Frequently Asked Questions

Since this is an undergraduate certificate, the U.S. educational prerequisite is a high school diploma (or GED). If you are an international student, please make sure to forward a copy of your high school diploma to the Director of Translator and Interpreter Training, Cristiano Mazzei (@email). Another prerequisite is language proficiency. Students applying to the program must demonstrate advanced proficiency in English and a Language Other Than English (LOTE). Please refer to our Certificate Guidelines and carefully review the information on language proficiency.

Students must complete 15 credits in order to receive the certificate, and must pass each course with a grade of C or higher. Most of our classes bear 3 credits, but we also have 2 and 1-credit offerings. See our coursework page for more info.

Students can take any online class that is available in any semester, independent of the certificate, as long as they meet the prerequisite of high language proficiency and have been approved to get started by program director.

Students can complete the certificate in one year (3 semesters) or take as long as they need. Some students take one course per semester and finish in 2 years. There’s no deadline to complete the certificate.

There’s an important difference between “certification” and “certificate.” Certification is offered by an independent organization after you take and pass an exam to become “certified.” A “certificate” of training/education is offered by an educational institution or organization.

Our core courses are “suggested” as opposed to “required.” Our certificate is flexible enough that students can start by taking any of our LLC classes (400 & 500 level) and design their own program.
 

We follow the academic calendar of our university, and our classes are scheduled in fall, winter, spring, and summer. Not all courses are available every term, so please review the information on "explore classes" or contact program director to plan your certificate.

Since most of our students are adult learners, busy with the professional and personal lives, we usually recommend a maximum of 2 per semester (our classes are very demanding university credit courses). Students should expect spending approximately 10 hours of work per week on each 3-credit course (watching lectures, reading articles, taking quizzes, working on translation & interpreting assignments, terminology research, etc.).

Course readings, discussions, papers, presentations, quizzes and other course related content are in English. Students’ translation and interpreting assignments are done in the student’s language pair (e.g., English & Arabic). Some of those assignments are sent out to language reviewers (professional translators and/or interpreters) who work in the same language pair as the student.

The certificate’s pedagogical framework and the expertise of our faculty members is focused on spoken languages. For ASL-specific interpreting programs, please visit the education section on the website of the Registry for Interpreters of the Deaf (RID).

Because our online certificate is offered all around the world and accepts different languages, it is not possible to provide equitable internship opportunities to all students. Our faculty members are professionals with many years of experience and some of our courses are focused on how to start in the career.

Our Learning Management System (LMS) is Canvas. After enrollment, you'll receive emails with information on how to access your courses in our platform. You can also access Canvas using your username and password. If you’re not seeing your courses it’s because they are not available to you yet.

Our classes follow the academic calendar of the university and open for “preview week” ONE WEEK before their start date (fall, winter, spring, summer).

Students will have access to the course syllabus, information about course navigation, and an overview of the first week of class. There are no required assignments during “preview week”—this is a time for students to become familiar with our Learning Management System, Canvas, or engage with non-graded activities designed by their instructors. Students are also encouraged to review Canvas tutorials during this time.

Students should expect to spend approximately $9,000 + on our 15-credit certificate. The cost for each course is between $1,600 to $1,900 (most are 3 credits, but a few are 2 or 1—course fee is based on number of credits). Our 400-level classes are $550 per credit; and 500-level courses are $656 per credit (as of summer 2024). The most current course pricing will be found in Spire and the UWW Explore Classes webpage for each enrollment term (under "Program," please select "Professional Translation and Interpreting").

Students only pay for the courses they take each semester. Questions about finance and payment should be directed to our Office of the Bursar, which will upload each student’s bill on their SPIRE account. The same office also offers a payment plan (UPay), which students can use to pay for their courses in monthly installments.

There is no financial aid for short certificate programs at UMass Amherst, only for degree programs, such as BA, MA, and PhD degrees (the same is true in most U.S. universities).

Our online division, University Without Walls (UWW), offers a few options for online students. For more information, please visit scholarships.

The U.S. Department of Labor states, “Employment of interpreters and translators is projected to grow 24 percent from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations.” The vast majority of translators and interpreters are freelance workers and independent contractors, either working directly with clients or through language service provider (LSP) agencies.

As stated above, translators and interpreters mostly work as independent contractors for different clients, companies, government agencies, or nonprofit organizations, or subcontracted by agencies (language service providers). Depending on individuals’ resumes and experience, jobs available also include manager of interpreter services, language services manager, cultural mediator, cultural and bilingual liaison, project manager, medical or healthcare interpreter, court interpreter, and owner of language service provider.

Please refer to the survey commissioned and published by the American Translators Association (ATA), showing salary range and much more: ATA Translation and Interpreting Services Survey

Students register and enroll through our course management system, SPIRE. After being accepted by the program director, new students can start the registration process here. Upon filling out the form, students will receive their new email address (umass.edu) and student ID, which they will need to log on to SPIRE to enroll/add classes to their cart. It can take up to three business days to establish your SPIRE account.

Students enroll through our course management system, SPIRE. This short video illustrates the enrollment process. IMPORTANT: When watching it, you’ll hear and see the term “CPE” being used in reference to our online courses and terms; it has recently been replaced by University + (University  Plus), which is the division in charge of our distance learning education. Instead of “CPE” you’ll see “University +” in the “session” dropdown box inside SPIRE. If you need additional assistance with registration and enrollment, please contact our Registrar's Office at 413-545-3653 or @email.