STC Spanish Translator Certification — studying for the oral and written on the same timeline
Taking the STC Spanish Translator Certification in about 10 weeks and I am trying to figure out if prepping for both the oral and written components simultaneously is a mistake. My written Spanish is strong — I grew up bilingual but was educated entirely in English, so my formal written grammar and academic register are the weaker areas.
The oral component I feel more comfortable with but I know that is probably false confidence. Translation interpretation under pressure in a testing environment is different from casual conversation or even professional settings.
Specifically looking for advice on the written portion — what register/formality level are the source texts at, and how much does technical vocabulary (legal, medical) appear?
For formal register in Spanish, I found it helpful to read Mexican and Spanish newspaper editorials and translate sections into English and back. The sentence structures that trip up bilingual speakers are usually the ones that feel unnatural in academic Spanish but are perfectly normal in formal written contexts.
10 weeks is reasonable for both components. I would honestly spend 70% on written and 30% on oral — the oral component rewards your existing fluency more naturally, and the written is where most bilingual candidates lose points.
The written source texts are typically formal to semi-formal — government notices, business correspondence, some legal excerpts. You will see legal and medical vocabulary but the exam is not a specialized certification, so the technical content is not deep. Knowing common legal terms (liability, affidavit, compliance) and basic medical terminology is usually enough.
What translation tools are allowed in the exam, if any? I have heard conflicting things about whether dictionaries are permitted.