ATA Certification
American Translators Association credential.
ATA certification is a credential awarded by the American Translators Association to translators who pass a rigorous proctored examination in a specific language pair and direction. ATA-certified translators are the recognized professional standard for US certified translation work.
The ATA certification examination tests translation quality across several domains — general subject matter, technical, legal, literary — under timed conditions. Pass rates are historically low (around 20%), making ATA certification a meaningful quality signal.
Many US receiving authorities — USCIS, federal courts, universities, credential evaluators — specifically prefer or require translations from ATA-certified translators. While certification is not always legally mandated, it materially reduces the risk of rejection and provides a defensible quality standard for the receiving authority.
ATA certification covers specific language pairs and directions (e.g., Spanish-to-English is a separate certification from English-to-Spanish). A translator may be ATA-certified in one direction but not the other.