ATA Certification
Guide to ATA Continuing Education Points
ATA-certified translators must earn 20 points of continuing education credit over 3 years, to keep their certification current. All 20 points can be earned in any given year.
If you are now certified, your first 3-year reporting period ends on January 1, 2007. If you become ATA-certified after January 1, 2004, your first reporting period ends 3 years after the certification date.
You can begin accruing continuing education points on January 1, 2004, or as soon as you become certified. ATA-certified translators who will be 60 and older on the date their reporting period ends are exempt from continuing education requirements. All others must provide evidence of their continuing education activities as described here.
Keep track of your continuing education points and supporting documentation: this is your responsibility. ATA Headquarters will notify you and provide materials for reporting your continuing education points, when due.
You must earn 1 continuing education point on the ethics of translation and interpreting during your first 3-year reporting period. You may choose between attending an ethics workshop at the ATA Annual Conference or taking a self-directed course available online and in print. The self-directed course is available online at www.atanet.org/certification/online_ethics_overview.php. The Continuing Education Requirements Committee may approve other ethics classes.
| Category A | Translation/interpreting courses, seminars, workshops, conferences and conference proceedings Points | |
| Points: | 1 point per hour for attending translation/interpreting seminars, workshops, and conferences (up to 10 points per event); 1 point per hour for college and university courses (up to 5 points per course); 2 points per hour for teaching/presenting classes, seminars, workshops, and conference sessions; 1 point per article for reading ATA Annual Conference Proceedings. | |
| Maximum: | Up to 20 points in 3-year period. | |
| No Approval Required: |
ATA annual/regional conferences, preconference seminars, and professional development seminars. ATA chapter and division seminars, conferences, and workshops. Courses, seminars, and conferences offered by nationally accredited university translation/interpreting programs in the United States. ATA Certification Program grader training. ATA Annual Conference Proceedings. | |
| Approval required (before or after the event): |
Translation/interpreting courses, seminars, workshops, and conferences offered by other translation/interpreting associations in the United States or abroad, or by university translation/interpreting programs abroad. Privately offered seminars on translation/interpreting. |
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| Approval process: | While no approval is required, ATA chapters, divisions, and nationally accredited translation/interpreting programs in the United States are encouraged to submit an approval request to ATA Headquarters for record keeping prior to their classes, seminars, and conferences.
For other events, use the forms on pages 57 and 58 to submit instructor credentials and a session abstract, course description, syllabus, conference proceedings, or other supporting documentation to the Certification Program Manager at ATA Headquarters for approval, either before or after the event. Examples: ATA Spanish Division Mid-Year Conference; NYU Translation Program online courses; Kent State University's Terminology Summer Academy; conferences organized by the National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators. |
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| Category B | Other courses seminars and trainings | |
| Points: | 1 point per hour for attending, 2 points per hour for teaching/presenting (up to 2 points per course or seminar); 1 point for each CE point earned from other professional organizations. | |
| Maximum: | Up to 5 points in a 3-year period. You can earn 10 points in a 3-year period for CE points earned from other professional organizations. | |
| No approval required: | No approval required: Courses, seminars, and workshops in your area of specialization, such as law, medicine, finance, or technical fields. ATA translation/interpreting ethics workshop. Target-language grammar and writing courses. Seminars and workshops on translation-support software and other tools of the trade. |
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| Approval required (before or after the event): | Seminars and workshops on running your business. | |
| Approval process: | You will be asked to provide a statement at reporting time attesting that each course, seminar,
or workshop relates to your specialization. You can claim the ATA ethics workshop only once.
For seminars and workshops on running your business, use the forms on pages 57 and 58 to submit instructor credentials and a session abstract, course description, syllabus, conference proceedings, or other supporting documentation to the Certification Program Manager at ATA Headquarters for approval, either before or after the event. You must provide documentation of CE points being claimed to support other professional organizations. Examples: Financial Accounting course at the University of Vermont; California Bar Association online legal continuing education; training sessions on TRADOS, Déjà Vu, Star, Transit, and other translation-support tools; Pharmacological Update at the Georgetown School of Nursing and Health Studies; interpreter/translator trainings offered by court systems, hospitals, or community institutions. |
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| Category C | Classroom-based no-credit, not-T&I courses | |
| Points: | 1 point per 2 hours of instruction | |
| Maximum: | Up to 5 points per 3-year period | |
| Approval required: (before or after the event) | ||
| Approval process: | You will be asked to provide documentation of course attendance | |
| Category D | Memberships in professional associations | |
| Points: | 1 point for each current membership in a professional association of each type: translation/ interpreting or specialization-specific. | |
| Maximum: | Up to 2 points per 3-year period. | |
| No approval required: | Membership in a translation/interpreting professional association. | |
| Approval required: | Membership in a specialization-specific professional association. | |
| Approval process: | You will be asked to provide evidence of membership at reporting time. For specialization-specific professional associations, you will be asked to provide a description of the association and how it relates to your translation work. Examples: ATA and ATA local chapters; National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators; International Association of Conference Interpreters; Austin Area Translators and Interpreters Association; Société Française des Traducteurs; Society for Technical Communication; Society of Automotive Engineers; European Society of Clinical Pharmacy. |
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| Category E | Mentors, mentees, and ATA Certification Program graders | |
| Points: | 1 point for each activity per year. | |
| Maximum: | Up to 6 points per 3-year period. | |
| Approval required: | ATA certification exam grading. ATA certification exam passage selection. Participating as a mentor or mentee in the ATA Mentoring Program. |
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| Approval process: | ATA Certification Program graders must have graded exams or selected passages during the year for which they claim points. Mentors and mentees must provide a statement from the Mentoring Committee Chair at reporting time. |
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| Category F | New certifications and accreditations | |
| Points: | 1 point for each new certification or accreditation acquired from an approved professional organization or government agency. | |
| Maximum: | Up to 3 points per 3-year period. | |
| No approval required: | National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, Federal Court, and foreign sworn translator credentials. |
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| Approval required: | Other credentials. | |
| Approval process: | National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators, Federal Court, and foreign sworn translator credentials are pre-approved, but proof must be provided. For other credentials, a description of the criteria for conferring the credential must be submitted to the Certification Program Manager at ATA Headquarters for approval. Attach a copy of the certificate awarded to your approval request. |
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| Category G | Authoring articles or books | |
| Points: | 4 points for each new book published; 2 points for each new article published. | |
| Maximum: | Up to 4 points during the 3-year period. | |
| Approval required: | Published book on translation/interpreting. Published article on translation/interpreting. Article in a professional journal/publication, including ATA Chronicle and chapter and division newsletters. (Translating a book or article is not counted as authoring a book or article.) | |
| Approval process: | Submit a copy of the title page of the book or article with the author's name. | |
