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When I started my first job in the translation industry as a project manager more than 15 years ago, one of the biggest surprises for me was the number of translation requests we received for French. After all, weren’t Spanish, Chinese, and Arabic the most “important” languages for translation now?
The interpreting profession for spoken languages has come a long way since it began using volunteers to national certified interpreters of today. The demand all over the United States for all languages has skyrocketed in the past 10 to 12 years. In the past, interpreter services were provided by volunteers, children and other community members without any training. These ad hoc interpreters were doing the best they could with what they had. Many family members acted as interpreters and many times they left out crucial information. They were omitting and or distorting the message during the medical encounters leaving the limited English proficient patients open to risk. Sometimes the limited English proficient patients would not follow instructions or they were less likely to come back for follow up appointments due to the poor communication between the provider and the patient. According to the recent census, 20.8 % of the population in the United States speaks a language other than English. Laws like Title VI, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin, are some of the reasons for the new emerging interpreting profession.
In our global world, translation is a fact of life. If your customers can’t read about 
your product in their language, they won’t buy it. If they can’t get support for the product in their language, they probably won’t come back.
JV Almeda is the Internal Operations Manager at ALS
It’s a valid and important question, and one that we in the Translation Department 
hear on an almost daily basis. And often, it’s not entirely clear what this certificate is, what it means, or if you even need it!
When you need something translated, it’s important to get it right the first time. Otherwise, you run the risk of embarrassing yourself at best, or insulting someone at worst. Hiring a certified translator seems to be the best way to avoid a faux pas, but how do you know that you’ve hired the right person for the job? Here are five ways to be sure that the person you’ve hired is a competent and professional translator.