Certified Spanish translation: Some thoughts

Do you have to be a certified Spanish translation provider to be a good freelance translator? Is translation certification really necessary to find translation jobs?

There are a lot of different opinions on the matter, so I figured I would throw in my two cents, for what it's worth.

First of all, it's important to realize the difference between official certification required by certain countries, and accreditation (or certification) that is offered by private organizations that isn't necessary. If you're interested, read more about the different types of certified translation services.

So, as I mentioned earlier, there are different thoughts on whether or not it's necessary to be accredited or certified by translation organizations.

What do I think? Personally, I don't think it's necessary. The reason that it is not necessary is that certification alone does not guarantee you translation jobs. I don't think it's even a strong factor in finding more freelance clients.

Most translation clients don't know anything about the translation profession. They don't know that in some countries like the U.S., there is no such thing as a national translation certification. Every translator can say that they offer "certified" translations. The client usually doesn't know the difference.

So what does it matter whether you are "certified" by a private translation organization? It doesn't matter. (It might matter in other countries if you want to become a sworn translator, but that's not what I'm talking about here.)

When you're trying to build your client base or convince a potential client that your able to do a particular job, the most important thing you can do is have a list of previous clients that are happy with the work you've done for them.

Why is this important? Well, because potential clients are going to feel safer giving you their business if they know that you have experience doing this type of work.

Whenever potential clients inquire about hiring me to translate for them, they never ask if I'm certified. The one thing that they do ask for, however, is contact information for some previous clients. They don't care if some arbitrary organization thinks I know how to translate. They'd rather verify that I can with actual clients I've done work for already.

Yes there are some advantages you might gain by being a certified Spanish translation provider, but in my experience, it's not worth it.