It’s such an immense pleasure to announce that I’m officially a certified trainer! After two months of online sessions, with weekly homework and many hours of study, I’ve completed the necessary course to be a certified trainer in Portugal.

This is something that I wanted to do for a while now. I’ve often doubted whether I’d make a good teacher/mentor/trainer. Despite not knowing, I wanted to learn new skills and find out. I’m very thankful I did. I discovered so many new things, from education theory to creating interactive presentations. I know this will help me in my future, whatever it may bring.

A bit of context about this certification: in Portugal, to be a certified trainer, you need to have a CCP (Certificado de Competências Pedagógicas or Teaching Skills Certificate, roughly translated). There are many institutions in Portugal offering the course you need to take to get the certification, but it’s the IEFP (Instituto do Emprego e Formação Profissional) that decides the criteria – including the mandatory 90 hours for the course. Luckily, because of COVID-19 a lot of these institutions, if not all, are offering their courses completely online, so it’s easier to fit it in one’s schedule. I was fortunate to find a great institution, B-training Consulting, with amazing trainers and colleagues that made this adventure even more enjoyable. To them, I can only say: thank you.

In order to successfully complete the course, you need to have a score of 2 or above (from 1 to 5). I was astounded when I saw my final score was… 5! I never thought I could get the maximum score. This is a first in my life and a great motivator. It gives me confidence for what may come next.

I’m still not sure what the next step is. I’m very excited about the possibilities the future holds. I have some ideas about training gaps there might exist in the translation world, especially concerning subtitling, my area of expertise.

Is there something you feel is missing from your training in subtitling or translation? Feel free to contact me and let me know!