Glossary topic

Arraignment vocabulary in Spanish and English for court interpreters

An arraignment is the first hearing most defendants see, and it is the first script most oral exam candidates hear. The judge confirms the defendant's name, reads the charges, advises rights, takes a plea, deals with counsel and bail, and sets the next date. Every one of those steps carries terms that the state glossaries have already settled.

The renditions below come from the Washington, Connecticut, Wisconsin and Alabama court interpreter glossaries, with the New Jersey and California glossaries used where those four are silent. When the sources disagree, the first form listed is the most widely shared and the note tells you who uses what.

The moment

You are standing beside the defendant at the podium. The judge says: "This is the case of the State versus Miguel Herrera. Is Miguel Herrera your true and correct name? You are charged in complaint number CF 2026 4417 with one count. Count one charges that on or about June 3rd, 2026, you violated section 784.03 of the criminal code, known as battery, a misdemeanor. How do you plead?" The defendant answers "No culpable, señor juez," and you render it back into English. The judge appoints the public defender as counsel of record, sets bail at $7,500 and a pre-trial hearing for July 10th at 9 AM in the same department.

English	Spanish	Sources
Arraignment	lectura de cargos / instrucción de cargos AL and WA: lectura de cargos. CT and WA also list instrucción de cargos; WA adds presentación de cargos.	ALWACT
Arraign	instruir de cargos (al acusado) / leer la acusación	CT
Charges	cargos / acusaciones / imputaciones	WA
Charge (with)	acusar de / imputar CT also lists inculpar and sindicar.	WACT
Count (of a charge)	cargo / punto (del cargo) CT: cargo, acusación, punto. WA: punto (del cargo). Say the count number exactly as spoken; it is a scoring unit.	CTWA
Complaint (criminal)	denuncia WA: denuncia. AL and WI add acusación and querella. Do not use demanda, which is the civil complaint.	WAALWI
Information (charging document)	informe acusatorio (escrito de acusación) / información WA: informe acusatorio. AL: información.	WAAL
Indictment	acusación formal / pliego acusatorio AL and WI: acusación formal, pliego acusatorio, documento inculpatorio. CT lists acusación por el gran jurado among several forms.	ALWICT
Grand jury	gran jurado / jurado de acusación CT and WA: gran jurado. AL, CT and WI: jurado de acusación.	CTWAALWI
Felony	delito mayor / delito grave CT and WA agree on delito mayor; CT also accepts delito grave.	CTWA
Misdemeanor	delito menor	WA
Defendant (criminal)	acusado / inculpado / imputado AL and WI: acusado. WA: inculpado, imputado. Demandado is the civil defendant.	ALWIWA
Prosecutor	fiscal CT, WA and AL agree. WA also lists procurador.	CTWAAL
Prosecution	fiscalía (la acusación)	WACT
Public defender	abogado de oficio / defensor público CT gives both. AL and WI use abogado de oficio for the Office of the Public Defender.	CTALWI
Assigned counsel	abogado de oficio	ALWI
Defense counsel	abogado defensor / abogada defensora	CT
Counsel	abogado	WA
Appoint (an attorney)	nombrar / asignar (un abogado) WA flags apuntar as a false cognate.	WA
Hire (an attorney)	contratar	WA
Indigent	indigente	WA
Plea	declaración WA warns against súplica. CT: alegación, declaración oficial ante los cargos.	WACT
Plead (enter a plea)	declararse	WA
Enter a plea	hacer una declaración / hacer una alegación	CT
Plead guilty	declararse culpable AL, CT, WI and WA all agree.	ALCTWIWA
Plead not guilty	declararse no culpable	WA
Guilty plea	declaración de culpabilidad	WACT
No contest	no me opongo / ni afirmo ni niego / nolo contendere	WA
Nolo contendere	nolo contendere (no me opongo) WA and CT both keep the Latin.	WACT
Waive	renunciar a WA and CT agree; CT also lists desistir de.	WACT
Waive a right	renunciar a un derecho AL and WI. CT: renunciar al derecho, desistir del derecho.	ALWICT
Waiver of rights	renuncia de derechos	CT
Miranda rights	derechos Miranda / derechos constitucionales	WA
Remain silent	guardar silencio	WA
Presumption of innocence	presunción de inocencia	WA
Continuance	aplazamiento / prórroga	WA
Continue (a hearing)	aplazar WA: not continuar.	WA
Bail	fianza AL, CT, WA and WI agree. CT also lists caución.	ALCTWAWI
Bond	caución	ALWIWA
Post bail	depositar una fianza / poner una fianza	WA
Own recognizance	bajo palabra WA and the California glossary agree.	WACA
Conditions of release	condiciones para ser liberado / condiciones para ser puesto en libertad	WA
Release (verb)	poner en libertad / dejar en libertad / liberar	WA
In custody	estar detenido / arrestado	WA
No-contact order	orden que prohíbe contacto / orden de alejamiento	WA
Hearing	audiencia AL, CT, WA and WI agree. CT also lists vista.	ALCTWAWI
Preliminary hearing	audiencia preliminar	WA
Pre-trial conference	conferencia previa al juicio CT: consulta previa al juicio.	WACT
Notice of hearing	aviso de una audiencia	ALWI
Appear (in court)	comparecer (ante el tribunal)	WA
Failure to appear (FTA)	falta de comparecencia / incomparecencia	WACT
Bench warrant	orden judicial de arresto WA: orden judicial de arresto (o) de captura. CT lists mandamiento de arresto among others.	WACT
Docket	lista de casos / lista de causas WA. AL and WI: orden del día del tribunal.	WAALWI
Docket number	número del expediente AL and WI. CT: número de presentación, número del acta.	ALWICT
Speedy trial	juicio sin demora	CTWA
Dismiss a charge	desestimar / desechar / retirar	WA

How raters score these

Arraignment scripts are dense with scoring units that raters treat as all-or-nothing: the defendant's name, the case number, the statute section, the date of the offense, the count number, the crime name and its classification (felony or misdemeanor), and the bail amount. A rendition that gets the legal term right but drops a digit in "CF 2026 4417" loses the unit. Register matters too: the judge's formal advisement should sound formal in Spanish, and the defendant's "no culpable, señor juez" should come back as "not guilty, Your Honor," not "innocent." Keep the plea vocabulary exact (declararse culpable, no culpable, nolo contendere) and do not translate continuance as continuar.

Common questions

How do you say arraignment in Spanish?

The state glossaries settle on lectura de cargos (Alabama, Washington) and instrucción de cargos (Connecticut, Washington). Either is accepted; pick one and use it consistently in a passage.

Is it acusado, inculpado or imputado for defendant?

All three appear in official glossaries for a criminal defendant. Acusado is shared by Alabama and Wisconsin and is the safest default. Demandado is reserved for the civil defendant, so avoid it in a criminal arraignment.

Why is complaint denuncia and not demanda?

In a criminal case the complaint is the charging document, which Washington renders as denuncia (Alabama and Wisconsin also accept acusación and querella). Demanda is a civil lawsuit. Using demanda in a criminal arraignment is a meaning error, not a style choice.

Does the arraignment appear on the consortium oral exam?

The NCSC consortium exam does not publish its passages, but its practice materials and the exam overviews describe consecutive and simultaneous scripts drawn from routine criminal proceedings. Arraignment language is the most common register in those samples and in the exercises used to build these pages.

Keep going

Sources