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Industry reputation of online certificate programs
Thread poster: Laura Messer
Laura Messer
Laura Messer  Identity Verified
Canada
Spanish to English
May 8, 2014

I am in the process of relocating from the US to Canada - immigration application sitting at the visa office. In the meantime, I am thinking about my options for changing careers. I have been working as a legal assistant for the past 8 years and have a graduate certificate in paralegal studies from a reputable US institution but I am tired of the legal services world. I had considered translation studies in the past and had dec... See more
I am in the process of relocating from the US to Canada - immigration application sitting at the visa office. In the meantime, I am thinking about my options for changing careers. I have been working as a legal assistant for the past 8 years and have a graduate certificate in paralegal studies from a reputable US institution but I am tired of the legal services world. I had considered translation studies in the past and had decided to put that off and instead do some volunteer translating to build up a portfolio of work. I now have a fair amount of projects under my belt as a part-time volunteer translator but am considering now may be a good time to go back to school to get some sort of educational qualification but I feel going for another post-graduate certificate as opposed to a master's degree is a better option for me to get some qualification without spending an inordinate amount of money - I don't need to rack up tens of thousands more in student loans!

My question pertains to the current industry reputation for various universities offering online or partially online programs. I have received information about NYU's program and attended an information session for the University of Chicago's program in the past (I got the impression I would basically be paying for their prestigious name and wasn't sure of the quality of the instruction for that particular program). If I am going to invest the money, I am looking for quality instruction from an institution with a good reputation in the industry! Most of the information I have turned up from online searches about NYU's reputation is pretty old, so any current information about their program or other similar certificate programs would be appreciated. ▲ Collapse
 
Hope Farmer
Hope Farmer
Spain
Local time: 11:14
German to English
+ ...
One good, one bad May 8, 2014

I just took the first two classes for the NYU certificate. One class was very good, and the other class was, well, I would sum it up by saying it was a waste of time.
There is a really good webinar on Proz.com that covered more material than the last NYU's 10-week class I took, and the NYU class was 5 times more expensive.
If you already have experience as a volunteer, you might want to consider getting certified in one or more CAT tools and taking a few online courses here at Proz.... See more
I just took the first two classes for the NYU certificate. One class was very good, and the other class was, well, I would sum it up by saying it was a waste of time.
There is a really good webinar on Proz.com that covered more material than the last NYU's 10-week class I took, and the NYU class was 5 times more expensive.
If you already have experience as a volunteer, you might want to consider getting certified in one or more CAT tools and taking a few online courses here at Proz.com before you spend money on a certification.
I am very curious what other translators think about this subject! ▲ Collapse
 
Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz
Łukasz Gos-Furmankiewicz  Identity Verified
Poland
Local time: 11:14
English to Polish
+ ...
... May 8, 2014

You need some credentials, but there's hardly any standard. I'd look for a bachelor's or master's programme in translation to get some basic credentials and then think about certification as the requisite experience keeps coming (some certifications may require proof of existing translation experience). In the long term, you probably want an ATA certification for the US and possibly DipTrans for the UK market (either should work elsewhere in the world).

Make sure you take some proct... See more
You need some credentials, but there's hardly any standard. I'd look for a bachelor's or master's programme in translation to get some basic credentials and then think about certification as the requisite experience keeps coming (some certifications may require proof of existing translation experience). In the long term, you probably want an ATA certification for the US and possibly DipTrans for the UK market (either should work elsewhere in the world).

Make sure you take some proctored exams or in any case that your certification process includes having your ID verified and isn't easy to game, or the certification might not be respected as much as you'd like it to be.

[Edited at 2014-05-08 20:41 GMT] ▲ Collapse
 
Laura Messer
Laura Messer  Identity Verified
Canada
Spanish to English
TOPIC STARTER
thanks all and another question May 15, 2014

Thanks for your responses.

Hope, I am curious which classes you have taken at NYU so far and which one was the one that seemed not so useful.

Laura
 


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