The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2023 - 37

CERTIFICATION FORUM By Diego Mansilla and Holly Mikkelson
Keys to Success: Exam
Preparation Workshops for
Spanish<>English Translators
TA's certification
exam is a rigorous
test of professionallevel
translation skills, and
with good reason. Despite the
common misconception that
being bilingual is enough
to make you a translator,
we practitioners know how
difficult it is to become
a proficient professional
translator. The exam has
a relatively low pass rate,
averaging less than 20% over
the years since its inception
and across languages
(compared to 80% for the bar
exam in 2021, for example1
).
By far the largest number
of candidates for the exam
are in the Spanish<>English
www.ata-chronicle.online
A
language pairs. For example,
in 2022, of 251 exams
in total, 148 were either
Spanish>English or viceversa
(just under 60%). The
pass rate varies somewhat
from one language pair to
another, but English>Spanish
and Spanish>English are
not outliers. Why do so few
people pass the exam? The
reasons include:
y Underestimating the
difficulty of translation.
y Inability to understand the
source text.
y Insufficient writing skills
in the target language.
y Lack of attention to detail.
y Inadequate transfer
skills, leading to literal
translations and excessive
interference from the
source language.
y Improper use of
dictionaries.
y Poor time management.
y Failure to apply common
sense and logic.
y Failure to follow the
translation instructions.
To help prospective
candidates remedy some
of these shortcomings, the
Spanish<>English grader
workgroups have presented
a series of exam preparation
workshops at ATA Annual
Conferences and regional
gatherings in recent years.
Attendance at these threehour
events is usually capped
at 25, and many sessions
have been even smaller.
The presenters are veteran
graders and teachers with
many years of experience.
Before the Workshop
A few weeks prior to the
workshop, registered
participants are sent a
practice test-a retired
passage used in the exams
in a previous year. (Note
that these are not the same
passages as those you
would get if you ordered
practice tests from ATA.)
Participants are instructed
to translate the text within
the same time limit and
resource restrictions as the
exam itself and submit it to
the instructors by a certain
American Translators Association 37
http://www.ata-chronicle.online
The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The ATA Chronicle - March/April 2023
