Translation Pass Rates Compared

By Helen Eby|2017-10-16T22:05:41-07:00October 16th, 2017|Certification, Translation, Translation Standards|

In the Pacific Northwest, there are two translation certification programs available.

The details of these programs have been explained in a comparison chart. In the following chart, we will simply go through the comparative pass rates of the two programs.

Translation Certification Exam Pass Rates

	ATA	WA DSHS
English to Cambodian		72% (29 test takers)
English to Chinese	13.41%	72%
English to Korean		64%
English to Lao		77% (13 test takers)
English to Russian	15.23%	61%
English to Spanish	11.76%	27%
English to Vietnamese		35%
English to French	9.09%
English to German	27.36%
English to Italian	28.57%
English to Japanese	19.28%
English to Portuguese	28.97%
English to Polish	19.28%
Russian to English	28.23%
Spanish to English	12.04%
French to English	18.22%
German to English	26.78%
Japanese to English	13.27%
Portuguese to English	22.14%
Arabic to English	9%

Comparison of ATA and WA DSHS pass rates.
ATA data from http://www.atanet.org/chronicle-online/wp-content/uploads/new-Table-1-Cert.jpg. Not all ATA certified languages are reported on this chart.
WA DSHS Data from Dr. Hungling Fu, Washington DSHS, email dated April 19, 2017

About the Author: Helen Eby

Helen Eby grew up in Argentina, the land of the gauchos. She is certified as an English Spanish translator by ATA and as a Spanish interpreter by the Washington State Administrative Office of the Courts and by the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters. She co-founded The Savvy Newcomer and the ¡Al rescate del español! blogs, both of which are team efforts to provide resources for other language professionals. She is also a founding board member of the Spanish Editors Association.