Is ATA Membership Really Worth It?

On one hand you have the group of professional and non-professional translators that feels that every translator that is working (at least professionally) should be certified by the American Translators Association as this is a professional duty that each translator has to himself or herself and to the translation client in general.

At the other end of the spectrum, you've got the exact opposite. These translators feel that ATA membership is anything but necessary. In fact, most of those in this group believe that the American Translators Association does even serve the interests of the translator, and instead is only interested in making a profit at the expense of all its members.

While a lot of translators tend to come down on either side of the aisle on this debate, ultimately they are both flawed. There is not a single best practice when it comes to translation, and if there is one thing that I've learned in my years as a translator, it's that every translator is different and each situation a translator experiences will be different.

Because of that, there is not a single solution or single right answer, and that holds true when trying to decide if ATA membership is worth it or not.

I know translators on both sides of the spectrum. For example one of the translators that I met early on in my career wanted nothing to do with ATA. She did not have ATA membership and was rather successful in her own freelance translation business. She already had a strong clientele, and there was no reason for her to spend time and money trying to get certified when she already had a portfolio of clients that knew she was a professional with superb translation skills.

I've also known translators that have found ATA membership very beneficial, not only in providing translation training through conferences and seminars but also through increased exposure to clients and potential freelance translation jobs.

Personally, I am not a member of ATA and have never given much though to becoming one. The reason is because in my freelance career so far, nobody has ever asked me if I was a member of ATA. I figure if my clients don't care if I'm certified by ATA, then I shouldn't worry about it right now either. However, it could be that I've lost out on some jobs because I'm not certified, although I've never been told this directly, so I'm going to assume if it happens, it hasn't happened very often.

ATA Membership Survey

Since I'm not a member of the American Translators Association, I decided that it would be best to go directly to ATA members and ask them if they felt that their membership in ATA was worth the money and time they were spending to become members.

I emailed 20 translators who are currently ATA members and asked them the following questions, in order to get a feel for what their thoughts were on ATA membership:

1. Has being a member of ATA led to more clients?
2. Have people contacted you from ATA's website needing a translator or do you still get most (if not all) your jobs from outside agencies?
3. If you don't get many job offers by being a member, in what way(s) does ATA membership provide value to you as a translator?
4. What benefits does ATA give you that you couldn't do without as a freelance translator?

I only received 9 responses back, which I guess is better than average since I only emailed out about 20 surveys to begin with. But nine is better than none, and it was interesting to see what these translators had to say about the American Translators Association.

First of all, almost everyone said that being a member of ATA did not directly lead to more clients. Rather, the consensus was that being a member didn't provide any tangible benefits. However, all admitted that being certified by ATA could provide more work, but it was hard to tell how often this was true, since most clients don't specify the reasons they chose one translator over another, and whether or not the determining factor for this choice was due to ATA certification.

Another trend that I found interesting was that some of the translators didn't really know why they were members because it cost so much and the return was so little. The only thing I could gather from this (and I admit it's a stretch, especially since the sample size of the survey was so extremely low), is that maybe for some translators, possessing ATA membership is more of a right of passage to becoming a professional translator. Some translators might feel that they are not really professionals until they are members of ATA and so become members because they feel as if they are supposed to.

Anyway, these are a just of couple of observations I've made about the ATA after talking to translators that I know personally, as well as getting feedback from translators that I don't know, but who have spent the time and money to become members of the American Translators Association.

In the end, you're going to have to decide for yourself whether or not it is something that would benefit you and your freelance translation career, and if it does, then go for it. But don't just do it because everyone else is doing it, or because someone says you have to. Make sure it's right for you and your situation.

Is ATA membership worth it?

What do you think about being a member of ATA? Is is worth it to you?

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