In the Pacific Northwest, and specifically in Washington State, two translation certification programs are relevant. The American Translators Association is a professional association that certifies members who are translators. The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services has a Language Testing and Certification Unit that has been certifying translators since 1996. This certification program [...]
Interpreting Certification Compared (Spoken Language) Spoken Language Interpreting Certification in the United States: a comparison Competency-based assessments are the foundation of credentialing in many professions, one of which is interpreting. According to the National Commission for Certifying Agencies, an assessment instrument is any one of several standardized methods for determining if candidates possess the necessary [...]
On September 8, I visited the Philadelphia Museum of Art. I spoke with a woman who works there and told her I am a Spanish interpreter. She told me she wished her husband had been able to work with an interpreter 30 years ago, before he met her. Here is her story, as she emailed [...]
Today’s post is guest written by my husband, David. He has watched me in action over the years, and this is the story of some things he has learned. In 25 years of marriage to Helen, I’ve learned a lot about my unconscious biases. I was raised on an entirely family-run farm in Oregon. When my [...]
Airplane pilots have checklists and follow them carefully. One of them reads items off the list, according to popular belief, and the other one says “check”. This way, both pilot and copilot verify that everything is in order. What happens when there is a “check” that isn’t said? “We would like to inform our passengers [...]
Translators and interpreters face a common problem: lack of clarity in the source message. Interpreters have a standard formula for addressing this: “the interpreter requests clarification”. Although translators deal with the same issue, a standard formula is missing. We deal with acronyms that are company-specific, missing terms, etc. and clarify them with clients over email. In the [...]
Title VI of the Civil Rights Act prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin in any program or activity that receives Federal funds or other Federal financial assistance. There is information on this topic in the Health and Human Services website and, of course, in the Department of Justice website of [...]
I just finished working as a team with a client. It’s been awesome to help Tuality launch their website in Spanish! Check it out! When we started working, we went over this worksheet. We have been faithful to those principles in every project we have done together. Here is the Spanish site. Here is the [...]
Interpreters need business skills to manage their client base and so they can also be marketable as administrative staff in a language company. Here is a tentative list of computer-based skills interpreters should acquire: How to invoice – Word has an invoicing template! How to follow instructions on a company’s invoicing practices. How to track [...]
The first things the provider notices are your timeliness and your appearance. Arrival time: Check in with the provider on time, but… Never check in early to any appointment. Go elsewhere until 10 min. before the appointment and then check in. Hospitals/clinics do not want to pay for checked in time earlier than 10 min. [...]
