Providing interpreting services during COVID-19 (August 2020)
As a result of ATA’s commitment to the safety of its members during this COVID-19 pandemic, we are proud of have worked with several other organizations to provide guidance for interpreters who work on the front-line. Many of our members are essential workers and risk exposure to COVID-19. These guidelines are based on CDC and OSHA guidance. All organizations and freelancers are encouraged to implement these guidelines. Please share this important information with everyone in your network.
The ATA Interpreting Policy Advisory Committee
Business Practices
- Business Practices page on the ATA website
- The Savvy Newcomer: ATA’s Blog for Newbies to Translation and Interpreting
- Worksheet for interpreting services based on ASTM Standard Practices for Language Interpretation
- How to be an interpreter and not go broke
- Calculator Sheet (.xlsx file)
- Education-related tax deductions available for freelancers (freelanceunion.org)
Conference interpreting resources
- International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC) Professional resources
- Interpretation – European Commission
- What is conference interpreting? (European Commission)
- interpreting.info
- Interpreters (United Nations Language Careers)
- InterpretBank – Software for interpreters
- Boothmate – Companion app for the booth
- Online Resource for Conference Interpreter Training (European Commission)
- AIIC Guidelines for Distance Interpreting
- Golden Ears, Golden Tongues: How interpreters should take care of the tools of their trade (AIIC)
Court interpreting resources
- Federal Court Interpreters (US Courts)
- Federal Court Interpreter Certification Program Examination (US Courts)
- State Interpreter Certification (National Center for State Courts)
- Resources for Professional Development of Court Interpreters (New Jersey Courts)
- Court Interpreters Program (California Courts)
- The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf
- Useful resources and links (NAJIT)
- Team Interpreting in the Courtroom – NAJIT Position Paper (March 2007)
- Guidelines for communicating rights to non-native speakers of English in Australia, England and Wales, and the USA
- Interpreting Resources – Compensation schedule; Skill-building Workshops; Training and Practice Tools; Reference Materials and Dictionaries (The Unified Judicial System of Pennsylvania)
- The Interpreter’s Gym – Sound tracks for court interpreters to practice simultaneous and English consecutive, by court interpreter Stephen Sanford.
- Legal Spanish dictionary by the Real Academia Española – free online
- New Code of Conduct for Washington State Judiciary Interpreters (ID Blog Post)
- Interpreting depositions: a fact sheet (AIIC)
- Language Access Index (National Center for Access to Justice)
- General Guidelines and Requirements for Transcription Translation in a Legal Setting for Users and Practitioners – NAJIT Position Paper (2019)
Interpreting in immigration
Medical/healthcare interpreting resources
- ATA Medical Division – Resources
- The National Standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Health and Health Care (the National CLAS Standards)
- Office of Minority Health (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services)
- International Medical Interpreters Association (IMIA) – Resources
- Medical Interpreting Certification in the United States: a comparison
- CCHI Certification Resources
- ARTICLE Serving the Diverse Population of the United States with CLAS is the Best Way to Achieve Health Equity
- LANGUAGE-SPECIFIC Swahili English Medical Glossary
- Ensuring the Rights of Persons with Limited English Proficiency in Health Care During COVID-19 – Bulletin provided by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to health entities covered by OCR’s civil rights authorities to ensure they are better able to serve individuals with limited English proficiency (LEP) (May 15, 2020)
- Open letter on ensuring healthcare interpreters’ safety during the COVID-19 Pandemic (April 3, 2020)
Consecutive Interpreting
- Hana Lourenzo, “Note Taking for Consecutive Interpreting,” The ATA Chronicle (October 2008).
- Consecutive Interpreting. What is consecutive interpreting? What does it entail? – Knowledge Centre on Interpretation, European Commission
Remote interpreting
- FIT discussion paper on remote interpreting (published: June 2019)
- CCHI remote interpreting resources (published: April 2020)
- TIPS on working with remote interpreters (published: April 204 by LEP.gov)
- AIIC Interpreter Checklist – Performing remote interpreting assignments from home in extremis during the COVID-19 pandemic (published: May 2020)
- Olsen, Barry S., “Remote Interpreting: Feeling our way into the future“, The ATA Chronicle (2020).
- Reference guide to remote simultaneous interpretation – AIIC Switzerland (May 2020)
- AIIC Guidelines on Remote Interpreting NEW
Training
- European Commission – Training modules for interpreting students
- European Commission – Interpretation training toolbox
School resources
Terminology provided by the Orange County Department of Education in California (OCDE) and the Oregon Department of Education (ODE)
- English-Chinese Early Learning Glossary (ODE)
- English-Vietnamese Early Learning Glossary (ODE)
- English-Farsi list of educational terms (OCDE)
- English-Japanese list of educational terms (OCDE)
- English-Korean list of educational terms (OCDE)
- English-Mandarin list of educational terms (OCDE)
- English-Spanish list of educational terms (OCDE)
- English-Spanish Early Learning Glossary (ODE)
- English-Vietnamese list of educational terms (OCDE)
- English-Vietnamese Early Learning Glossary (ODE)
- English-Russian Early Learning Glossary (ODE)
Non-terminology resources for interpreting in school settings:
- Code of Ethics and Standards of Practice for Educational Translators and Interpreters of Spoken Languages – by NAETISL
- Remote Interpreting in Educational Settings -by Interpreting and Translation in Education workgroup
- Language Access Workgroup Report to the Legislature, October 2020, by Washington State. This workgroup was convened by the Office of Superintendent of Public Instruction (OSPI)
Interpreters associations
AIIC, FIT, IMIA, NCIHC, NAJIT, CCIA, ACIA… A list of all the relevant interpreters and translators associations, both national and international.
Published: November 2015. Last updated: December 2020.