Why give a certificate?

Over the years, people have attended our class for many reasons. In 2019, one student said she attended our class because a client needed proof that she had taken translation training. We did not expect this. Significantly more than 12% of our students pass the ATA certification exam. Most of those who pass do all the homework and attend all the sessions. Some wait a year or two to take their certification exam, because they are waiting to be fast enough at translation to be able to take the exam in the allotted amount of time. A few come back and take the course a second time, and are successful after their second time with us.

How does the Oregon Department of Administrative Services (DAS) verify translation skills?

According to the 2019 translation Price Agreement issued by the Department of Administrative Services, these are the top ways to demonstrate translation skills:

Top preference:

  1. Passing the American Translators Association (ATA) exam (scoring 1 to 17 points)
  2. Scoring 18 – 25 points on at least one of the two texts. (Almost passing the exam)

Next:

  • Washington State DSHS Document Translator Certification
  • Score of at least 10 on the ALTA Translation Assessment
  • Certification for translation services in Canada
  • ILR 2+ on the Interagency Language Roundtable Exam
  • Four year academic degree in translation from a US or international university
  • Certificate of completion from a formal translation training program of 40 to 99 hours

See the complete list of credentials accepted by the State of Oregon.

Why does DAS offer so many choices?

We believe that the State of Oregon may have taken this approach for the following reasons:

  1. Not all language combinations are tested by ATA.
  2. The government has a responsibility to be vendor neutral and accept more than one way to verify skills.
  3. The government is also accepting interpreting credentials, since it is assumed for interpreters to be highly literate in both their working languages. Interpreters often supplement their interpreting income by doing translation.

How can Gaucha Translations help?

  1. Preparation to pass the ATA certification exam or the WA DSHS exam.
  2. Provide an ALTA test at the end of the course. This test will be included in the cost of the course and the score will be listed in the final certificate.
  3. Provide a certificate of attendance, stating the hours of attendance. We meet for 22 sessions of 2 hours each (44 hours).

Taking a third-party test gives candidates an opportunity to practice taking an exam and verify their skills. We look forward to serving our colleagues.

Gaucha Translations does not guarantee any participant’s results on exams by third parties such as ALTA or certification bodies.

Please review our translation course overview page and register!