How to Become a Certified Translator

The field of translation has many opportunities for those who are comfortable with a second language. Your decision to take to this field can help you get a job in translation service, hospitals, law offices, non-profit organizations, businesses, courts, and government agencies. These are the places visited by people from diverse cultures and not all of them can communicate their needs in English. It may be that you already have some experience as a freelance or from when you did it as a favor to someone you know. However, becoming a certified translator can move you up a notch and give you an upper edge when it comes to becoming a professional in this field.

Becoming a Certified Translator

One important thing you must understand is that a language is as good as an individual as it keeps changing and updating itself thorough addition of new words. Anyone advising you on how to become a translator will say, "The first step you can take is to update his or her vocabulary!". To do your work fast and within the deadline, you should aim to acquire a vast vocabulary and the nuances of the foreign language that you are interested in. The following are some hints which can help you in getting certified.

• For this task you can use dictionaries to look up prospective words that can help you.
• Record the words and their meanings which you find difficult to master and hear them as often as possible.
• You can watch movies and try to tag the actions with the words that you already know.
• Listening to the radio programs in the language in which you are interested is also an effective way of mastering the language. While doing so, focus on the grammar of the language, syntax and semantics of the sentences used.
• Find out the libraries or the places where you can refer to the books, periodicals or news papers published in the language you have decided to master.
• Find out the agencies or the institutes in your locality that run classes and can offer professional help to you on how to become a translator.
• Get to know which of the agencies or non-profit groups will let you work as volunteer. It will be an excellent opportunity for you to practice and hone your language skill, and will prove to be a valuable experience. Some of the agencies such as The American Translators Association (ATA) which conducts certifications exams for the translators demands some practical experience in this regard.

You must choose from the different kind of certifications that you can opt for. Depending on your need and aptitude, you may want to choose a general translation certification or some special kind of certification. If you have latter option in mind then field such as medical or technical translation in your chosen language are open to you. Before you pay fees to appear for the certification exam, you must know what are the educational and other qualifications that the institute you are applying to for the exam demands, from the candidates. Along with the ATA, following are some institutes which conduct the exams.

• Translators and Interpreters Guild
• The American Translator's Association
• The Federal Court
• The U.S. Department of State

One can find the information about the translation certifications test such as dates and location through internet. By going to the institutes websites, you can also know about translator job description as well as how much money you will have to pay as the fees for the test. After passing the test, update your resume to reflect your translator certification. The skill can bring you a salary in the range or $20,000 - $23,000 as a rookie. Of course, it also depends on the place of work, the language you are proficient in as well as the company you are working at. With some experience, you may graduate to the top 10% and can take home as much $69,000 - $79,000 as a salary. This all about, how to become a translator in brief.