Chartered Institute
of Linguists

Guidance for Chartered Linguists called for audit

  • If you're a Chartered Linguist who's been randomly called for audit, this guide explains how to provide evidence of your Professional Practice and CPD
  • Evidence must be provided for all five sections
  • Please ensure you read the guidance in full before reviewing your the procedures and submitting your evidence online

Evidence of professional practice

Chartered Linguists must be able to demonstrate competence as a practising linguist based on a combination of relevant qualifications, a commitment to maintaining skills and knowledge through Continuing Professional Development (CPD), experience and current professional practice. The registration criteria for professional practice states:

Applicants will have been in current professional practice for at least the last five years, working (as a minimum) 120 days each year in one (or more) of the following specialisations:

• Translation
• Interpreting
• Foreign language teaching and/or coordination or management of foreign languages at secondary level, or in university language departments or language centres
• Teaching translation/interpreting
• Sustained, frequent use of foreign languages at a high level in business, industry, the professions (e.g. law, engineering, accountancy) or government
• Translation/interpreting project management or equivalent in other areas of language services

Applicants working in more than one of the above specialisations must normally undertake at least 40 days' practice per year in each specialism.

You are required for the CL audit to provide evidence of professional practice to support your continued registration, as follows:

Section 1(a): CV

An up-to-date curriculum vitae.

Section 1(b): Detail

Freelance, self-employed linguists: details of your professional practice which includes the number of days worked or words translated over the last 12 months and in what capacity e.g. translation, interpreting, teaching etc. You can provide your own work logs or use the template we created for this purpose: File CL Audit Work Breakdown

Employed linguists: a summary of the nature of your work and how you are using your language skills in a professional capacity. Please also provide confirmation of your employment, your job title, your responsibilities and whether the post is full or part-time (a job description can be submitted as evidence).

The above documents can be uploaded and submitted via the online form linked from the Procedures for Chartered Linguists called for audit page.


Evidence of Continuing Professional Development (CPD)

CPD is a mandatory requirement for initial and ongoing registration as a Chartered Linguist. The registration criteria for CPD states:

Applicants will be committed to CPD and will:

• have a record of relevant CPD activities covering the last two years (normally a minimum of 30 hours in total)
• be continuing with professional development activities in order to maintain chartership, and
• have a 12-month forward plan, based on their reflection on past CPD activities

You are required for the CL audit to provide evidence of CPD to support your continued registration, as follows:

Section 2(a): CPD Record

Please provide a list of all relevant CPD activity undertaken over the last 24 months. Please indicate the approximate number of hours spent on each activity.

You can submit your own CPD record or use the template we created for this purpose: File CL Audit CPD Record

Section 2(b): Reflective Statement

Please submit a reflective statement of 500 to 1000 words explaining the impact the CPD activity undertaken during the last 12 months has had on your professional practice. The statement should detail your professional development objectives and the areas of your practice on which you focused e.g. your language skills, subject knowledge, IT skills, business skills, etc. You should explain what you found most useful and why.

You can submit your own reflective statement or use the template we created for this purpose: File CL Audit Reflective Statement

Section 2(c): 12-month Forward Plan

Please submit a forward plan covering the next 12 months and explain the areas of your professional practice the planned activity relates to. We realise that this is indicative only and subject to change. 

You can submit your own forward plan or use the template we created for this purpose: File CL Audit Forward Plan


Once you've completed each of the five sections, review the procedures for Chartered Linguists called for audit and then submit your evidence via the online form provided.

Please note there is no requirement to submit CL audit information unless you have been called for audit by CIOL.