Unfortunately, as important and necessary as trained medical interpreters are, there is a shortage of them. For many hospitals, medical interpreters usually come in the form of a patient’s relative or friend. This is always a bad choice because, most likely, those relatives or friends are unfamiliar with medical terminology or with interpreter ethics and that can lead to disastrous results. In addition, there is also a shortage of training programs for medical interpreters. It is essential that those wishing to become interpreters in the health care field have access to qualified training programs. For some patients, having access to qualified medical interpreters is truly a matter of life and death. This is why having industry standards and a national certification process is so important.

Currently, there are two organizations that oversee the certification process for medical interpreters: the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters (NBCMI) and The Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI). The NBCMI and the CCHI are both aiming to become the “standard” in the medical interpretation industry. Both bodies deal with certifying medical interpreters, but they differ in their testing procedures. The CCHI requires consecutive, simultaneous, sight translation as well as translation. NBCMI’s tests, on the other hand, place significant emphasis on knowledge of medical terminology and do not test a candidate’s fluency in simultaneous interpreting. Both organizations are similar, however, in that they require medical interpreters to take part in at least 40 hours of training before seeking certification.

In order to help in meeting the requirements of the certifying bodies and to accommodate the goals of aspiring and practicing medical interpreters, Interpreter Education Online will begin to offer Basic, Advanced, and Single Topic courses for medical interpreters in the near future. These courses will meet the needs of the students whose ultimate goals are to pass a certification exam, develop interpretation techniques through language-specific training, expand their knowledge of the medical system and specialized topics, and improve their performance in the hospital or other medical environments.

With that in mind, Interpreter Education Online is happy to announce the first course for medical interpreters – a single topic unit on Consecutive Interpretation. The course is available in the following language combinations: English < > Albanian, Arabic, French, Haitian-Creole, Hmong, German, Korean, Mandarin, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, and Vietnamese. The course lasts 2 weeks, and students will be able to practice interpretation exercises in their language, develop their note-taking skills, expand their vocabulary, and grow their collection of semantic equivalents, all while working with qualified instructors or choosing to work independently. After finishing the Initial Exercise and the Final Consecutive Exercise, students will receive a Certificate of Completion at the end of the course.

For more information, please visit our Programs page.

Carbon footprint – the negative impact that something (as a person or business) has on the environment; specificall : the amount of carbon emitted by something during a given period
Frenemy – one who pretends to be a friend but is actually an enemy
Shawarma – a sandwich especially of sliced lamb or chicken, vegetables, and often tahini wrapped in pita bread
Waterboarding – an interrogation technique in which water is forced into a detainee’s mouth and nose so as to induce the sensation of drowning
Locavore – one who eats foods grown locally whenever possible
Reggaeton – popular music of Puerto Rican origin that combines rap with Caribbean rhythms
Earmark – 1 : a mark of identification on the ear of an animal
2 : a distinguishing mark
3 : a provision in Congressional legislation that allocates a specified amount of money for a specific project, program, or organization
Flash Mob – a group of people summoned (as by e-mail or text message) to a designated location at a specified time to perform an indicated action before dispersing
Green Collar – of, relating to, or involving actions protecting the natural environment

http://www.merriam-webster.com/info/newwords09.htm

So there it is, a glimpse of what you may expect to hear more often, or even interpret in a courtroom. Some may seem amusing such as frenemy or locavore, as those are the expressions you may hear on the street. A dynamic in the society where an increased awareness of the environment exists, creates words such as carbon footprint, locavore, or green collar. Continually, we can see the climate and the mood of our fellow citizens by what words are entered into the dictionary, as they are ones widely used, or we can simply be amused by their origins.

For new language learners, using monolingual dictionaries has many advantages that at times they may not even be aware of. Once reading a definition in the newly acquired language, one may eventually start to realize the thinking structure of the people who are using it also how things are explained in the new language, as well as just practice reading. Some aforementioned reasons are valid enough as learning more and more about the background of a language which will in turn help them learn and master it faster.

Second, some may or may not know the definition of a word in either language simply because they prematurely stopped learning their native language and were forced to learn another one at a critical stage of early adolescence. At such time, we may ask ourselves is it easier to learn the word in one’s native tongue or the newly acquainted one when it feels like we have ‘half learned’ both languages.

InterpreterEducationOnline.com offers courses for legal interpreters in a number of languages such as French, Arabic, Polish, Spanish, Russian, Hmong, Mandarin, and Vietnamese to name the few. More languages will be available in the beginning of 2010. InterpreterEducationOnline.com helps to expand knowledge and perfect techniques of those who are wishing to and already have a career in legal interpreting.

The courses are offered in three sections: Advanced Course which lasts 16 weeks and offers in depth training, methods, and techniques for legal interpreters looking to become state certified court interpreters or simply advance their skills and careers. The second option is Basic Course which lasts six weeks and is composed of three units that teach basic knowledge every interpreter should know and master. Lastly, Single Topic Units are just that, single lessons for which interpreters may show interest in; ranging from Substance Abuse to Vehicular Accidents to SI and CI techniques. Our courses offer a gamut of legal and technical information that every interpreter will find helpful and frankly necessary in development of their career.

Bromberg & Associates, LLC was founded by Jinny Bromberg in 1999. It is an American company based in Michigan which provides online language-specific training solutions for interpreters. Bromberg & Associates, LLC is a full range language service provider, member of NAJIT, NCIHC, ATA and ALC. The company is a DBE and WBE certified business and GSA Federal Supply Schedule Award holder. More information is available at www.BrombergTranslations.com and www.InterpreterEducationOnline.com.

Should a student only be pushed to learn a new language so they can be admitted into a school or program of their choice? This is a wrong disposition many have. Learning another language from the early age does not only train the ear for its perfecting, but also helps mental development, intellectual growth, understanding of one’s native language, and it opens a lot more doors down the road, than starting to learn a language in high school. So why is it that language only becomes mandatory when it is already, a bit too late for many?

What about women who are here as immigrants, who do not speak English, and to whom it is taboo to even speak to somebody about what happens behind closed doors in fear they may be judged or persecuted in their own community? Since the male (husband/father) is a dominant figure in virtually all immigrant families, he is more versed in the language and is often the one who handles all the ‘business’ outside of family’s doors. To speak out against her abuser to someone outside of her community, she is many times hurdled by her lack of linguistic knowledge. Because of such barriers many immigrant women are unable to give a detailed police report and usually, an interpreter is not present.

What about undocumented immigrant women? Abuse is universal, blind to borders, an infringement on the human right, and it should be stopped regardless of what the immigrant status may read.

This day is celebrated every 30th of September and has been promoted and emphasized by International Federation of Translators, which was established in 1953. This day is celebrated on the feast of St. Jerome, who is the patron saint for all translators, as he was the first one to translate the Bible.

The article by Tim Padgett and Dolly Mascarenas talks about a woman, an illegal immigrant in Mississippi, who may lose her child because she does not speak English. The article reads: “State Department of Human Services (DHS), which ruled that Baltazar Cruz was an unfit mother in part because her lack of English “placed her unborn child in danger and will place the baby in danger in the future.” (08.31.09) This is not only a matter of providing correct interpreting services to this woman (she speaks Chatino, spoken in rural areas of Mexico, very little Spanish, and no English), but also a matter of judgment, illegal immigration, and the right to raise a child regardless of language barriers. It is also worthy of mention that upon arrival to the hospital Ms. Cruz was provided with a Spanish speaking interpreter, whose Spanish was quite different from one of Ms. Cruz and who did not speak or understand any Chatino. Although Ms. Cruz’s relative was there to interpret, the hospital declined their services and insisted on ones they have provided. It may be of question if Ms. Cruz signed the declination of interpreting services or if the hospital simply assumed that her relative did not speak any English. This behavior starts with lack of training to the staff, lack of available interpreters, lack of resources, but mostly lack of understanding. One can think that if we are surrounded by an increased number of properly trained personnel and enough interpreters, the behavior would decrease. The awareness of different cultures needs to be heightened, as well as tolerance which is achieved through understanding, communication, and education.

Is it just of Department of Human Services to judge if a woman is able or not to raise a child if she does not speak English? It is also mentioned that the child has been awarded to a foster family, as it was endangered. Is it upon others to make decisions on behalf of another human being if they do not simply share the same tongue and dehumanize them in such a way? To correct instances such as these, institutions should have provided training for staff in rules and regulations of Title VI, recognition of different languages, or even in understanding of handling situations such as Ms. Cruz had to endure. Well trained interpreters are crucial not only to a proper relationship between service providers and clients, but also in strengthening communities, heightening tolerance, and upholding basic human rights, but lack of available training persists to be the problem.

A customer survey recently launched by LinkedIn addressing thousands of its translator members caused many ATA members and other professional translators to be outraged. The “survey” seemed to be aimed at determining those translators who are willing to translate LinkedIn’s website into other languages for free.

The third question of the survey asked what “incentive” translators would prefer. However,the possible answers did not include payment. Choices included “because it’s fun”, “upgraded LinkedIn account”, and “other” all of them indicating that LinkedIn was looking for volunteers to localize their website.

This is controversial for two reasons. Professional translators view it as highly disrespectful towards them and their work from a networking site for professionals. Many members would be happy to volunteer for charities or a not-for-profit institution but not a for-profit business like LinkedIn.

Apart from that, the concept of volunteers working on such a group effort called “crowdsourcing” has not always resulted in quality translations. This was the case with Wikipedia and Facebook who have also localized their websites using a group of volunteers. According to Jiri Stejskal, president of the American Translators Association, companies often “lose their face and money” when using volunteers who turn out to be incompetent. Poor translations often need to be corrected by qualified professionals, such as ATA members, in the end.