National courts center certifies first Yupik interpreter

A court interpreter in Alaska is the first certified in Yupik by the National Center for State Courts.

KYUK-AM reports Crystal Garrison has spent the last 15 years working the Alaska Court System in Bethel and scored a 93 on the court interpreter written exam.

Yupik is the primary language in the Yukon Kuskokwim Delta.

Garrison says she started working toward certification with the help of Self-Help Services director Stacy Marz and other court system officials after seeing defendants grapple with the language barrier.

She said she wants to teach more Yupik speakers to be interpreters.

Marz is working with a team to create a Yupik glossary of legal terms, including descriptions of phrases that do not have direct translations.

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