How I became a certified translator in Canada

Some of my clients and friends have asked me how I became a certified translator, and expressed interest in becoming one.

I had background in professional translation years before becoming a certified translator in 2019. Born and raised in South Korea and educated in Canada, I have been bilingual in both Korean and English since adolescence. My proficiency in the two languages and my love of reading and writing inspired me to pursue a career in translation.

My first official experience in translation was volunteering at an international event held in South Korea back in 2014. My role was to translate the scripted speeches delivered by the host and the guidebook for visitors. After the end of the event, I actively sought paid jobs in translation, and was able to secure contracts with several translation agencies who assigned various projects from their business clients to freelancing translators. The types of the documents I translated for them included commercial brochures, PPTs, government reports, user manuals, business contracts, financial statements, hospital records, university course outlines, and so on.

I was complimented for my fast turnaround time and high quality of work. I loved working alone at the comfort of my home and the flexibility of my work schedules. Eventually, I wanted to connect with other translators and linguists like myself in my area. Sometime in 2017, I was introduced to a court interpreter through my family, and learned about the professional translation and interpretation association in my province (namely, the Association of Translators and Interpreters of Ontario or the ATIO), and the certification examinations they offer every year.

I quickly learned that in order to secure good quality work in Canada I needed to become certified. In countries like South Korea where foreign-language speakers are scarce, a good command of English can get you work without a certificate or degree. But in a diverse country like Canada where people speak all different languages, certification can be the best credential to be recognized as a professional translator.

In order to become a certified member of the ATIO, I had to pass their two exams: entrance exam and certification exam. You need to first pass the entrance exam to be a “candidate” member of the ATIO and then apply for the certification exam to become their “certified” member. To apply for the entrance exam, I had to prove two years of full-time work experience in translation, which was done by way of the reference letters from two of the translation agencies I had been working for since 2015.

In 2018, I passed the entrance exam in the Korean to English combination, in which more work is available than the other combination. One year later, I passed the certification exam in the same language pair. Since then, I have been continually contacted by the members of the public who need the services of a certified translator for their applications for immigration, passport, marriage licence, name change, professional licence, etc.

Due to the small size of the Korean-speaking population, there are less than 10 Korean-to-English certified translators in Ontario, at least to my knowledge. If the size of the population of your language is bigger than Korean, you won’t have a hard time finding a certified translator. You should hire a certified translator for your official application that requires a high level of accuracy and honesty. Certified translators are the professionals equipped with the necessary experience and sense of ethics that can provide you with the highest quality of work for the completeness of your application.

If you have a document to translate for your application, find a certified translator in your language through the ATIO directory: atio.on.ca/directory.