OTTUMWA — Associate Judge Lucy Gamon took French when she was in school. It didn’t turn out to be the language she needed.

Iowa was much more homogenous when Gamon was a student. Things have even changed since she became a judge in 1993. Gamon and other judges now face challenges because of the growth of Iowa’s Spanish-speaking population.

The basic issue is simple. Most court cases are not high-profile events where the defendant hires an attorney and the two sides debate in front of a jury. There are literally hundreds of minor events, traffic tickets or misdemeanor cases, for every major trial.

The need for understanding between the court and a defendant becomes obvious in those minor cases. People often represent themselves, and they must be able to understand the court’s instructions.

That basic issue led to an offer to court employees for state-supplied lessons in Spanish. Gamon jumped at the opportunity.

“We were seeing Hispanic people in court more and more often,” Gamon said. “That was why we were interested in learning basic Spanish phrases.”

Gamon is aware of the debate over illegal immigration, but she’s not directly involved in the legal wrangling. Federal courts handle deportation cases, not the states. That means Gamon’s official interest in whether a person is in the country legally is limited to making sure they understand a guilty plea or conviction can have ramifications for their ability to stay in the country.

“I’m not a federal judge who is deporting people. I’m taking pleas from people,” she said. “If someone comes to me and they don’t speak any English, I need to be able to ask ‘What’s your name?’”

Wapello County Court Clerk Deb Littlejohn took the classes as well. Most of the people who come into the clerk’s office speak English, but not all.

“We’re running into [Spanish-speaking] people more and more often. It is usually at the cashier’s window,” she said.

The cashier takes payments for court fines. It’s the spot that most frequently interacts with members of the general public, so it’s not surprising that the window sees more people who don’t speak English than the main office.

The most frequent solution for communications challenges is when a person brings a younger family member as an interpreter. Littlejohn said Hispanic residents seem to be following the pattern of previous immigrant groups, where the first generation has limited English and uses the second generation to bridge the gaps.

That works when the person is trying to pay a fine, but it is a much less satisfactory situation in a courtroom setting. Gamon said the risk is that a family member may not understand the seriousness of a situation, or may miss the legal issues involved.

It helps when the judge can handle basic information, and some law firms have interpreters on staff. But the best solution is finding an interpreter who is not involved in the case. The courts maintain a list of certified interpreters. Those interpreters receive instruction in courtroom ethics and have a basic familiarity the legal system. Courts have also used non-certified interpreters.

The court must also take additional steps, even when a certified interpreter is present. Gamon said she must record every court proceeding that uses an interpreter.