FAQs

Q:           When will I receive my order?

A:            We ship orders via USPS Priority Mail. Orders usually ship within 1-2 business days and take another 2-3 business days to arrive at your address, depending where in the U.S. you are located. We are based in California, so if you are on the East Coast you can probably expect to receive your package within 5 business days of placing your order. As soon as your order has shipped, you will get a confirmation email with a tracking number so you can check the status of your package(s) on the USPS website.

Q:           What materials do you recommend to prepare for the state/federal court interpreter certification exam?

A:            For Spanish interpreters, we recommend the Edge 21 series (consecutive, simultaneous, and sight translation). These lessons are modeled after the materials that appear on most state court interpreter exams. Spanish interpreters preparing for the federal exam may also want to purchase the Turbo Supplement, which contains lessons at an advanced level in all three modes of interpretation.

For interpreters preparing for the certification exam in other languages, we offer the Interpreter’s Edge, Generic Edition. This can be purchased as part of a package with materials in Mandarin, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Russian, Portuguese, or Polish; or by itself for practice from English into a target language we don’t offer materials for.

Q:           Do you offer materials to prepare for the written portion of the court interpreter certification exam?

A:            The short answer is no. Since the written portion of the exam is intended to measure fluency and breadth of vocabulary in both working languages, it is not something you can really “study” for in the short term. However, one of the components of the exam is court terminology. To that end, we do offer the Interpreter’s Companion, a bilingual glossary of the most common terms used in the courtroom. It is currently available in English/Spanish and English/Russian. For more resources on preparing for the written and oral exams at the state level, please visit the NCSC website.

Q:           What’s the difference between the Interpreter’s Edge Third Edition and the Edge 21?

A:            There are three main differences between the Third Edition and the Edge 21. The first is the difficulty level. The Edge Third Edition has lessons at the beginning and intermediate levels, while lessons in the Edge 21 range from intermediate to advanced. The 21 is recommended for interpreters preparing for the certification exam, while the Third Edition is more suitable for those who are just starting out or working interpreters looking to refresh their skills.

The second difference is that the Third Edition contains lessons in all three modes of interpretation in a single volume, while the 21 is divided into three volumes (one for each mode of interpretation). Therefore, you get more lessons in each mode of interpretation with the 21 than you do with the Third Edition.

Finally, the Edge 21 uses our “two-tone” concept, which means that each interpreting exercise on the CDs has a sample interpretation performed by Holly Mikkelson. By adjusting the balance on your player, you can silence this feature while rendering your own interpretation, then bring it back afterwards to hear Holly’s. (More on this here.) The Third Edition does not have this two-tone feature, which makes it preferable for some interpreters who don’t like to have to tinker with the balance on their sound player.