Lost Without Translation: The Plight of Non-English Speakers in Tennessee Courts
By: Adrian Mayagoitia*
For a second, imagine that you’re on vacation abroad and enjoying what the French countryside has to offer. Despite your lack of French skills, you have a wonderful day of vineyard-touring and decide to close the day with dinner at a local bistro. There’s a menu at the table, but you have no clue what any of it says. Poulet rôti au jus de romarin ?Lapin à la moutarde? Truite aux amandes? You don’t have any cell service, so your phone is of no help. To make matters worse, a waiter that clearly speaks no English has made his way over and is looking at you expectantly. Sounds stressful, doesn’t it?
Now, imagine being in court in a foreign country, accused of a crime or civil misconduct. You don’t know how the legal system there works, the attorneys and court staff don’t speak English, and the only person who can help you is a frazzled interpreter who arrived moments before your hearing begins. Thank goodness that it’s just a hypothetical! Right? Unfortunately, this is the devastating reality for tens of thousands of Spanish-speaking immigrants in Tennessee. As a result, this post serves to highlight the difficulties these people face as they navigate our legal system and increase awareness of the resources available to help them.
A. Who Is Impacted?
It is no secret that Tennessee has enjoyed significant population growth over the last decade.[1] Between 2020 and 2023 alone, the state gained some 215,000 residents, increasing Tennessee’s population to over 7.1 million residents.[2] Of these 7.1 million residents, around 170,000 are Spanish speakers who have a limited English proficiency.[3] This number roughly corresponds to the state’s population of foreign-born Latin Americans, which stands at approximately 225,000 persons.[4] This population is growing—and is projected to continue growing—as Tennessee emerges as an attractive state for Hispanic immigrants and refugees.[5] The lack of foreign language resources in the Tennessee legal system directly impacts this group.
B. How Are They Impacted?
As the introduction hints, Spanish speakers with limited English proficiency (“LEP Spanish speakers”) face difficulties when navigating the legal system in Tennessee. But, just what are those difficulties?
To begin, and perhaps somewhat obviously, a lack of resources negatively impacts the ability of all LEP Spanish speakers to meaningfully participate in legal proceedings and pursue their legal objectives. As of the time this post was written, Tennessee has only fifty-nine (59) registered Spanish interpreters who have gone through the entire certification process.[6] Simple math indicates that is only one interpreter for almost every three thousand LEP Spanish speakers.[7] Even if interpreters were evenly distributed across Tennessee, there would be a shortage of interpreters everywhere. However, in reality, interpreters concentrate near Nashville.[8] These interpreters often have to drive long distances to proceedings in rural counties where court clerks are not even responsible for scheduling or ensuring the presence of an interpreter.[9]
In the absence of interpreters, it can be hard to impossible for court proceedings to take place at all, delaying the resolution of cases and bogging down the legal system. However, the lack of resources for this group impacts more than court hearings. Because these individuals do not speak English, a substantial portion of the evidence, documents, testimony, or videos surrounding their cases is in Spanish. To be properly introduced and used, these materials need translation, which can be expensive. For example, translating a fifteen-minute video from Spanish to English can cost anywhere from six to eight hundred dollars.[10] This added expense can pose an additional barrier to LEP Spanish speakers, who are often at an economic disadvantage and experience higher rates of poverty.[11]
In addition, there are inherent difficulties in translating legal proceedings for LEP Spanish speakers who hail from countries whose legal systems differ from the American common law legal regime.[12] Specifically, certain legal concepts are entirely absent from civil law systems (sometimes referred to as “continental” or “Napoleonic” legal systems). For example, trusts and trust law are an entirely Anglo-American invention, and they are universally absent from other civil law systems.[13] Similarly, the concept of parole and suspended sentences is completely foreign.[14] Because these concepts are altogether absent from certain systems, there is no easy or direct way to translate information about them. This further complicates the task of attorneys and translators who must not only relay legal information, but ensure that their clients understand the information.
Moreover, there is a striking amount of diversity within Tennessee’s population of LEP Spanish speakers. Tennessee has significant numbers of immigrants from Mexico, El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, and Colombia.[15] By itself, this diversity poses a problem in that the words from one country do not always match that of others. To provide a simple example, a Mexican immigrant might refer to a birth certificate as an “acta de nacimiento.”[16] In contrast, a San Salvadoran immigrant would use “partida” to refer to the same document.[17] Small differences like these add up, creating further impediments to translation between Spanish and English. Put together, differences like these make the legal system inaccessible for all LEP Spanish speakers.
C. What Can We Do?
At the end of the day, it is unrealistic and unfair to expect that all actors in the Tennessee legal system learn Spanish (or any other language, for that matter). However, attorneys still have an ethical and professional duty to inform their client of the state of their cases.[18] Obviously, discharging that duty becomes a problem when there is a language barrier. To better meet the obligation to clients and to promote equal access to the legal systems, attorneys and interpreters should keep a few items in mind.
First, there are several free resources available to help convey information and translate more accurately. For instance, several states and judicial districts with more established and larger Spanish speaking populations have prepared legal glossaries in Spanish.[19] Second, Spanish-speaking litigants may need special accommodations. To that end, if an attorney is aware that their client may need the aid of an interpreter, the attorney may reach out to the court ahead of time and verify that the court will schedule an interpreter. Third, referring Spanish-speaking clients to attorneys who may be more prepared to represent them is the ethically correct thing to do. While these steps will not solve the issues that LEP Spanish speakers face, they can make a positive difference.
* J.D. Candidate, University of Tennessee Winston College of Law, Class of 2026.
[1] Tim Kuhn & Erin Hatfield, 2020 Census Data: Tennessee Population Topping 6.9 Million, The Univ. Of Tenn.: News (Apr. 28, 2021), https://news.utk.edu/2021/04/28/2020-census-data-shows-tennessee-population-topping-6-9-million/#:~:text=Tennessee%27s%20resident%20population%20grew%20to%206%2C910%2C840%20over,equates%20to%20an%208.9%25%20increase%20since%202010.
[2] Adam Friedman, Tennessee’s Population Growth Puts It on Track for Additional U.S. House Seat in 2032, Tenn. Lookout (Mar. 25, 2024, 5:00 AM), https://tennesseelookout.com/2024/03/25/tennessees-population-growth-puts-it-on-track-for-additional-u-s-house-seat-in-2032/.
[3] Tennessee: Language & Education, Migration Pol’y Inst.: State Immigration Data Profiles, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/state-profiles/state/language/TN (last visited July 21, 2025) (the 170,000 figure represents the sum of 27,839, 134,762, and 8,208, which are the numbers of Spanish speakers with limited English proficiency by age cohort).
[4] Tennessee: Demographics & Social, Migration Pol’y Inst.: State Immigration Data Profiles, https://www.migrationpolicy.org/data/state-profiles/state/demographics/TN (last visited July 21, 2025).
[5] Adam Tamburin, Tennessee’s Population is Getting More Diverse, Axios Nashville (July 11, 2022), https://www.axios.com/local/nashville/2022/07/11/tennessee-population-demographics-changing.
[6] Find a Court Interpreter, Tenn. Cts., https://www.tncourts.gov/programs/court-interpreters/find-court-interpreter (last visited July 24, 2025).
[7] Specifically, one certified interpreter for every 2,881.36 LEP Spanish speakers (170,000 speakers divided by 59 interpreters).
[8] Patricia Jones, What Non-English Speakers Should Know About Court Interpreters, Legal Aid Soc’y (June 26, 2024), https://las.org/what-non-english-speakers-should-know-about-court-interpreters-commentary/.
[9] Id.
[10] Joanna Tarasiewicz, How Much Does It Cost to Translate a Video? [Rates, Factors & Savings], ATL (June 29, 2023), https://www.atltranslate.com/articles/cost-to-translate-video.
[11] Josiah Hoss, 2023 Census Data on Income & Poverty in Tennessee, The Sycamore Inst. (Oct. 31, 2024), https://sycamoretn.org/2023-income-poverty-tn/.
[12] Pierangelo Catalano, Identidad Jurídica de América Latina: Derecho Romano y Sistema Latinoamericano, 1990-III Revista Jurídica de Buenos Aires 41, 46–48 (1990).
[13] Henry Hansmann & Ugo Mattei, The Functions of Trust Law: A Comparative Legal and Economic Analysis, 73 N.Y.U. L. Rev. 434, 435 (1998).
[14] Greg Abbott, Criminal Prosecutions Under Article 4 of the Mexican Federal Penal Code, Attorney General of Texas, https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www2.texasattorneygeneral.gov/files/cj/article4.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwii99PE9dqOAxWTHNAFHdf9PLwQFnoECBgQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1kNlR4ClQqUfiqXO4nuQ5I (last visited July 26, 2025).
[15] Migration Pol’y Inst., supra note 7.
[16] Tu Acta de Nacimiento en Línea, Gobierno de México, https://www.gob.mx/actas (last visited July 26, 2024).
[17] Registro Nacional de las Personas Naturales, Certificación de Partidas en El Salvador, Gobierno de El Salvador, https://www.rnpn.gob.sv/servicios/certificacion-de-partidas-en-el-salvador/ (last visited July 26, 2025).
[18] Tenn. Sup. Ct. R. 8, RPC 1.4.
[19] E.g., English/Spanish Legal Glossary, Superior Ct. of Cal., https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://www.saccourt.ca.gov/general/legal-glossaries/docs/Spanish-legal-glossary.pdf&ved=2ahUKEwihrK-QqNuOAxWeliYFHZMePP4QFnoECAsQAQ&usg=AOvVaw1-XA2T3vw7KP5IRi13qE9u (last visited July 26, 2025).
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