The Spanish Translation Career Handbook

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How to become a Certified Spanish Translator

The meaning of a Certified Spanish Translator will vary depending on where an how the translation is provided. The three major "certifications" known in the Spanish translation business:

1. A Spanish translator certified by a professional translation association

2. A Spanish translator authorized by the US Government to interpret and translate at the US courts

3. Certified Spanish Translation for a legal use in the United States

We explain in the following paragraphs about each one of them.

Certification by a Professional Translation Association
Recommendation: intermediate / advanced translators in any field
Who provides: ATA and other associations
Value that aggregates: better image in the market, access to clients demanding certified translators for their jobs.

ATA, the American Translators Association, is one of the well known associations of translation. To become a Spanish translator certified by ATA, you will need:

1. Become an ATA member

2. Satisfy the eligibiliy requirements, which are providing proof of a minimum education and work experience.

3. Register and pass an exam

For a professional translator, the exam should not be a very difficult challenge. Although the first time pass rate is low (less than 50%), those who persevere usually pass the exam and obtain the so-called certification.

Certification by the US Court System
Recommendation: only Interpreters wanting to work in court interpretation
Who provides: The US Court System of each state
Value that aggregates: access to US Court interpretation jobs.

Although the US Courts do not call this a certification, after an interpreter goes through a series of exams both written and oral, the US Court system will issue a formal approval of this person to work as a paid interpreter at US Courts.

The examination and approval rules are slightly different for each language. The approval for a Spanish Interpreter will be obtained through a particular set of examinations for the Spanish idiom. This does not happen to most of the other languages, which will have a common set of tests.

Certified Translation for Legal Use in the USA
Recommendation: the document is certified, not the translator
Who provides: any translator competent in one language may certify a document

A Certified Translation for Legal Use in the USA does not require the translator to be certified. On the other hand, the translator shall add a statement in the translation that he is a competent translator doing a faithful translation. He shall also add his contact information in case a court or other entity wants to discuss with him about his translation.

Although not necessary, customers will want to have a Certified Translation provided by a certified translator working for a Translation company for the following reasons:

1. A certified translator will give more credibility to the certified translation

2. A corporation will also add more credibility to the certified translation

3. Other minor aspects of the translation may impact the overall acceptance of a certified translation. Although an entity may officially accept a certified translation that does not transmit much credibility, this may bring unwanted secondary effects such as request for complementary documents, extra affidavits, etc.

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