Questions about interpretation certification

A stranger asked: I have some questions about interpretation certification. How long is the certification program? Is this done online or through an educational institution? I'm intersted in Spanish interpetation. Spanish is my native language, although I have lived in the US for many years. I've been both a paralegal and legal secretary. I was recently asked to interpret at an informal settlement conference and we were able to settle the case.

I have been in many situations where a certified interpreter is present and what they are interpreting is not exactly what the person has said. I know how to interpret, but not in the legal field. I have no desire to work in a courthouse; merely at my firm doing occasional interpretation for meetings and possibly depositions. I believe my firm would love to have an in-house person to do this - it seems interpreter charge exorbitant rates and I would definitely charge far less expensie and also have another title under my belt.

So please respond to my questions about the length of the program, the cost, the certification requirements (like is there testing required, and any other information you could. I wuold be most appreciative for your prompt response. By the way, I'm in the San Franciso Bay area.



The Spanish Translator: Thanks for the questions about interpretation certification. Many people who write in are interested in becoming certified as translators, but not as many people write in about obtaining interpreter certification.

I will state right off that although I am a freelance translator, I am not an interpreter and have never done any interpretation (aside from the sorry attempts I tried while getting my degree in translation). So you might want to double-check this advice with what some real freelance interpreters have to say.

That being said, I can tell answer your questions a little bit because there is some overlap with the translation and interpretation fields. Interpreter certification is different depending on where you get your certification from. I know that there are a decent amount of online translation certificate programs, but I don't know of any online interpretation certificate programs.

For that reason, if you want to get an interpreter certification, you're going to have to take some kind of course, which could last anywhere between a couple of weeks to over a year, depending on the program. I've put together a a list of interpreter certification programs that you can check out that will give you a better idea of what you can expect, especially in terms of cost, length of time, and the requirements. Every program is different, so you'll have to look into it.

Hope that helps, and good luck!