Switzerland's sworn translators

The Swiss Sworn Translators Association (Association suisse des traducteurs-jurés, ASTJ), founded in 1995, is the professional organisation that represents qualified translation professionals certified by Swiss authorities.

All members of this association are professional translators that have been authorised by Swiss competent authorities to wear the title and to exert the function of sworn translator. They can translate all documents requiring certification of compliance certified by the affixing of a seal bearing the arms of the State.

Only qualified and experienced professionals can be candidates to exert the function of sworn translator. In order to be accepted, they go through a rigorous selection process. Also, their activity is regulated by official rules, which define inclusively their honoraries.

As they become members of this translation association, “sworn translators commit themselves to go beyond their legal obligations to ensure the people or entities that recur to their services a professional conduct at very high standards”. To reinforce this compromise with quality, there is a code of ethics as well as the duty for all members to keep up-to-date with the evolution of their profession and to constantly improve their professional skills.

Since its foundation, the ASTJ has established a list of goals. First of all, it wishes to “federate sworn translators and defend their interests”. At the same time, it is its purpose to promote the profession itself, as well as encourage the general public to hire the services of a sworn translator, whenever appropriate.

The ASTJ wants to make a special contribution towards the “quality of the sworn translators’ work through coaching activities and by providing them with specific resources”.

Thanks to a dynamic communication policy, the ASTJ wishes to be able to inform sworn translators about the evolution of the profession.

To maintain its credibility, the Swiss translation association also needs to maintain positive feedback from public administration bureaus and everyone in general who has solicited the services of a sworn translator.

A means to reinforce that commitment resides on the ASTJ’s code of ethics, established in 2001. In it, there are some very strong ideas, such as “in every action of his / her professional and private life, the sworn translator gives an example of honour and of honesty and commits to refusing a job that might do harm to the dignity of the profession”.

A sworn translator cannot accept an assignment for which he / she is not qualified. All the jobs he / she accepts are executed by him / her, personally. When the sworn translator looks for a job opportunity, it is imperative that he / she “observes decency and moderation”. All sworn translators abstain from publicity which may be incompatible with the profession’s dignity.

Keep in mind that Switzerland has four national languages: German, French, Italian and Romansh. However, only the first three are considered official the Federal Administration of the Swiss Confederation. About 64% of the population speaks German, 20% speak French and 6.5% use Italian as their language.

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