Overcoming the language barrier: a novel curriculum for training medical students as volunteer medical interpreters

Background Over 41 million people in the United States speak Spanish as their primary language, of which 16 million have limited English proficiency (LEP). It is well-established that language barriers contribute to health disparities and that the use of ad-hoc interpretation by untrained family members results in substandard care. We developed a novel interpreter training program for medical students to serve as in-person interpreters at a charitable, resident continuity clinic so as to overcome the language barrier in the delivery of healthcare to LEP patients. Methods The Medical Student Interpreter Training Program (MSITP) consists of three steps. First, fluent Spanish-speaking students shadowed a licensed interpreter. Second, students took a standardized phone exam to demonstrate language proficiency. Finally, students completed a three-hour training on the methodology and ethics of interpreting conducted by the Department of Interpreter Services. Results Pre- and post-tests were administered to assess students’ familiarity with the Interpreter Code of Ethics and interpreter skills. Familiarity with the Interpreter Code of Ethics increased significantly with all students reporting feeling comfortable (47%) or very comfortable (53%) after training. The pre- and post-tests included free response questions, which were administered to assess competence in the methodology and ethics of interpreting. The cohort’s aggregate score increased by 35% after the training (Wilcoxon signed rank z-score = 2.53; p = .01). Conclusions Implementing the MSITP resulted in an increased number of trained, Spanish-speaking interpreters available to provide their services to LEP patients at an affiliated charitable clinic and throughout the university hospital. Unlike other program models which are time and resource-intensive, this program is replicable and easily managed by volunteers. The MSITP is an effective model for training students as medical interpreters to ensure the delivery of quality healthcare for LEP patients.

Ethical challenges of interpreter training at the University of Ljubljana

Modern society is changing and becoming increasingly multilingual and multicultural. There is a growing need for interpreting in different contexts and for languages that were previously rarely required in the Slovene context (e.g., Albanian, Arabic, and Persian). This paper is based on the premise that if higher interpreter education is to be performed ethically, it must respond to these changes within its capacity and educate interpreters for the languages and fields that society actually needs, thus ensuring respect of human rights in medical, asylum or judicial procedures. In the past, interpreter training at the University of Ljubljana was limited to conference interpreting. However, due to changes in practice the Faculty of Arts has responded to the emerging needs and also formed educational modules for interpreters working in court and asylum procedures, state administration and in medical settings. It continues to invest efforts to expand the range of language combinations to include languages of lesser diffusion, and to offer quality interpreter training to the interpreters of Slovenian sign language. In the academic environment, we are also constantly confronted with internal ethical dilemmas related to the assessment, enrolment, and accreditation processes. It is the latter that significantly slow down the response of the Faculty to needs in society. Despite the numerous administrative, financial and human resources challenges, we may conclude that the Faculty of Arts is committed to investing its maximum efforts and responding with a high level of awareness to the changing interpreting profession which has experienced, through the rapidly growing use of online interpreting platforms, the greatest leap since the introduction of simultaneous interpreting. All this can only be achieved in close cooperation with all the related stakeholders: professional associations, long-standing external trainers and state authorities.

Tłumaczenie symultaniczne mowy noblowskiej w dydaktyce przekładu konferencyjnego

Simultaneous Interpreting of a Nobel Lecture in Conference Interpreter Training Simultaneous interpreting with text is a hybrid mode combining simultaneous with sight translation. As it constitutes an important element of the interpreter’s work, it must then be a component of conference interpreter training. Due to a scarce research in the field so far, the aim of this paper is to discuss an empirical longitudinal study of simultaneous interpreting of a Nobel lecture from Spanish into Polish. The results of the analysis show that during the preparation phase, it is not a selective analysis of such lexical items as proper names, numbers or unknown words, but rather a syntactic analysis, which enables to render compound statements in a specific register, as well as an in-depth cultural analysis, which contributes to acquiring knowledge across different fields necessary in conference interpreting.

Comparison of Interpreting Teachers’ Use and Perceptions of Distance Interpreter Training (DIT) Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: An Interview-Based Study

The study indicates that before the COVID-19 pandemic, despite its importance, distance interpreter training (DIT) was not positively perceived or widely used in higher education institutions that offer Bachelor of Translation and Interpreting (BTI) and/or Master of Translation and Interpreting (MTI) programs in China. However, the pandemic has changed almost everything in the world, with no exception of DIT, prompting the authors to have a follow-up study in August 2020 of the same 14 full-time interpreting teachers from different BTI and MTI institutions in different parts of China who had been interviewed right before the pandemic. This interview-based comparative study shows that all the interviewees used DIT during the pandemic shutdown and their perceptions of DIT have altered greatly, becoming more objective than subjective and more positive than negative. The pandemic has, to some extent, boosted the further development and acceptance of both the online and blended approaches to interpreter training.

Interpreting and knowledge mediation in the healthcare setting: What do we really mean by “accuracy”?

This paper explores the concept of “accuracy” in the context of interpreter-mediated healthcare interaction by reporting on a study of simulated doctor-patient consultations involving professional Australian Sign Language (Auslan)/English interpreters. Wadensjö’s (1998) taxonomy of renditions is used to analyse the ways interpreters convey health information. Our data reveals that interpreters frequently produce reduced and expanded renditions that are not detrimental to the message or the interaction. There has previously been little discussion of how qualified interpreters make these decisions, and we suggest that achieving accuracy in the healthcare setting may be a more dynamic and context-dependent process than previously suggested. While the use of role-plays can on the one hand can be considered a delimiting factor (due to their artificial nature), they also allow a systematic comparison of different interpreters, thus providing more robust evidence for healthcare interpreter training.

Proposal for a ‘translanguaging space’ in interpreting studies

There is a growing body of academic research that suggests that we are living in an increasingly superdiverse society, where multi-ethnic, multicultural and multilingual peoples cohabit on a daily basis. Superdiversity challenges any nation state’s ideological claim of being representative of only one culture and one language, and indeed, in relation to the latter, highlights the increasing phenomenon of translanguaging, both in the wider world of social interactions and in the classroom. In this context, it is argued here that interpreter training needs to respond to superdiversity and translanguaging, as future interpreters are part of the same social world, and will undoubtedly encounter translanguaging in their future professional life. In superdiverse and translanguaging societies, source and target languages are no longer a one-to-one linguistic and cultural translation, but a far more fluid, dynamic and multiple interchange of repertoires and resources that people access in multi-varied and multi-functional ways. In this increasingly complex scenario, languages are not seen as bounded entities, but rather as fluid and interchangeable in the situated moment, and this, it is argued, needs to be reflected in pedagogy. Moreover, translanguaging (between bi/multilinguals) has been shown to promote greater cognitive development when tackling complex issues and rationalising processes. Also, translanguaging aids social and professional identity work, as interpreter students develop their understandings of the role their future interpreter life can and need to play in their career. Drawing on my own research and the observations made on the present and future needs of interpreting studies, a ‘translanguaging space’ (Li Wei 2011) is proposed for curriculum design in interpreter training.

Revisiting Consecutive Note-Taking: What, How, and in What Language?

Note-taking is taught across the board at interpreter training institutions, but opinions as to ‘what’, ‘how’, and ‘in what language’ one should take notes often tend to be curiously mixed. This paper revisits the three main areas where there seems to be no strong consensus, namely: 1) What and how much should interpreters note down? 2) How should they take notes: by taking down full words, abbreviations or symbols? 3) In what language should they prepare their notes: in the source or target language, in A or B language or, irrespective of the direction, in an economical language such as English? This study explores these three questions by first revisiting prescriptive views put forward by practitioners over the past few decades; it then highlights some of the empirical studies conducted in these areas; and finally it proposes recommendations for trainers, based on the author’s experience as a trainer of consecutive interpreting.