Certification FAQ   

Please see our step-by-step instructions on how to register for our CIG™ and CIH™ courses.

Please see our step-by-step instructions on how to register for our Certified Interpretive Guide Train the Trainer™ and Certified Interpretive Host Train the Trainer™ courses.

To register someone else for a Certified Interpretive Guide or Certified Interpretive Host Course please contact certification@interpnet.com

To register someone else for a Certified Interpretive Guide Train the Trainer, Certified Interpretive Host Train the Trainer course, Process of Interpretive Planning, the Coaching Interpreters Workshop, Social Interpretation, or for webinars, please contact profcertification@interpnet.com

You can either pay with a credit card on our website when you register for the course or by check via mail.  If you would like to pay by check, please contact the Certificate Programs Administrator at certification@interpnet.com for a paper registration form and instructions.

The course prices can be found on the Certification and Training Fees page.

The cost for professional certifications is dependent on your membership type. For members of NAI, the certification application fee is $125, and for nonmembers it is $200 and comes with a one-year professional membership.

CIG/CIH Courses

Cancellations must be made in writing and emailed, postmarked, or faxed. Emailed cancellations should be sent to certification@interpnet.com. Cancellations cannot be made by phone. Cancellations processed before the cancellation deadline will be subject to a $50 cancellation fee (if fees paid are less than $50, no refund will be processed). Cancellations made after this date will not receive a refund.

Professional Courses (CIT/PIP/Coaching Interpreters Workshop)

Cancellations must be made in writing and emailed, postmarked, or faxed. Emailed cancellations should be sent to profcertification@interpnet.com. Cancellations cannot be made by phone. Cancellations processed before the cancellation deadline will be subject to a $100 cancellation fee. Cancellations made after this date will not receive a refund.

Cancellation deadlines can be found on the registration page for your workshop or in the emailed confirmation letter if one is received.

If membership is received with the course registration, you will keep this membership.

Professional Certification Fees

Application fees for professional certifications purchased without a class are non-refundable.

NAI has two different categories of certifications, training and professional level. To determine which certification is right for you, check out our Flow Chart or download the Certification Handbook & Study Guide.

Due to the extensive number of instructors, each instructor determines when they plan to host a Certified Interpretive Guide or Certified Interpretive Host course as opposed to it be coordinated by the national office. To find a local instructor, go to See Who’s Certified and then click “Certified Interpretive Host Trainers” or “Certified Interpretive Guide Trainers”. Once you’ve selected the type of instructor you are looking for, you can then further refine by name or state and then contact the instructor via email or phone to find out when they are planning to teach their next course. You can also always look to the Certification and Training Calendar for course offerings. (Please note, this page is updated weekly.)

There are two ways to find an Certified Interpretive Guide or Certified Interpretive Host course. First, you can search on the Certification and Training Calendar page for course offerings and note, this page is updated weekly. You can also search and contact instructors individually on the See Who's Certified page to find out when they may be planning to host a course that is not yet posted with NAI.

Each instructor is responsible for the logistics of their course offerings, NAI recommends you contact them directly. Their contact information can be found on the registration webpage of the workshop you are interested in attending.

NAI conducts 5-7 Certified Interpretive Guide Train the Trainer and 2-3 Certified Interpretive Host Train the Trainer offerings per year. For a list of current offerings, you can search on the Certification and Training Calendar page. If you don’t see something nearby that works for you, feel free to reach out to our Certification and Training Program Manager at (888) 900-8283 ext.803 for a tentative schedule.

You can be added to a mailing list to receive notification next time we schedule a course by visiting your account page and navigating to the preferences tab.

For our training level certifications (Certified Interpretive Guide and Certified Interpretive Host), the only eligibility requirement is that you are at least 16 years of age or older.
For our professional level certifications (Certified Interpretive Trainer, Certified Heritage Interpreter, Certified Interpretive Planner and Certified Interpretive Manager), please click here to see the eligibility requirements. 

You can fill out our online Professional Certification Application  . Make sure you have your eligibility ready to upload before starting the application.

Here is what is included in a typical packet:

• Welcome letter
• Checklist of items you must submit
• Certification Agreement
• Packet of information describing what you must submit to be reviewed, the grading rubric that will be used to score your submission, instructions for how to put together your submission packet, and a bibliography of books that you might find useful.
• Professional Open-book Literature Review Exam and scantron (if you have already completed this step you will not receive one in your packet).

You can submit your materials in one of two ways:

1. Digitally (preferred) - email profcertification@interpnet.com with a hyperlink to a shared folder, such as a Google folder. Please have each component labeled appropriately and with your ID number; no names please.

2.  Posted Mail - Send all materials to the address below. No materials will be returned. Please do not send originals. Send one copy of the open book exam and four copies of all other materials with your ID number listed at the top of each component; no names please!

NAI Certification
230 Cherry Street, Suite 200
Fort Collins, Colorado 80521

Notification of outcome will be delivered approximately 60 to 90 days after receipt of your materials.

Though a bit dependent on the time of year (submissions sent in over the holidays generally take longer), one can expect a 2-3 month turnaround from when you submit your materials and when NAI contacts you regarding your submission. Submissions are reviewed in the order they are received.

You will have one opportunity to redo the portion(s) of your submission that didn’t pass the first time. You will receive an email letting you know which parts didn’t pass and the reviewer’s comments for guidance. You will then have 90 days from the date on the email to resubmit the portion that did not pass for review. If you do not pass a second time, you will have to start the certification process over again, starting with sending in a new application for certification and paying the certification fee.

You will need to contact the Certification and Training Office Administrator at certification@interpnet.com, and pay the certification fee again to extend your deadline.

Once you have earned a professional certification, you can become a reviewer for that certification. Please contact our Certification Program Administrator, at profcertification@interpnet.com for more information.

Your instructor has 30 days from the last day of the course to return the materials to us for final invoicing. Once the instructor has paid the final invoice, your paperwork goes into our grading queue. On average, once the paperwork is in the grading queue, it takes us 4-6 weeks to process and notify you regarding your certification.

There are two possible reasons.
1. Membership and certification are two separate things. Certifications last four years but memberships only last one. The renewal notice you are receiving could be for your membership renewal, not for certification. Please double check the notice.
2. The expiration date was entered incorrectly on your certification. If this is the case, please contact the Certification and Training Program Office Assistant at recertification@interpnet.com. 

If you can answer yes to these questions about your education/training, it will most likely qualify as continuing education hours:

1. Am I the student learning?
2. Does it apply to my job as an interpreter?
3. Will it make my interpretation better?

If you can answer those questions for yourself but don’t think it will be as clear to the office, you can always add a cover sheet with more detail on why you think this should be considered. Please note, watching movies/documentaries does not count towards your recertification.

You can submit your paperwork through your NAI account in the Recertification Portal. The portal accepts documents that are in a PDF, doc, or docx format and less than <0.98> MB, which is approximately 10 pages. You may upload more than one group of documents to your account.
Please note, you must submit all of your recertification paperwork and application together.  NAI does not currently have the ability to accept and approve recertification hours as you earn them.

Current NAI Members pay $35 to recertify. Non-members pay $85. If you would like to renew your membership prior to submitting your recertification please see the membership page. Your membership will take 1-2 business days to take effect so please wait to submit your recertification application until you receive notification that your membership is active.

Late fees:  Depending on your certification, NAI provides the following to accommodate individuals who have exceeded the typical one-month grace period to recertify without having to completely retake the course or submit their materials for peer review:

• If your Certified Interpretive Guide (CIG) or Certified Interpretive Host (CIH) certificate is 30 days to six months late, the fee will be $150.00 to recertify. If it is past six months you will need to retake the CIG or CIH course in order to become certified again at this level.
• For Certified interpretive Trainer, Certified Interpretive Manager, Certified Interpretive Planner, or Certified Heritage Interpreter, if it is 30 days to one year past expiration, you will have to pay $125 if you are a member or $200 if you are not a member. If it is past one year you will have to reapply and resubmit your materials for peer review. Please contact the Certification and Training Office Administrator at certification@interpnet.com for more information.

You will be sent a reminder email a year in advance of your expiration date. This is the earliest that you may recertify.
NAI will also email you three months and one month prior to your expiration date and on the day your certification expires. These emails are sent to the address you have in your account so it is important that you keep your contact information up-to-date.

At this time, NAI does not have the capacity to hold on to unused continuing education hours or accumulated hours. Documents will have to be resubmitted for each certification at the time of recertification.

No, you do not need to document NAI sponsored events; just simply check that you would like to use them when you go through the recertification portal.  You can also find your events in your account, under "My Account" and then "My Activities".  Any activities that have happened within a year may not show up, but they are in the database. This also applies to reviewer credits. NAI will use the oldest events first, within the four years of your certification, for your continuing education hours when you apply.

You can find your events in your account, under "My Account" and then "My Activities".  Any activities that have happened within a year may not show up but they are in the database.  NAI will use the oldest events first, within the four years of your certification, for your continuing education hours when you apply for recertification.