Professional interpreters spend a great deal of studying terminology, obsessing over the right way to turn a phrase, dealing with awkward conversations to preserve their neutrality and code of ethics, working diligently to maintain confidentiality in tiny, tiny communities. After all that hard work, there's few things more frustrating than finding yourself outbid by a flashy newcomer who has absolutely no training or skill. It's not just that we lost the job, we know that someone is going to get hurt. Most of us got into this profession because we care, and yet in this economy it's harder and harder to get organizations and providers to listen.
That's the challenge of our work: we're often the only ones in the room that knows exactly how well we did (if you understood everything, you wouldn't need us!). For this reason, it's very hard to prove the importance of using--and paying extra--for skilled, trained practitioners. Nevertheless, we know that if that you went in for a surgery, just having your aunt who is handy with a needle wouldn't be enough. In fact, you might not even want to have your next door neighbor do it, even though he's a veterinarian. No, for a surgery you want a trained specialist. Would you expect any less of the person converting your words to the doctor for a diagnosis?
It's telling that both national certifications are being promoted by professional interpreter organizations. The truth is, with the diversity of languages in this country, creating a national standard of measurement of quality interpretation isn't easy. And yet we, more than anyone, see the damage created by untrained interpreters and we're working hard to fix the problem. The National Board for Certification of Medical Interpreters has begun certifying Spanish interpreters, and will soon be rolling out five more languages, with 181 interpreters who have passed the exam. The Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters, who just introduced their certification this year already has over 140 interpreters certified from across the country. Credentials are being screened, and standards of measurement are being created for even the lesser-dispersion languages.
With certification (and those lovely, lovely letters after our names) we get the recognition that it takes training to do what we do. We have an independent body that has declared we're ready, a body of our peers that has weighed and evaluated our competency. Certified Medical Interpreter. CMI. Qualified Medical Interpreter. QMI. Credentialed Healthcare Interpreter. CHI. Associate Health Care Interpreter. AHI. Whatever the letters, all are from recognized, reputable, professional organizations and all are indicators progress. Pass the alphabet soup!
