


Integrated Knowledge Institute for the Greater Advancement of Interpreters
Miranda Warnings Translations
For Law Enforcement, Legal Professionals, and Community Organizations working with Limited English Proficient (LEP) populations
All translations were prepared by professional interpreters/translators certified by the courts or otherwise credentialed and knowledgeable about the language of the law.
Languages
All of the translations on this site are a product of collaborative work of teams of court-certified or otherwise credentialed interpreters/translators. To retrieve the translation, click on the name of the language to download a PDF or click on the button below to download a voice recording of the Miranda Warnings. Languages are listed in alphabetical order.
Play Recording
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Best Practices in the Delivery of Miranda Warnings to Limited English Proficient (LEP) Persons
In 2015, an international group of linguists, psychologists, lawyers and interpreters put forth Guidelines for Communicating Rights to Non-native Speakers of English in Australia, England and Wales, and the USA, endorsed by several professional associations. The Guidelines and the subsequent research recommend the following steps:
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video record the interview
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ascertain the suspect’s primary language and their ability to read in that language
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offer the suspect an opportunity to request an interpreter
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present each right individually, in English and in the suspect’s native language
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present each right orally and in writing (you can use the bilingual forms and recordings provided here)
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ask the suspect to paraphrase – or, in the case of American Sign Language (ASL), sign – each right in their own words
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if the suspect has difficulty paraphrasing the rights in their own words, the interview should be terminated until a professional interpreter, with expertise in legal interpreting, is brought in and the process repeated anew (this should be done even if a suspect had earlier declined the offer of interpreting services)
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ask the suspect to initial each right and to sign the waiver
Project Summary and Objectives
In 1978, the Ninth Circuit court ruled that “if Miranda warnings are given in a language which the person being so instructed does not understand, a waiver of those rights would not be valid” United States v. Martinez, 588 F.2d 1227 (9th Cir. 1978). Ever since, limited English, the absence of an interpreter, and mistranslation served as grounds for motions to suppress self-incriminating statements and post-conviction appeals. Today, Spanish translations are still of varying quality (some sport awkward wordings and mistranslations and others omit the key rights) and professional translations into other languages aren’t easily accessible, forcing officers to use the unreliable Google Translate (Keaton, 2020; Pavlenko, 2024; Rogers et al., 2009, 2021).
The purpose of this project, undertaken jointly by IKIGAI, a 501(c)(3) tax exempt nonprofit organization, and the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT), is to provide law enforcement with free reliable translations of the Miranda warnings into the languages most commonly used by law enforcement (Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Russian, Haitian Creole) and into languages of lesser diffusion. All translations were made collaboratively by teams of experienced interpreters certified by the courts.
Project Leaders
ANETA PAVLENKO
Aneta Pavlenko is a forensic linguist and a Research Professor at the University of York, UK. She is Past President of the American Association for Applied Linguistics (AAAL) and the winner of the 2023 AAAL award for Distinguished Scholarship and Service. Her studies of comprehension of the Miranda rights by non-native speakers of English received the 2009 TESOL award for Distinguished Research and the 2021 AAAL Research article award. Dr. Pavlenko has testified in court as an expert witness in forensic linguistics and co-authored the Guidelines for communicating rights to non-native speakers of English in Australia, England and Wales, and the USA (2015).
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JANIS PALMA
Janis Palma is an English-Spanish interpreter and translator certified by the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT), and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts (AOUSC). She is a Past President of the Society for the Study of Translation and Interpreting (SSTI), and Past Chair of the NAJIT Board of Directors. Ms. Palma holds a Ph.D. in Language Studies, a Master’s in Legal Studies (MLS), an M.A. in Puerto Rican and Caribbean History and Literature, and is currently working towards a Ph.D. in Rhetorics, Communication and Information Design at Clemson University. Her research interests are focused on the intersection between judiciary interpreting and LEP criminal defendants’ due process rights. She is continuously researching, writing and speaking on the subject at national and international conferences.
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ANAHIT FLANAGAN
Anahit Flanagan is a professional interpreter and educator with more than forty years of experience. She specializes in the judiciary and medical interpreter services. She is a court interpreter certified in the state of Massachusetts and a medical interpreter certified by the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters (NBCMI) and the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI.) Her working languages are Armenian and Russian. Dr. Flanagan holds a Ph.D. in Linguistics from Moscow State University, a Master of Arts in Russian from Boston College, and a Bachelor of Education in English and Russian from Brusov Yerevan State University of Languages and Social Sciences in Armenia. She is one of the founding members of the Massachusetts Association of Court Interpreters (MACI) and served as a NAJIT director and vice-chair of the Board of Directors from 2022 to 2024.
ANDREEA BOSCOR
Andreea Boscor is an experienced language professional, federally certified as an interpreter for Spanish and approved at the Master level by the New Jersey Judiciary for both Romanian and Spanish. Additionally, she holds the American Translators Association (ATA) certification for Spanish into English translation. In the past, she has actively participated in leadership roles within the ATA and has served on the Board of Directors of the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators (NAJIT). Originally from Romania, Andreea moved to New Jersey during her teenage years and recently relocated to Southern California. She holds a Bachelor's Degree in Spanish with a concentration in translation, along with minors in Linguistics and Paralegal Studies from Montclair State University. Additionally, she earned a Master's Degree in Diplomacy and International Relations from Seton Hall University.

Our Team
Our team includes an amazing group of court certified or otherwise credentialed interpreters/translators.
We are extremely grateful to all the interpreters/translators who gave so generously of their time and talent to make this project possible, including those who chose to remain anonymous.
None of this would have been possible without them.
Armenian
Haitian Creole
Mandarin
Anahit Flanagan
Hasmik Hovhanisyan
Tamar Markosian
Sona Roesler
Nadège M. Cherubin
Régine Duroska-Murray
Frantz Monestime
Yolanda Felix Zdancewicz
Wei "Vivan" Josh
Tianlu Jia Redmon
John Wan
Anonymous
Russian
Spanish
Portuguese
Anahit Flanagan
Aneta Pavlenko (Consultant)
Anonymous
Anonymous
Cristina Arzuaga
Brenda Bibiloni
Anonymous
Marianne Mason (Consultant)
Michael O'Laughlin (Consultant)
Janis Palma
Jacob Ayvazian
Susan Dix-Barbosa
Alcione Hall
Steven Mines
Aina Pfeifer


Integrated Knowledge Institute for the Greater Advancement of Interpreters
