Certification in the World of Translation and Interpreting (AKM 2012Apr11)
Part I (Big Picture)
A. Certification and Related Credentials
– certification of a translation service provider (TSP) (process oriented: see European EN 15038 and soon ISO 17100, the international replacement)
– certification of a translator (person oriented, even when an individual translator is acting as a TSP; TSP certification does not certify the translators of a TSP)
– licensure (credential granted by a government agency)
– diploma-granting (credential granted by a university or other institution of higher education)
– certificate-granting (sometimes receiving a certificate for a weekend course is confused with being certified)
B. Signals
All five credentials in (A) are examples of third-party “signals” to translation requesters who cannot directly evaluate the competence of a translator, as explained in detail in Andy Chan’s doctoral dissertation.
C. Minimal Requirements for a Translator Certification Body
There is an ISO standard for certification bodies that focus on persons rather than organizations such as TSPs: ISO 17024. The key requirements in ISO 17024 for any certification body to be considered acceptable are:
– validity
– reliability
– fairness
– involvement of all stakeholders in an advisory council
– documentation of certification processes, including the appeal and re-certification
Part II Certification News
A. There are at least three current at least three efforts to review existing or develop new translator certification systems:
(1) NAATI (Australia)
(2) TransCert (Europe)
(3) ATA (USA)
B. A special issue of a T&I journal (www.trans-int.org) will focus on certification of translator and interpreters (any FIT Council members willing to be reviewers?).
C. TISAC (www.tisac.org) will consider whether to work on establishing an international organization to accredit translator certification bodies.
Part III Background Information on Certification (see attached paper — TranslatorCertAnd17000-validityV1c)
Alan Melby