Who are certified translators in the United States

Requirements regarding certification of translators in the USA

Because of an exception that is set forth in government code 27293, it is not necessary for a professional translator to be certified to work in the US. There are other ways translators can prove competency though. To be clear, this means that an uncertified translator is allowed to perform certified translation. The alternate means of establishing the competency of a translator include testing, verification of level of education and verification of the translator’s real-world experience.

Affidavit of translator

Accordingly, the legal regulations in the US are somewhat liberal when it comes to hiring personnel for document translation. It is more important that the final translated document be accompanied by a form certifying the accuracy of the statement that it is that the translator be certified. This kind of documentation holds the translator accountable in case of inaccuracies that may exist in the translation. Certified translation consists of complete and accurate translation with no alterations or paraphrasing of content. The resulting document may sound somewhat strange and loose something in translation. Nonetheless, editing and other adjustments are not allowed.

Certified translation in California

There is one exception to this rule, and it does affect certified translations. This exception involves government code 27293, and it is specific to the state of California. According to this code, county clerks in the state of California may certify documents that have been translated into English only when this translation is performed by a translator who has been certified by the American Translators Association or the California Registered Interpreters Association or California Certified Court Interpreters. California Registered Interpreters and or California Certified Court Interpreters receive authorization in a judicial proceeding that allows them to provide oral interpretation of the verbal contents of written documents.
It is important to understand that the Judicial Council doesn’t certify or test the interpreter’s skills in written translation. The 2007 legislation that is responsible for this provision, which is found under the government code # 27293, is AB 349. The result of this legislation is that some restrictions are imposed in cases in which certified translation of a document may only be completed by a translator who is registered or certified. When this is the case, an important issue may arise in that it may not be possible to find a certified or registered interpreter for certain rare languages within the United States.

Here is a listing of the language pairs for which ATA currently offer certifications:
* Arabic to English
* Croatian to English
* Danish to English
* Dutch to English
* French to English
* German to English
* Japanese to English
* Portuguese to English
* Russian to English
* Spanish to English

* English to Chinese
* English to Croatian
* English to Dutch
* English to Finnish
* English to French
* English to Ukrainian
* English to German
* English to Hungarian
* English to Italian
* English to Japanese
* English to Polish
* English to Russian
* English to Spanish

Let’s take a few moments to examine this list of language pairs which have been certified by California courts. The judicial Council has a master list of the types of interpreters that are certified by the court. This list makes it clear that certification is currently only offered for the languages listed here:

* Vietnamese
* Tagalog
* Spanish
* Russian
* Portuguese
* Mandarin
* Korean
* Japanese
* Cantonese
* Armenian
* Arabic
* American Sign Language

There is also a limited list of languages that are registered Be that as it may, it is important to understand that it is not always possible to find an interpreter who is registered or certified in the language you seek within the USA.

Be careful when requesting a registered or certified translator to help you with your project. Translators and certified translation agencies in NYC, Brooklyn, California, NJ, PA, CT or other states who have been registered or certified usually charge more for their services.

Follow this advice and be sure to consult with the certified translators or professional translation company to which you plan to submit your document translation request.

At Apoling Solutions we offer certified translations from 52+ foreign languages. The translators whom we chose to employ are competent and proficent in specific fields and are ATA certified. If you have question regarding your document, please, do not hesitate to contact us for a free quote. We’ll do our best to deliver the highest quality translation the same day or next business day.