The Pennsylvania court system has added Pennsylvania Dutch-speaking interpreters to offer better language support for women and children testifying in cases involving abuse.

Public radio station WITF reported the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts recently added eight state-certified speakers from Mennonite and Amish communities in Lancaster County, Pa.

Six are women and two are men. Women were recruited since most people who testify in sexual abuse cases are women, and many refuse to work with male interpreters.

Pennsylvania Dutch joins 44 other languages on the interpreter roster, including American Sign Language. Interpreters must pass proficiency exams, background checks and workshops focused on the court system.

Natalia Petrova, administrator of AOPC’s Interpreter Certification Program, told WITF during a pilot program in the fall that people from other states with Mennonite communities contact Pennsylvania in search of certified Pennsylvania Dutch speakers.

“Everybody assumes Pennsylvania should have some interpreters of Pennsylvania Dutch and we have not historically had anybody,” she said.

While most Amish and Old Order Mennonites are bilingual in Pennsylvania Dutch and English, sensitive situations are sometimes better expressed in a first language. Preschool-age children often need interpreters because English is only started upon entering school.