Attachment 4 - Proficiency Levels.docx

ATTACHMENT 4

PROFICIENCY LEVELS

The following proficiency levels for interpretation and translation are determined by the Interagency Language Roundtable (ILR). The ILR is a Federal organization established for the coordination and sharing of information about language-related activities at the Federal level. See https://www.govtilr.org/.

Individuals should provide interpretation and translation proficiency levels for each language in section 1 of Attachment 2. Firms should provide interpretation and translation proficiency levels proficiency levels for each language in section 1 of Attachment 3.

Per section II.A of the RFQ, the minimum level of proficiency will also be requested on the Bid Page that is created for each translation and interpretation service.

I. Interpretation

Level 5 (Master Professional Performance) Able to excel consistently at interpreting in the mode (simultaneous, consecutive, and sight) required by the setting and provide accurate renditions of informal, formal, and highly formal discourse. Conveys the meaning of the speaker faithfully and accurately, including all details and nuances, reflecting the style, register, and cultural context of the source language, without omissions, additions or embellishments. Demonstrates superior command of the skills required for interpretation, including mastery of both working languages and their cultural context, and wide-ranging expertise in specialized fields. Outstanding delivery, with pleasant voice quality and without hesitations, unnecessary repetitions, and corrections. Exemplifies the highest standards of professional conduct and ethics.

Level 4+ (Advanced Professional Performance Plus) Able to interpret in the mode (simultaneous, consecutive, and sight) required by the setting and provide accurate renditions of informal, formal, and most highly formal discourse. Conveys the meaning of the speaker faithfully and accurately, including most details and nuances, reflecting the style, register, and cultural context of the source language, without omissions, additions or embellishments. Demonstrates mastery of the skills required for interpretation, including command of both working languages and their cultural context, expertise in a number of specialized fields, and ability to prepare other specialized topics rapidly and routinely. Excellent delivery, with pleasant voice quality and rare hesitations, repetitions or corrections. Performance reflects the highest standards of professional conduct and ethics.

Level 4 (Advanced Professional Performance) Able to interpret in the mode (simultaneous, consecutive, and sight) required by the setting and provide almost completely accurate renditions of complex, colloquial, and idiomatic speech as well as formal and some highly formal discourse. Conveys the meaning of the speaker faithfully, including many details and nuances, reflecting the style, register, and cultural context of the source language, without omissions, additions or embellishments. Demonstrates mastery of the skills required for interpretation, including command of both working languages and their cultural context, expertise in some specialized fields, and ability to prepare new specialized topics rapidly and routinely. Very good delivery, with pleasant voice quality and only occasional hesitations, repetitions or corrections. Performance reflects the highest standards of professional conduct and ethics.

Level 3+ (Professional Performance Plus) Able to interpret accurately and consistently in the mode (simultaneous, consecutive, and sight) required by the setting and provide generally accurate renditions of complex, colloquial and formal speech, conveying most but not all details and nuances. Expression will generally reflect target language conventions. Demonstrates competence in the skills required for interpretation, including command of both working languages, their cultural context, and terminology in those specialized fields in which the interpreter has developed expertise. Good delivery, with pleasant voice quality, and few hesitations, repetitions, or corrections. Performance reflects high standards of professional conduct and ethics.

Level 3 (Professional Performance) Able to interpret consistently in the mode (simultaneous, consecutive, and sight) required by the setting, provide renditions of informal as well as some colloquial and formal speech with adequate accuracy, and normally meet unpredictable complications successfully. Can convey many nuances, cultural allusions, and idioms, though expression may not always reflect target language conventions. Adequate delivery, with pleasant voice quality. Hesitations, repetitions or corrections may be noticeable but do not hinder successful communication of the message. Can handle some specialized subject matter with preparation. Performance reflects high standards of professional conduct and ethics.

Level 2+ (Limited Working Performance Plus):

Able to transfer information, not always accurately and completely, during routine, everyday, repetitive exchanges in informal settings, but unable to perform adequately in the standard interpretation modes. May falter, stammer, or pause, and often resort to summarizing speech content. Idiomatic or cultural expressions may not be rendered appropriately in most instances. Language may be stilted or awkward.

Level 2 (Limited Working Performance) Unable to transfer information reliably in most instances. May communicate some meaning when exchanges are short, involve subject matter that is routine or discourse that is repetitive or predictable, but may typically require repetition or clarification. Expression in the target language is frequently faulty.

Level 1+ (Minimal Performance) Unable to transfer information reliably, even if familiar with the subject matter.

Level 1 (Minimal Performance Plus) Unable to transfer more than isolated short phrases.

Level 0+ (Memorized Performance) Unable to transfer more than isolated words.

Level 0 (No Performance) No functional ability to transfer information from one language to another.

II. Translation

Level 5 (Professional Performance) Can successfully translate virtually all texts, including those where lack of linguistic and cultural parallelism between the source language and the target language requires precise congruity judgments and the ability to apply a translation methodology. Expression is flawless. At this level, the translator consistently excels in a number of specialties, and is generally regarded as one of the arbiters of translating very high level language by persons competent in dealing with such material. Nonetheless, the resulting product may be subject to quality control.

Level 4+ (Professional Performance Plus) Can successfully apply a translation methodology to translate texts that contain highly original and special purpose language (such as that contained in religious sermons, literary prose, and poetry). At this level, a successful performance requires not only conveying content and register but also capturing to the greatest extent all nuances intended in the source document. Expression is virtually flawless. Can produce fully accurate translations in a number of subject fields. When the need arises to perform in areas outside of specialization, a translator at this level is able to reach a successful level of performance given the time necessary for acquiring the relevant knowledge of the subject matter. The resulting product is a professional translation which may be subject to quality control.

Level 4 (Professional Performance) Can successfully apply a translation methodology to translate a wide variety of complex texts that contain difficult, abstract, idiomatic, highly technical, and colloquial writing. Able to capture subtleties, nuances, and tone and register (such as official, formal, and informal writing). Such texts range from commentary reflecting a specific culture to analysis and argumentation. Linguistic knowledge and familiarity with source language norms enable an individual at this level to translate handwritten documents and other texts that represent spontaneous expression characteristic of the source language. Expression reflects correct usage and consistent control of target language conventions. Can translate materials outside the individual’s specialties, but may not reach the absolute subject matter accuracy of the specialist in the given field. The resulting product is a professional translation which may be subject to quality control.

Level 3+ (Professional Performance) Can generally translate a variety of texts, such as many scientific or financial reports, some legal documents and some colloquial writings. Can convey the meaning of many socio‑cultural elements embedded in a text as well as most nuances and relatively infrequent lexical and syntactic items of the source language. Expression reflects target language norms and usage. May be able to operate in fields outside areas of specialty. The resulting product is a draft translation, subject to quality control.

Level 3 (Professional Performance) Can translate texts that contain not only facts but also abstract language, showing an emerging ability to capture their intended implications and many nuances. Such texts usually contain situations and events which are subject to value judgments of a personal or institutional kind, as in some newspaper editorials, propaganda tracts, and evaluations of projects. Linguistic knowledge of both the terminology and the means of expression specific to a subject field is strong enough to allow the translator to operate successfully within that field. Word choice and expression generally adhere to target language norms and rarely obscure meaning. The resulting product is a draft translation, subject to quality control.

Level 2+ (Limited Performance) Can render straightforward texts dealing with everyday matters that include statements of fact as well as some judgments, opinion, or other elements which entail more than direct exposition, but do not contain figurative language, complicated concepts, complex sentence structures, or instances of syntactic or semantic skewing. In these types of texts, the individual can read source language materials and render them accurately into the target language, conveying the key points and/or main ideas, supporting facts, most of the details, and some nuances. Can usually operate in more than one narrowly defined subject field, using both linguistic knowledge of the languages involved and familiarity with the subject matter. A tendency to adhere to source language structures may result in target language expressions that may appear to be correct but are awkward or perhaps unidiomatic. Such expressions may sometimes obscure meaning. The resulting product is not a professional translation and must be subject to quality control.

Level 2 (Limited Performance) Able to render into the target language some straightforward, factual texts in the standard variety of the source language. Can typically render accurately uncomplicated prose (such as that used in short identification documents, simple letters, instructions, and some narrative reports) that does not contain figurative language, complex sentence structures, embedding, or instances of syntactic or semantic skewing. Can normally rely on knowledge of the subject matter to operate within one given subject field, consisting of a narrow body of material that is routine, repetitive, and often predictable. Expression in the target language may be faulty, frequently reflecting the structure and word order of the source language. To the extent that faulty expression may obscure or distort meaning, accuracy will suffer. The resulting product is not a professional translation and must be submitted to quality control.

Level 1+ (Minimal Performance) Able to scan source language texts for specific categories, topics, key points and/or main ideas, generally rendering an accurate report on these but often missing supporting facts and details. Can to some extent render factual materials, such as records or database entries, often relying on real‑world knowledge or familiarity with the subject matter. Oversight and review of the product are necessary.

Level 1 (Minimal Performance) Able to make word by word transfers, not always with accuracy. May be able to identify documents by their label or headings and scan graphic materials, such as charts and diagrams, for items of specific interest. Constant oversight and review of the product are necessary.

Level 0+ (Minimal Performance) Able to transfer very little information from one language into another, usually representing isolated words and/or phrases. Accuracy is haphazard. Constant oversight is required.

Level 0 (Performance) Has no practical ability to transfer information from one language into another.