda Paredes. Court Interpreter at Los Angeles County Superior court

Strategic Plan for Language Access in the California Courts Draft, July 29, 2014 (Proposal SP14-05)

"What Is Court Interpreting?" Aiic.net. 2000. Web. 15 Mar. 2016.