Everything you need to know about the Chinese test for translators and interpreters in 2021.

What is it? China Accreditation Test for Translators and Interpreters (hereinafter referred to as CATTI) is a state-level vocational qualification examination for the whole country. Any person who has a certain level of foreign language skills can apply for corresponding language tests, Level 2 and Level 3, irrespective of age, education background, qualifications and status.

The eight languages to be tested in the CATTI include English, Japanese, French, Russian, German, Spanish, Arabic, and Korean.

If you are a translation student or professional and Chinese is one of your working languages, you may want to consider taking CATTI at some point in your career. Here is why:

1. The CATTI is the only language test that is included in China’s national vocational qualification system. 

2. The certificate is one of China’s top ten authoritative certificates. 

3. The certificate corresponds to the Chinese professional title system. The certificate is a professional title certificate for professional translators and interpreters with following equivalents: Level-3 certificate recipient for assistant translator (teaching assistant), Level-2 for translator (lecturer), and Level-1 for assistant senior translator (associate professor) and senior translator (professor). 

4. It is a must for candidates of Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) in China. According to the relevant policies of China’s Ministry of Education, a postgraduate for master’s degree majoring in translation and interpretation without a certificate of Level 2 or above must pass the exam during his/her study in the college.
5. Those with a certificate can apply for the membership of the Translators Association of China (TAC). 

6. The certificate has become an essential or priority condition for employment. 

7. The certificate has become an important qualification for popular cities to recruit high-end talents. 

8. The certificate has become the key qualification for project bidding. 

9. The CATTI enjoys growing international influence. The CATTI is the world’s largest translation examination. It is China’s first vocational qualification examination to set up test centers overseas. It is promoting mutual recognition with existing international translation examination certificates.

The year 2019 witnessed CATTI’s first launch of test overseas at the Belarusian State University. To date, test centers have been opened in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia, and Minsk of Belarus. 2020 will see more test centers open in other countries, such as Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, and Canada.

Starting from 2020, the CATTI will gradually promote the mutual recognition of certificates with existing translation examinations in other parts of the world.

The CATTI is receiving widespread attention from the global translation community. More than 160 countries and regions have shown concern for the CATTI through the official website.

All the information in this article was adapted for divulgative purposes from http://www.catticenter.com/cattiksjj/1848