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 [...]
The English to Spanish and Spanish to English exams are rigorous. They have a 12% pass rate. They test accurate message transfer, grammar, syntax, spelling, in a balanced way. Helen Eby, owner of Gaucha Translations, has passed both exams and trains others to pass them. Her reviewers are also certified. Why work with a translator [...]
Today the immigration situation leads to deportees having to create powers of attorney when they are already abroad. Unexpected situations come up once they are deported. Recently I translated a power of attorney for a Mexican deportee. It referenced the PROTOCOLO SOBRE UNIFORMIDAD DEL RÉGIMEN LEGAL DE LOS PODERES, known in English as the Protocol on [...]
The factsheet for Section 1557 of the ACA, posted on the website of the Department of website of Health and Human Services, says: The page starts with a short summary of the rule: Section 1557 is the nondiscrimination provision of the Affordable Care Act (ACA). The law prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, [...]
Human beings have many ways of doing things because many approaches work. In my calculus class at U. Mass Lowell, Mr. Kaplan taught us many ways to solve the same problem because, according to him, you never knew what way was going to help you work it out. As we connect with other cultures, we [...]
We completed another year of translation training! Daniela Guanipa joined me as co-trainer all year. Spanish writing: 10 sessions, September to November. Preparation for the ATA Spanish translation certification exam: 17 sessions, January to May. What do the students who finished the course say? They have become much better translators over the 17 weeks of [...]
My book on Spanish writing, in draft form Getting Spanish writing right involves spelling, grammar, syntax... and plain old writing skills, just like in any other language. Except that writing in Spanish is the same as doing so English. Each language has its own rhythm, its own cadence. Tenses have different meanings in each [...]
I am an ATA certified Spanish translator. The ATA certification exam counts errors. It allows 17 error points in a 300 word text, and on point 18... you are out. Why? Back in the ‘80s I was a secretary in Argentina. I worked with a typewriter. When I typed a bid, a business letter or a [...]
Many documents that are submitted to U.S. Government agencies must be submitted along with a statement indicating that the translator is skilled to perform their task. This can be called a translator’s statement, statement of accuracy, certification, translator’s declaration, etc. I’ll call it a “translator’s statement” here as I dive into the requirements that you [...]
Certified Spanish translators often discuss translation tools. Should we work with machine translation, CAT tools, or something in between? We use our professional judgment to make these decisions. Machine translation The most commonly known machine translation tool is Google Translate, which in fact powers some web pages. I have seen "click here for x language" [...]
