I go to San joaquin delta college. (in stockton CA). I took a sign language class and i really enjoyed it. i am thinking about getting certified. what do i need to do get become certified? i would also like to know the job out look and the salary. if you could help me with this i would be really thankful.
.
Join the Conversation
Leave a comment
You may want to be specific..do you mean certified Sign Language *interpreter*? Knowing ASL and knowing how to interpret are two different (yet related) skills.
When talking about certification, I’d assume you mean interpreting, but as the other poster mentioned your comment is unclear so I may be wrong.
If you want to know how to become a certified interpreter, I can explain that. Our national agency is known as Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID). RID has a testing system in place to earn a NIC (National Interpreter Certification). To be able to take the NIC test you must have minimally an Associate’s degree. The test is administered in two parts, written and performance. The best place to find more information on the NIC is at http://www.rid.org
I’m sure California has some sort of state test that may qualify you to work in the state but a quick google search didn’t help me.
As to job outlook and salary, that’s more complicated to answer. Job outlook is pretty good. There’s always a need for qualified interpreters. As to salary, that would depend on what type of interpreting you plan on doing. Educational (K-12) tends to pay the least. There is also community interpreting or freelance and Video Relay interpreting. Again, since I’m not in California I cannot speak to salary out there as it does change drastically from market to market.
I hope this helped!
Pay varies from 20 to 70 dollars an hour depending on job setting and your skill.
Ask the college department about what their requirements are for sign language certification. If they don’t offer a certificate or degree for it, check your local school of translation to see if they can help you. Even if they don’t offer the classes themselves (which is highly unlikely), they’ll probably be able to point you in the right direction and give you the relevant information.
I took the liberty of searching your school’s website, and found this:
http://www.deltacollege.edu/dept/ar/catalog/cat0809/2119.htm
As for salary and job outlook, those vary greatly depending on where you work and who you work for. I found a webpage that does a great job of laying it all out for you:
http://www.lifeprint.com/asl101/pages-layout/interpreter-howtobecome.htm