| Sumario: | The figure of the sworn translator–interpreter has a long tradition in Spain and has been approached from a wide variety of perspectives within academic literature. The fact that no licence or qualification is required to work as a translator or interpreter makes accreditation as a sworn translator–interpreter a valuable upgrade for T&I graduates, as it is a requirement to be allowed to provide sworn translations and interpreting services. The Spanish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, European Union and Cooperation is in charge of organising accreditation exams, which have been criticised for their design, format and transparency (Way, 2003; Vigier Moreno, 2010; Ordóñez López, 2009). This criticism, as well as the extremely low percentages of candidates who obtain accreditation (ranging from 0.3% to 4.4% in the last four examination sessions), make this analysis particularly timely. In this paper, the accreditation process is examined taking into account the concept of legal translator's competence (e.g. Borja, 2005; Prieto Ramos, 2011), the professional reality of sworn translators–interpreters and T&I degree programmes at Spanish universities.
|
|---|