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Certification of Interpreters
and Translators in Washington State
History:
In 1991, the Department of Social and Health Services (DSHS) in Washington
State initiated an effort to certify medical and social service interpreters
and translators working for DSHS throughout its many divisions and programs.
This included the Medical Assistance Administration and, therefore, interpreters
for Medicaid patients. This effort was the culmination of lawsuits and
civil rights complaints brought against DSHS for not providing equal access
to services for Limited English Proficient (LEP) clients. As part of a
consent decree, DSHS agreed not only to provide (and pay for) interpreters
for clients, but also to ensure the quality of interpreter services provided.
DSHS chose to ensure quality through the development and administration
of a standardized test.
The Language Interpreter Services and Translations (LIST) office was
created by DSHS to develop and oversee the testing process (and other related
functions for the Department, such as translations). The tests developed
by LIST aim to measure both language proficiency in English and a second
language and interpreting/translation skills. DSHS language certification
is currently available in eight languages: Spanish, Vietnamese, Russian,
Cambodian, Laotian, Mandarin Chinese, Cantonese Chinese, and Korean.
Five types of tests were created to evaluate the skills of five categories
of people: DSHS employees with bilingual assignments, licensed personnel
whose agency provides services for DSHS under contract (such as mental health
and substance abuse program workers), contracted translators providing written
translation services to DSHS social service programs, contracted interpreters
providing oral interpretation services to DSHS social service programs,
and contracted interpreters providing oral interpretation services to DSHS
clients in medical settings. The discussion here will focus on the latter
category - medical interpreters' test.
Description of test:
Medical interpreters must take both a written test and an oral test.
The interpreter must pass the written test before going on to the oral
test. The written test has five sections, all in multiple choice format.
Section one covers the professional code of ethics, in English, with true
and false questions. Section two covers medical terminology (symptoms,
diseases, treatments, etc.), with the stem term in English and multiple
choice options in the non-English language. Section three covers clinical/medical
procedures, with both question and answer in English only. Section four
is a brief test in the English language, on syntax and grammar, with the
candidate choosing an option that best completes each unfinished sentence.
Section five is the same as section four, except that all items are in
the non-English target language.
The oral test has two parts: one a test in sight translation, the other
a test in consecutive interpretation. In the sight translation test, the
candidate has six minutes to verbally render an English text into the target
language, and another six minutes to render a non-English text into English.
In the consecutive interpretation test, the candidate plays the role of
interpreter, using pre-recorded audio materials with built-in pauses to
perform the interpretation. The entire oral test is audio-recorded, then
scored by independent graders retained by LIST.
Screening test for non-certified language interpreters:
In response to concerns about the quality of interpretation in languages
other than the certified ones, LIST developed a non-language-specific test.
Interpreters who speak languages other than the eight for which tests exist
must go through a screening process that consists of a written test and
an oral test. The written test is entirely in English, with four multiple
choice sections: professional code of ethics, medical terminology, clinical/medical
procedures, and indirect writing test in the English language. The oral
screening test has three parts which are audio recorded for scoring purposes.
The first part is a sight translation exercise of ten unrelated sentences
from English into the target language. The second part is a memory retention
test. And the third part is a back interpretation exercise from the target
language into English. Unlike the certified language tests, this screening
process does not require grading by experts in the non-English language.
Fees:
In the first years of the test, no fees were charged, with the state
absorbing the full cost of administering the test. At this time, modest
fees are charged to each individual for each test taken.
For more information contact:
LIST, Department of Social and Health Services
P.O. Box 45820
Olympia, WA 98504-5820
Telephone: (360) 664-6111.
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