Eligibility Requirements

The Association for Linguistic Evidence is a professional association. As such, a person cannot join simply by paying a fee, just as one cannot become a “forensic linguist” simply by proclaiming that one is or hanging out a shingle. A person  who joins TALE must meet eligibility requirements that reflect the person’s current educational and experience levels. Further, as a professional association, TALE expects and requires its members to advance through professional development to the status of Member or Fellow.

TALE’s eligibility requirements relate to its two tracks: SLIP: Security , Law, Intelligence Professionals and REP: Researcher-Expert Practitioner.

Types of Membership:

Student Provisional Member Member Fellow

Specific Requirements By Type:

After you review the specific eligibility requirements for your track and membership type, you will know where you should start your professional journey in TALE.

Student

  • EDUCATION in a track-relevant discipline, in an undergraduate or graduate program at an accredited college, university, or academy which has a respected program in the track-relevant discipline.
    • Enrollment in good academic standing, including on-leave
    • Evidence of the enrollment through a transcript provided by the institutional registrar is required.
  • CHARACTER of integrity, honesty, respect for legal systems.
    • Three (3) references are required; a reference form is available for download.
  • EXPERIENCE: None.
    • During this time, the student should gain experience by working with mentors:
      • SLIP: experience understanding the use of linguistic evidence in investigations and trials
      • REP: experience in researching linguistic evidence methods
  • TIME LIMIT for Rank
    • Eight (8) years

 Provisional Member

  • EDUCATION in a track-relevant discipline, from  an accredited college, university, or academy.
    • BA/BS, MA/MS, or PhD in a track-relevant discipline
    • Evidence of the degree through a transcript provided by the institutional registrar is required
  • CHARACTER of integrity, honesty, respect for legal systems.
    • Three (3) references are required; a reference form is available for download.
  • EXPERIENCE
    • Three (3) years of track-relevant experience
    • SLIP: Experience working as law enforcement officer, court reporter, court interpreter, fraud examiner, forensic document examiner, intelligence analyst, security executive, security provider, human resources professional, psychologist, psychiatrist, medical examiner, attorney, judge, or other position relevant to security, law and intelligence.
    • REP: Experience working as a researcher in linguistics, computer science, forensic psychology or working in an executive position providing language services (translation, localization, editing, computational linguistics programming, and other uses of linguistics)
  • PARTICIPATION in TALE activities such as conference presentations at TALE-affiliated meetings and workshops, publication in LESLI, posting and comments on Telling TALE and Forensic Linguistic Evidence group on LinkedIn, and other supportive activities
    • 1-2 activities per year
  • TIME LIMIT for Rank
    • Four (4) years
    • During this time, the Provisional Member should gain experience as an expert by working with a mentor

Member

  • EDUCATION in a track-relevant discipline, in a program at an accredited college, university, or academy.
    • BA/BS, MA/MS, or PhD in a track-relevant discipline
    • Evidence of the degree through a transcript provided by the institutional registrar is required
  • CHARACTER of integrity, honesty, respect for legal systems.
    • Three (3) references are required; a reference form is available for download
  • EXPERIENCE
    • Five (5) years of track-relevant experience
    • SLIP: Experience working as law enforcement officer, court reporter, court interpreter, fraud examiner, forensic document examiner, intelligence analyst, security executive, security provider, human resources professional, psychologist, psychiatrist, medical examiner, attorney, judge, or other position relevant to security, law and intelligence.
    • REP: Experience working as a researcher in linguistics, computer science, forensic psychology or working in an executive position providing language services (translation, localization, editing, computational linguistics programming, and other uses of linguistics)
  • LEADERSHIP
    • SLIP: Demonstrated and documented ability to lead investigations, with case-related experience using forensic linguistic evidence, or to litigate cases involving forensic linguistic evidence, or to promote best practices in court translation and interpretation
    • REP: Demonstrated and documented ability to provide litigation support, provide testimony in depositions, trials, investigative inquiries or Congressional hearings, and documented ability to conduct empirical analysis and produce scholarship in forensic linguistic evidence
  • PARTICIPATION in TALE activities such as conference presentations at TALE-affiliated meetings and workshops, publication in LESLI, posting and comments on Telling TALE and Forensic Linguistic Evidence group on LinkedIn, and other supportive activities, such as TALE Leadership Circle, arranging conference panels or volumes in LESLI
    • 3-4 activities per year
  • TIME LIMIT for Rank
    • No time limits; 4 years before applying for Fellow Status

Fellow

  • EDUCATION in a track-relevant discipline, in a program at an accredited college, university, or academy.
    • BA/BS, MA/MS, or PhD in a track-relevant discipline
    • Evidence of the degree through a transcript provided by the institutional registrar is required
    • Status as a TALE Member in good standing for the previous four years in SLIP or REP Track
  • CHARACTER of integrity, honesty, respect for legal systems.
    • 1 additional reference
  • LEADERSHIP
    • SLIP: Demonstrated and documented ability to lead investigations, with case-related experience using forensic linguistic evidence, or to litigate cases involving forensic linguistic evidence, or to promote best practices in court translation and interpretation
    • REP: Demonstrated and documented ability to provide litigation support, provide testimony in depositions, trials, investigative inquiries or Congressional hearings, and documented ability to conduct empirical analysis and produce scholarship in forensic linguistic evidence
  • EXPERIENCE
    • Five (5) years of track-relevant experience
    • SLIP: Experience working as law enforcement officer, court reporter, court interpreter, fraud examiner, forensic document examiner, intelligence analyst, security executive, security provider, human resources professional, psychologist, psychiatrist, medical examiner, attorney, judge, or other position relevant to security, law and intelligence.
    • REP: Experience working as a researcher in linguistics, computer science, forensic psychology or working in an executive position providing language services (translation, localization, editing, computational linguistics programming, and other uses of linguistics)
  • PARTICIPATION in TALE activities such as conference presentations at TALE-affiliated meetings and workshops, publication in LESLI, posting and comments on Telling TALE and Forensic Linguistic Evidence group on LinkedIn, and other supportive activities, such as TALE Leadership Circle, arranging conference panels or volumes in LESLI
    • 3-5 activities per year
  • TIME LIMIT for Rank
    • No time limit: Must be a TALE member in good standing for four (4) previous years to apply