www.lsaweb.

com

Overview of LSA’s Oral Interpreting Assessment

LSA’s oral interpreting assessment is a live, over-the-phone evaluation that measures:

• Proficiency in English and the foreign language

• Knowledge of interpreting protocol and ethics
• Ability to perform interpretation in the consecutive mode
The assessment will be administered by an expert interpreter who works in your language pair. It will last
approximately 40 minutes and will consist of a series of interpreting exercises and open-ended questions.
As a condition of your continued relationship with LSA, you must not record the assessment or discuss its
contents with anyone. We encourage you to have a pen and paper handy when you take the assessment,
as repetitions and clarifications during the interpreting exercises are not permitted. Also, please make
sure you take the assessment over a phone line that has a consistently clear connection.
Once you have completed the assessment, LSA will provide you with a score report. This report will
contain three scores: an estimate of your proficiency in English1, an estimate of your proficiency in the
foreign language2, and an estimate of your consecutive interpreting skill3. These scores will determine
whether LSA ultimately chooses to contract with you.
The oral interpreting assessment consists of three sections:
1. Language Proficiency

• The evaluator will ask you a series of questions in English and in the foreign language.
These questions are intended to measure your skill in both languages and are not related
to interpreting. The questions must be answered in the language in which they were
asked and no answers are considered right or wrong. Your performance on this section
will contribute to your proficiency scores in English and in the foreign language but will
not contribute to your consecutive interpreting skill score.
o Sample question: Tell me about a piece of news you heard recently that
interested you.
o Sample response: I recently heard that they are building a new theatre in the
center of my town. I thought this was really exciting because right now we have
to go to the next town over to see concerts or plays. In high school I used to act
in plays, and I’m thinking that this could be a great way to get involved in the
theatre again.
2. Protocol and Ethics

• The evaluator will ask you five open-ended questions related to standard protocol and
ethics for professional interpreters. This section will be completed in English.

1 Details about your estimated English proficiency will be provided in your results letter.
2 Details about your estimated foreign language proficiency will be provided in your results letter.
3 Details about your estimated consecutive interpreting skill will be provided in your results letter.
This document contains proprietary information of Language Services Associates, Inc. This information is intended solely for evaluation purposes.
Such proprietary information may not be used, reproduced, or disclosed to any other parties for any other purpose without the expressed written
consent of an officer of Language Services Associates, Inc.

Language Services Associates • 455 Business Center Drive - Suite 100 • Horsham, PA 19044 • 800.305.9673
Page 1 of 2
 www.lsaweb.com

o Sample question: What do you do if the person for whom you are interpreting
asks you whether you trust the English-speaking client?
o Sample response: I intervene using the third person and tell the English-speaking
client that the LEP asked for advice and then ask for permission to tell the LEP
that I cannot give them any advice. Once the client gives me permission I tell the
LEP that I cannot give advice.
3. Consecutive Interpretation

• The evaluator will lead you through three interpreting exercises. The first exercise deals
with interpreting in the services field; the second deals with interpreting in the medical
field; and the third deals with interpreting in the legal field. When the evaluator reads a
line in English, you will interpret it into the foreign language, and when the evaluator
reads a line in the foreign language, you will interpret it into English. Here are some
sample lines:4
o Services field exercise: “You have an overdue balance of $190.18. Do you wish
to make a payment?”
o Medical field exercise: “Your stomach pain is most likely due to appendicitis, but
we’ll have to do a few more tests.”
o Legal field exercise: “Does the defendant wish to enter a guilty plea?”

• Please do not be intimidated by the fact that you are being assessed on your ability to
perform consecutive interpretation in fields in which you might not normally work (for
example, legal or medical). LSA is primarily interested in your performance in the field or
fields for which we have sought to contract with you.
Once you have completed the assessment, a representative of LSA will send you your score report and
will contact you regarding next steps. If you have any questions about LSA’s assessment process, please
contact our Quality Assurance Department at qafeedback@lsaweb.com.

4 Note that these lines do not actually appear on the assessment. However, they are very similar to lines
that do.
This document contains proprietary information of Language Services Associates, Inc. This information is intended solely for evaluation purposes.
Such proprietary information may not be used, reproduced, or disclosed to any other parties for any other purpose without the expressed written
consent of an officer of Language Services Associates, Inc.

Language Services Associates • 455 Business Center Drive - Suite 100 • Horsham, PA 19044 • 800.305.9673
Page 2 of 2