Terms of Service

The program is governed by the AALB Policies and Procedures. You read and agree to that document before a seat is saved, and again when you pay. It sets out the prerequisites, attendance and participation rules, exam rules, conduct standards, refund and deferral policy, and payment obligations in full. Sections 3 to 7 below summarize the parts that most affect you. If this page and the Policies and Procedures ever differ on a program matter, the Policies and Procedures control. The version you agreed to is recorded with your registration.

You may use the site to learn about the program, reserve a seat, enroll, apply to work with us, donate, and contact us. You agree to give us accurate information and to keep it current, and not to register on behalf of somebody else without their permission. You agree not to interfere with the site, submit forms automatically, probe or scrape it, attempt to reach parts of it that are not public, or use it for anything unlawful.

• Reserving a seat holds a place in the class you chose. Your enrollment is complete when your first payment clears.
• You must be fluent in English and at least one other language, spoken or signed, and you will demonstrate this in a language proficiency screening.
• You must be at least 18 years old when your certificate is issued, and you will be asked for a valid form of identification to confirm your identity and age. It is used only for that purpose.
• Classes run live on a fixed schedule in a stated time zone. By registering you confirm that the schedule fits your work, personal and family commitments. Absences caused by time zone misunderstandings or existing obligations are not accommodated.
• You need a computer, not a phone or tablet, with a stable high-speed internet connection, a good microphone and a working webcam, and you must keep your webcam on during live sessions.
• If you need accommodations for a disability, contact us as early as possible, ideally before the class begins, so reasonable accommodations can be arranged.

• Tuition for the program is $980. It includes your language proficiency screening. There is no fee for paying in installments. If you paid for the screening on its own and passed, the $50 you paid is credited to tuition when you register through the link we send you, and the credited amounts are shown before you pay.
• You may pay in full, or in equal monthly payments over up to 5 months. A payment plan is charged automatically to the card you provide on the same date each month, and ends by itself after the last payment. Every plan totals the same $980.
• You may pay for the screening on its own first, for $50. That amount is the first part of tuition, not an extra charge. If you continue, the balance of $930 is owed.
• Payments are processed by Stripe. Stripe's terms apply to the payment itself, and your card details never reach us.
• Choosing a payment plan obliges you to pay the full tuition, including if you are later disqualified from receiving a certificate for absences, lack of participation, conduct, or any other reason in the Policies and Procedures.
• If a payment is missed or a plan is cancelled early, you will not be able to sit the final exams until your account is resolved. Balances that remain unpaid are given 60 days' notice before being sent to collections.
• If you have a concern about a charge, contact us first so we can look into it. Filing a chargeback without contacting us may be treated as an attempt to get around the refund policy, and a dispute that falsely claims a transaction was unauthorized will be contested.

• The screening fee and tuition are non-refundable. Refunds are not issued to students who do not complete the program because of failed exams, absences, lack of participation, or not meeting its requirements.
• If you have paid and cannot attend, you may ask to defer to another session, provided you contact us at least 14 days before your class starts. Requests inside 14 days, or after the class has begun, are not eligible.
• A deferral is a one-time courtesy, decided case by case and not guaranteed. An approved deferral is valid for up to six months, and no further changes can be made after it.
• After the deferral deadline you are expected to attend. Not attending, for any reason, counts as an absence and does not create a right to a refund.
• If you believe your situation needs consideration, write to us through our contact form and we will discuss it.

• Paying tuition does not by itself earn a certificate. To receive the Certificate of Training you must complete the coursework, meet the attendance and Skills Lab requirements, pass both the Foundational Knowledge Test and the Consecutive Interpreting Assessment, and have paid in full. The Policies and Procedures state the thresholds and the number of attempts.
• You are expected to attend and take part. Missing more than the allowed lecture hours or Skills Lab sessions requires make-up sessions, and beyond the limits stated in the Policies and Procedures requires restarting the course.
• All coursework must be your own. Submitting someone else's work, or machine translations you have not independently checked and understood, is a breach of academic integrity and can lead to disqualification without a refund.
• We may suspend or disqualify a student who behaves unprofessionally towards peers, instructors or staff, or who disrupts others' learning, without a refund. We may withhold or revoke a certificate on the same grounds.
• The Certificate of Training qualifies you to work as a medical interpreter and satisfies the training prerequisite to sit the CCHI and NBCMI national certification exams. It is not itself national certification, and we do not guarantee you will pass those exams or find employment.

Course materials, including workbooks, glossaries, lectures, practice scenarios, exams and class recordings, belong to AALB and its licensors. They are provided for your own study during and after the program. You may not copy, share, publish, sell or record them, or use them to run training of your own. Live sessions are recorded to verify attendance, and you may appear in those recordings; they are used only to run the program and are not published.

If you apply for a role, you agree that the information you give is accurate and that we may record your video interview and review it as part of hiring. Applying does not create any offer or expectation of employment. How we handle your application is described in our Privacy Policy.

Donations and continuing education fees are taken on Givebutter’s pages under Givebutter’s terms. 100% of donations are used for charitable purposes. Receipts will be emailed to donors instantly. Continuing education units are issued by AALB once the quiz is passed, as described on the continuing education page.

The site, its text, images, design and code, and the AALB name and logo are ours or used with permission. You may view the site and print pages for your own use. You may not reproduce, republish or redistribute the site’s content, or use our name or logo, without our written permission. Links to other websites are provided for convenience; we do not control them and are not responsible for their content or practices.

We work hard to keep the site accurate and available, but it is provided as it is, without warranties of any kind beyond those the law requires. We do not promise the site will be uninterrupted or error-free. To the fullest extent permitted by law, AALB is not liable for indirect, incidental, consequential or punitive damages arising from the site or the program, and our total liability for any claim relating to the program is limited to the tuition you paid for it. Nothing in these terms limits liability that cannot be limited under applicable law.

These terms and any dispute arising from the site or the program are governed by the laws of the State of Illinois, without regard to its conflict of law rules, and any court action will be brought in the state or federal courts located in Cook County, Illinois. Before bringing a claim, please contact us so we can try to resolve it directly.

We may update these terms, and we will change the date at the top of this page when we do. Changes apply to registrations made after the change. The Policies and Procedures you agreed to at registration continue to govern your class.

Questions about these terms can be sent through our contact form, or by post to Americans Against Language Barriers, 1 East Erie Street, Suite 525-4588, Chicago, IL 60611. You can also call 1 (773) 780-2824, Monday to Friday, 8:00am to 4:00pm Central Time.