The Translation and Interpretation Proficiency Test in Taiwan

Due to growing demands, the Ministry of Education conducted a Chinese-English translation and interpretation proficiency test on December 8-9, 2007. The goal is to establish an interpreter accreditation system, improve the professional image of interpreters and select interpreters competent to enter the market (Bureau of international Cultural and Educational Relations, 2008). Citizens age 18 or higher are eligible for the test. No additional qualification required. The interpreting proficiency test include two stages, candidates who did not pass the first stage are prohibited from participating in the second stage. The interpretation test includes short and long consecutive sections (see table 2.2 for details). Simultaneous interpretation ability was not included in this test. There are 150 people registered for short consecutive test and 139 for long consecutive. The passing rate for short and long consecutive interpretation is 9.59 and 6.57 percent respectively. Only six examinees passed both tests. (see table 2.3 for details).

Table 2.2 The Structure of the First Translation and Interpretation Proficiency Test by the

Source: Translated from Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations, Ministry of Education, 2007

Table 2.3 The Initial Tests Results Conducted by the Ministry of Education 2007 Chinese-English Translation and Interpretation Proficiency Test

Source: Translated from Bureau of International Cultural and Educational Relations, Ministry of Education, 2008

The effectiveness and consequence of the first attempt to regulate the interpreting market in Taiwan remains to be seen. Furthermore, simultaneous interpreting was not included in the

proficiency test. The reason for this option unknown. Therefore, the current preliminary results cannot be directly applied to the conference interpreting profession since it is highly dependent on the simultaneous interpretation skills to perform professional tasks. Therefore, this study aims to collect views from the major participants of conference interpreting activities to see if the results

can provide further understanding of the possibility of establishing a conference interpreter accreditation.

After reviewing the conference interpreter accreditation and quality regulating mechanism around the world, it brings out one of the questions this study would like to find out: Why is accreditation test on conference interpreting not a prevalent approach? Are there any traits in conference interpreting preventing the development? Through interviews, this study hopes to gain an insight to these questions.

According to Hong’s Research (2004), the general public in Taiwan believes interpreters care more about the welfare of the society than their own profit, abide by ethic codes, and has developed jargons and culture specific to the interpreting filed. A formal and systematic training is essential to interpreters; in addition, interpreting is considered a profession that highly relays on expert knowledge and skills. However, most people also agree that interpreters are not critical to the smooth functioning of the society. People can do well without the interference of interpreters. This clearly indicates a lack of proper understanding as to the nature of the interpreting assignments (Hong, 2004). Since it is almost impossible for layman to directly assess the outcome of

professional interpreting work, and the impact and loss incurred from low quality interpreting is not as obvious as a failed law suit, the general public does not take much interest in this profession that is complex and seems to have no effect on their lives. As a matter of fact, many interpreters

indicate that the problems that interpreters face is that clients do not understand the nature of interpreting, therefore it is not easy to communicate with them. Furthermore, there is no professional association to protect their rights (GIO, 2004).

However, interpreting activities do make a difference in the society even if they did not receive the attention they deserve. To bring the importance of quality interpretation to the public’s attention, one of the objectives in Challenge 2008 set by Council for Economic Planning and

Development, Executive Yuan is to develop an internationalized living environment and improve the quality of translation and interpretation to better connect the public to other parts of the world where Chinese is not spoken (Council for Economic Planning and Development, 2002).

To achieve this goal, there are discussions on adding the interpreter profession into civil examination, though the cost the effect balance still needs to be calculated. At present, government agencies resort to outsourcing when interpreting services are called for. One of the reasons is that interpreting is not one of the routine jobs. Even in departments where interpreters are constantly needed, the government inclines to train civil servants into interpreters instead of opening up a new civil examination category (GIO, 2004).

Since incorporating interpreting exam into civil examination does not seem to be an option at present, including interpreting accreditation into professional and technical examination or national technician certification are others way to go (Lin, 2005). This will not only profit the government agencies when they need to recruit services of quality interpreters, but will also allow private sectors to locate capable professional interpreters when demanded. Extra training may be required in some circumstances, but basic interpreting skills and ethical code are to be guaranteed by accreditation.

According to the Taiwan Translation and Interpretation Survey (GIO, 2004), the surveyed are mostly in favor of a T&I certification system and the establishment of a government T&I office, whose major function to be confined to setting up standards and facilitating the growth of T&I industry. As for the accreditation system, different goals should be taken into consideration in order to build a flexible system. Of all the respondents surveyed, 64% of the interpreters support training institutions, 79% of the teachers in interpretation training support the establishment of an

interpreting accreditation system. The interpreter training institutions surveyed think that an

accreditation system can elevate the professional status of interpreting, act as quality control device, and earn interpreters proper respect. (GIO, 2004)

More than 90% of the central and local government agencies surveyed support the idea of a translation and interpretation accreditation system. They believe that a credible system would help increase translation and interpretation quality and achieve professional translator and interpreter quality control. However, many government agencies do not have much confidence in the

effectiveness of the accreditation system. To their concern, various reasons affect the outcome of an accreditation system, such as adequate judges, test participants and content, and whether the

certificate really meets the need of the industry. Interpreting can be applied to many different industries that require specific domain knowledge. There is no guarantee that interpreters can carry out these divergent tasks simply because they passed one accreditation examination (GIO, 2004).

Many conference interpreters support the idea of an accreditation system. The reasons given are that an accreditation system will establish professional standard, ensure interpreting quality and improve interpreters’ professional status. The ones oppose to the idea express doubts in the potential credibility of an accreditation test. Some of the ones support the idea also mentioned that they only support the idea under the condition that the test is credible. Therefore, it is clear that the greatest obstacle is the credibility of the competent authority in charge of the accreditation test (GIO, 2004;

Tseng, 2005).

In Tseng’s study (2005), many clients and conference organizers interviewed state that, as long as the interpreters established their reputation, they will work with reputed conference interpreters even if the interpreters are not certified. To them, interpreting proficiency is the key issue. And they evaluate interpreting proficiency by examining reputation and related degree. But how will novice conference interpreters be evaluated when the interpreters have not yet established reputation and do not have a related degree? This is why a credible accreditation system may be beneficial. An accreditation should be able to open doors for these interpreters, although it is also understandable a poorly designed system may not achieve the goal of establishing professional standards and as a result wield no influence on the interpreters and clients (Tseng, 2005).

CHAPTER THREE