Practicing the law of languages

Federal law guarantees that every person who appears in court is entitled to an interpreter. This is about one of the interpreters. Another career opportunity and a good reason to be fluent in more than just English. DP

By Carol Feingold

Newburyport - As a kid growing up in Brazil, Claudia Dutra enjoyed reading comic books in English.

“I loved Little Lulu,” recalls Dutra. “She was kind of a feminist.”

But Dutra was more than just a fan of the funnies. Her dad believed studying languages was an important skill, so she attended private lessons in addition to the French and English classes she took in school in Rio de Janeiro. And she had the knack, that innate talent that makes learning languages easy for some while others struggle to roll an “r” or conjugate a slightly irregular verb.

Dutra speaks five languages: her native Portuguese, English, French, Italian and Spanish. And the Port resident now puts her love of languages to work as the only certified Portuguese interpreter for state courts.

“There is so much need for it in the Massachusetts court system,” says Dutra. “There are many Spanish interpreters, but not many Portuguese.”

Dutra began her career back in Brazil, where she worked as an interpreter in the tourism industry and wrote a newspaper travel column. In 1995, she met Newburyport resident Bob Thompson, who was in the country at the time pursuing his own career opportunities as president of his company, The CFO Connection, a financial- and management-consulting firm.

The couple fell in love, married and returned to Newburyport, where Dutra figured she would continue working with travelers and foreign visitors. But the job turned out to be a little more than she bargained for.

“When I came here, first I tried to work with tourists, but it was very hard because they would need me 24 hours a day practically,” Dutra says. “I did it once, and then I gave up.”

It was then that one of Thompson’s friends suggested she check with the courts to see if they needed an interpreter. She took the advice and landed a job that she discovered was as interesting as it was fulfilling.
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