Rule 2:604.Interpreters (derived from Code § 8.01-406).

Rule 2:604 addresses the person standing between a witness and the court when language creates a barrier to testimony: the interpreter. Before an interpreter’s translation counts as evidence, the interpreter must be qualified as competent — able to convert testimony accurately from one language into another.

The rule then imposes its own oath requirement, separate from the oath the underlying witness takes under Rule 2:603. The interpreter must be placed under oath or affirmation to make a true translation, meaning the interpreter personally commits to accuracy in rendering the witness’s words, not just to relaying the general substance of what is said.

The rule is derived from Code § 8.01-406, and its brevity reflects a narrow function: it does not set out qualification standards or certification procedures in detail, but establishes the two baseline safeguards — competence and an oath — that must be in place before an interpreter’s translation can be relied upon in a Virginia proceeding.