Does cert in one combo and skill extend to all?
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| User | Thread poster: Terry Thatcher Waltz, Ph.D. Does cert in one combo and skill extend to all? |
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Terry Thatcher Waltz, Ph.D. 
United States
Chinese to English
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The ATA web site, an important source of referrals in the US, puts an ATA certification icon next to the names of translators who hold ATA certification -- even when the certified combination and direction is not the one the potential outsourcer has searched for. At times, there is an ATA test only for one direction of a combination, so the icon is effectively unavailable to some. Icons appear beside a translator's name regardless of whether the test was for any language included in the outsourcer's search (i.e., if you have cert in Spanish>English, it will appear if someone searches for your services as a Zulu>Amharic translator, if those are your combinations.)
There is no test of any kind for interpreters, yet certification icons appear on interpreter searches.
Does certification in one combination imply superior performance in another language or a different skill (i.e., translation certification means a good interpreter), or is showing icons for certifications in different combinations or directions and services misleading and unfair as most outsourcers wouldn't take time to read the fine print? What do you think? How should the certification icons be displayed?
 
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The translation workplace 
