Ablio Standards of Practice for Interpreting
Ablio’s Standards of Practice for Interpreters are based on the industry’s best practices. Adherence to these standards will ensure interpreters’ competency and will foster high ethical and professional standards in the delivery of online interpreting services.
Scope
Ablio’s Standards of Practice for Interpreters constitute the company’s guidelines for its community of interpreters’ professional conduct. They are stated in observable and measurable terms and are intended as minimum levels of practice to which each interpreter is held accountable. In order to work for Ablio, each online interpreter agrees to uphold and abide by these Standards and their applicable policies. Failure to comply with them would constitute professional misconduct and would result in sanctions, or other appropriate disciplinary actions, including the suspension or termination of the interpreter’s service relationship
These Standards are also to be used as a reference by all Ablio’s stakeholders:
- Interpreters’ community coaches use them for proper assessment of candidates, as a basis for performance evaluation, and ongoing quality assessment of interpreting services.
- Trainers incorporate them into their trainings, seminars and exercises.
- Managers and employees are acquainted with them and will abide by them in performing their working activities.
- Clients can compare them with their own standards and quality requirements in order to evaluate (or measure) the services performed by the company and to gain a clear understanding of interpreters’ duties and responsibilities.
These guidelines reflect existing policies in different industries. Interpreting services in specific settings, such as healthcare or legal systems, may require additional Standards.
While each standard has its own merit and can stand on its own, the full implication of each standard is best understood when seen in connection with the other standards. Therefore, each standard should be understood and followed in the context of the entire set of standards.
The Standards reflect Ablio’s clear commitment to ensure that interpreters provide an optimal level of service and strive for excellence. This includes remaining in good standing with the company, committing to continued personal and professional development through self-study, self-assessment, and ongoing training, and seeking support from coaches and peers to provide quality service. It also includes the understanding that any interpreter’s actions reflect the company’s values.
Why the need of Standards?
Generally speaking, Standards of Practice are sets of guidelines that define professional performance in a given role. Among its many functions, Standards describe what are considered “best practices” by a profession. They also ensure consistent performance quality and define acceptable ways in which core obligations of the profession can be met.
Through their associations, health practitioners, engineers, and lawyers have formalized codes of ethics and standards of practice widely adopted and recognized both by respective industry specific professionals and customers. Many national and local interpreting associations have made efforts to provide commonly shared and adopted definitions for them but this specific industry is still lacking any officially recognized and recommended global codes of ethics and standards of practice.
Lack of clarity and consistency in defining the skills and competencies of a qualified interpreter service leaves interpreters, their customers, and other stakeholders with little or no guidance in identifying performance requirements of the interpreter role. As a result, the quality of interpreting services across the world is uneven and inconsistent.
Given such a context, Ablio has developed its own Code of Ethics and Standards to provide reference and guidance to its interpreters and customers about what is expected and what constitutes good interpreting practices of the service. This effort is undertaken as part of Ablio’s commitment to strive for excellence in delivering online interpreting services to its customers in any type of industry and in any location around the world.
Ablio’s Standards of Practice are ISO 18841:2018 certified, the specific ISO standard issued for our industry.
ISO Certification
Acknowledgments
Besides complying with recommendations included within the ISO 18841:2018 Standard, in the preparation of this document, Ablio has consulted published standards of practice available within the interpreting industry. These have been reviewed and adapted to online interpreting in a broad range of settings, in order to provide our customers with the highest possible standards of quality and performance. Among the sources consulted are the AIIC Professional Standards (aiic.org), “National Standard Guide for Community Interpreting Services” (Healthcare Interpretation Network, Toronto, Canada, 2007), the “National Standard Practice for Interpreters in Health Care” (NCIHC, National Council on Interpreting in Health Care, United States, 2005).