Are You Bilingual?

Earn a Spanish/English Translation Certificate Online

The Spanish/English Translation Certificate Program is a 3-course fully online non-credit program designed to train entry-level translators to meet the needs of doctors' offices, hospitals, courts, law offices, schools and other settings.

Students who successfully complete all three courses—Medical, Legal, and Business Translation—will be awarded a University of Arizona Certificate of Completion. Students may also elect to take just one or two of the courses.

Upon completing the program, students will have:

• Practiced translating medical, legal, and business content from English to Spanish and Spanish to English
• Knowledge of English and Spanish health, legal and business terminology
• Knowledge of how to make translation decisions on the basis of the translation requirements
• Training in cultural competency
• Preparation to work in health and legal settings

Applying to the Program

You will need to complete an application to be accepted into the program. The application includes a background information form and a written entrance exam to test proficiency in English and Spanish. Applying is free.

You will be notified of the results of your application within 2-3 weeks. Please allow 2 weeks before contacting us about the results of your application.

If you are accepted into the program, you will be notified when classes open for registration.

APPLY NOW

Courses

Each course is usually 16 weeks long (self paced, with weekly deadlines) and each course is offered 1-2 times per year. Courses start in January, May and September.

Price: $825 per course, 3 courses total

Discounts are available for University of Arizona employees and military, as well as early registration (1 month before course start). Only one discount can be used per registration. A payment plan option is also available for Translation courses.

For additional training opportunities in translation and interpretation, please visit the University of Arizona National Center for Interpretation.

Awards

The University of Arizona Spanish/English Translation Certificate Program was the recipient of the 2021 University Professional and Continuing Education Association (UPCEA) West Region Outstanding Non-Credit Program Award.

Instructors

Alexandra Guevara-Salcedo MD, MA, CMI, CT, was born and raised in Bogotá, Colombia. She graduated from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana as a medical doctor and surgeon in 2002. She holds an undergraduate and a graduate certificate degree in Spanish/Translating and Translation Studies, and a master’s degree in Spanish/Translating and Translation Studies from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. She started interpreting in 2006 and in 2012 she became a Certified Medical Interpreter by the NBCMI. She is also an English-Spanish translator and holds the ATA certification since 2016.

Ana M. Krause is a Spanish Translation instructor (specialized in legal and financial translation). She has taught Spanish translation courses for more than 18 years, first in her native country of Costa Rica, at Universidad de Costa Rica and Universidad Nacional, and then in the United States, at the University of Chicago Graham School and the New York University School of Professional Studies. She holds a BA in English from Universidad de Costa Rica, a MA in Spanish Translation from Kent State University in Ohio, and a MA in Teaching Spanish Language and Culture from Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca in Salamanca, Spain. She has been a professional translator for more than 25 years and enjoys sharing her experience and passion for translation with her students.

Laura B. Price MEd, MA, was born and raised in Montevideo, Uruguay. She holds a master’s degree in Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a master’s degree in Spanish/Translating and Translation Studies from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.  She also holds a graduate certificate degree in Language and Culture Studies from UNC Charlotte, a graduate certificate degree in Autism from East Carolina University and a Medical Spanish Teaching diploma from the University of Cantabria, Spain. She has been a translator and interpreter in the legal, medical, early intervention and education fields for the past twenty-four years.  She is a passionate and caring advocate for the education of future interpreters and translators.

Tania Varela grew up transfronteriza, a binational citizen of the borderland in San Diego and Tijuana. She has been working in the Translation industry for more than 10 years, both in a translation agency and as a freelancer. She holds a Certificate in Translation and Interpretation from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), a BA in Comparative Literature from the American University of Paris and an MA in Spanish from the University of California, Los Angeles. She is currently a PhD candidate in Hispanic Languages and Literatures at UCLA, where she has been teaching a wide variety of Spanish language classes since 2015. She became an ATA certified translator in June 2022.

Academic Program Director

Dr. Sonia Colina is Director of the National Center for Interpretation and Professor of Hispanic Linguistics in the Department of Spanish and Portuguese at the University of Arizona, and is the former president of the American Translation and Interpreting Studies Association (ATISA). Dr. Colina is an expert in translation studies and translation pedagogy. Dr. Colina is the author of Translation Teaching and Fundamentals of Translation and of numerous articles in edited volumes and prestigious journals. She serves on the editorial board of Translation and Interpreting Studies (TIS) and on the International Advisory Board of the Translator and Interpreter Trainer. In addition to her academic and scholarly work, Dr. Colina has created and presented a variety of workshops for professional translators, managers of translators, and teachers of translation.

Questions?

Call us at 520-626-3343 or see the Translation Certificate Program FAQs.