Certification to Become a Bilingual Interpreter

By: Rabia Tanveer Posted on Wed, 18-11-2015

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Certification to Become a Bilingual Interpreter – A Necessity to Become Successful

 

Certification of any sort will help you get the attention you deserve. Plus, it will help you attract the right kind of clients. Translation and interpretation are two very different jobs. They are just as different as a CPA and an Accountant. There is no way you can use a translator for a job that requires an interpreter and vice versa.

These are two different jobs and they both require different level of skills and certification. Being a native speaker of a language is definitely a plus, but there is a lot more to an interpreter than just being able to speak one language fluently.

There are a few things that make you a good interpreter. One of them is talent and the other is your certification. Certification is not necessary, but it can definitely help you make a statement. Some clients will not require their interpreters to have a certification, but many want their interpretation service provider to be certified.

Sometimes, interpretation services only want their interpreters to be bilingual and know both languages properly. While there are ample opportunities for interpreters without any certification, however, there is a bulk of work that requires certification. The certification is basically a validation of your experience, training and education. This will help you to get jobs much quicker. Plus, sometimes you can simply get a job without giving an audition too.

As a bilingual interpreter, there are certain options of interpretations for you to choose from and that depends upon what type of work you intend to do or are working on. However, you will first have to get proper education. Once you have that, you can get certified by ATA. This is an abbreviation of American Translators Association and covers everything related to translation companies and interpretation service.

There are always plenty of work for interpreters. In fact, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistic, there is a 22 percent increase in jobs for interpreters. Plus, they have also predicted that interpreters with a decent amount of experience can make as much as $80,000 per annum during this time period.