Translators Society

National Accreditation Authority for Translators and Interpreters LTD

NAATI is owned jointly by the Commonwealth, State and Territory governments and is governed by a board of five directors, who are appointed by the owners.

APPLICATIONS BASED ON OVERSEAS QUALIFICATIONS

NAATI does not offer accreditation based on achieving a particular qualification(s) from an overseas institution. Rather the program of study of each applicant is considered on an individual basis. It is possible for graduates of the same institution to have different outcomes for their applications, depending on the individual units studied and the grades achieved for those units.

The assessment of any application is based on the number of units and contact hours within the qualification(s). If the applicant did not pass the unit the hours will not be counted in the assessment. For an applicant to gain accreditation based on an overseas qualification(s), the qualification(s) must be:

a) awarded by a tertiary educational institution*

b) a bachelor degree or higher degree; and

c) sufficiently specialised in the skills of translating and/or interpreting.

* The institution must be authorised to award this qualification by the government of the country concerned. Practical work experience in translating and/or interpreting is also taken into account in the assessment when the applicant also possesses the required formal qualification but this was obtained more than three years before the application for accreditation is made.

Where work references are required, the applicant must provide NAATI with a letter(s) from the employer, on company letter including the name, contact details and position held by the person providing the reference and stating the period(s) of employment, description of the position held, proportion of duties that involved translating and the type of translations undertaken.

NAATI must be able to establish that there has been regular and continuous work experience from the time the qualification was obtained until the time the application is made for accreditation. NAATI will consider an application for accreditation based on more than one qualification on a case by case basis. Where an application is based more than one qualification, when considered together the qualifications must meet the general criteria set out in this section for accreditation to be awarded.

1. Professional Translator

The minimum level of qualification held to consider accreditation at this level is a bachelor degree. Accreditation is awarded only in the languages specified on the qualification and/or academic transcripts. For this level of accreditation one of these languages must be English and accreditation is only awarded in one direction, that is into the ‘A’ language, in combination with English (even in situations where study may have been in both directions). Both English and the other language must be formally taught as part of the qualification.

The candidate’s level of performance in the course must be in the top 30%, according to the scale of marks specified for the course.

The assessment will be based on the number of units and contact hours within the qualification. The qualification(s) will need to meet the following:

Unit type Minimum number of hours

• Translating theory or practice 210
• All translating or interpreting related units 400
• Version 1.5 – December 2010
• Supporting documents required
• Proof of qualification
• Academic transcript
• Proof of contact hours for each unit of study
• Work references (if qualification gained more than three years before application).

Please note that accreditation at this level can also be awarded on the basis of Membership (fellowship) of the Chartered Institute of Linguists, UK in association with holding a Diploma of Translation or Diploma in English and Chinese Translation from the Chartered Institute of Linguists. Further information in the Applications Based on Professional Association Membership section.

2. Conference Interpreter

The application must be made on the basis of completion of a formal course of training, with specialisation in conference interpreting. The minimum academic standard at this level normally requires a higher translating and/or interpreting degree (for example Masters). Accreditation is granted on approval by the Qualifications and Assessment Advisory Committee (QAAC) of NAATI.

Accreditation is awarded only in the languages specified on the qualification and/or academic transcripts and can be awarded in any direction and combination of languages even if the combinations do not include English. Normally accreditation is only awarded into the ‘A’ language (even in situations where study may have been in both directions). An applicant must have achieved marks equivalent to 80% for the conference interpreting units within the qualification.

The assessment will be based on the number of units and contact hours within the qualification where conference interpreting theory or practice was taught. In total there will need to be a minimum of 600 contact hours for NAATI to be able to award accreditation.

Supporting documents required:

• Proof of qualification
• Academic transcript
• Proof of contact hours for each unit of study
• Work references (if qualification gained more than three years before application).

For More information please visit :

http://www.naati.com.au/PDF/Booklets/Accreditation_by_Assessment_OSQualifcation_ProfessionalAssociationMembership_AdvancedStanding_booklet.pdf

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