Pass the alphabet soup!

We're pretty excited over here in Interpreter Land.  The time has come that medical interpreters will be able to choose from not one, but two different certifications.  What's the big deal about some letters after your name, you may ask?

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!

Resource Review: 10 Tips for Working with Language Interpreters

We just have to share one of the cutest provider tutorial videos we've ever seen: 



By the way, see the notebook in this video?  An interpreter with a notepad will jot down dosages so that numbers don't get confused in the translation process or annotate long statements so that they can allow speakers to speak in longer, more natural paragraphs.  Notepads are a sign of a trained, professional interpreter.

Thanks to the authors for creating such a fun, approachable teaching tool (and to the colleague who passed this along to me!).  This definitely beats our usual written list of "Tips for Using Interpreters".  We'll be sure to integrate this into some of our future trainings.

Man vs. Machine

In Spanish: "The hand washes itself, don't whiten don't fall, lovely iron" 
via WTF? Microservios

We've recently heard some providers say that they no longer send translations out professional translation services because online tools such as GoogleTranslate have become so effective.  We thought in the interest of scientific discovery, we'd put this theory to the test.

This great website puts your simple phrase through a series of machine translations, back and forth to English so that you can see the linguistic distortions.  For more giggles, the program will allow you to run something through 30 or even 50 translations.  In no short time the simplest text goes awry: "How many apples did you buy?" in just 10 machine translations becomes "How Apple Store?". 

This is fun enough, but let's really illustrate the importance of a human interpreter and/or translator.  What happens when we do some medical and legal texts?  Even the simple "Take one pill in the morning and one in the evening" becomes "Morning and evening sleeping pills."  Very different!  The classic "You have the right to remain silent.  Anything you say can be used against you in a court of law." becomes "You have the right to remain silent. You can say that in court." in just 10 iterations. 

All this is very relevant given that recently a murder case in Ohio was thrown out due to a human interpreter's error in interpreting the Miranda warning.  If humans can get it wrong sometimes, and we have yet to build a computer that can even come close to what the human brain does, imagine the danger in using machine translation for anything beyond the simplest of phrases. 

Our review: machine translations are useful in a pinch, and perhaps good for basic phrases (what time is the bus?), should never be used when someone's life or liberty is on the line.  For that, the old-fashioned human being is probably still your most reliable option.

Hijabs, Ramadan, workplaces, oh my!

Our diversifying workplaces are challenging us to be more flexible when it comes to accomodations for religious requests.  Let's not kid ourselves--this issue has been around for a long time.  Maybe we made sure that there wasn't any pork in the potluck baked beans because Dave is Jewish, or maybe Sally just really would prefer to not work Saturdays because she's a Seventh Day Adventist.  Now with Muslim populations entering Maine's workforce, we also need to re-think things like dress codes, prayer breaks, and holiday time.  It's not unreasonable, and if we think about it's not that new of a concept.  It's also the law.  Many illustrious companies have been sued, such as American Airlines, Alamo Rent-A-Car, Abercrombie & Fitch, and Disney (Aladdin and Princess Jasmine refused comment)--all for not making reasonable accomodations to staff's religiously based requests.

This week we applaud the Lewiston Chamber of Commerce for taking on the issue directly and proactively.  In a few weeks they will be hosting a brown bag luncheon and panel discussion to to increase the knowledge about certain religious practices, define what is a reasonable accommodation under the law, and identify work practices that create barriers as well as work practices and solutions that are recommended.  Date & Location: July 7th, 11:30a-1pm, Business Service Center at KeyBank Plaza, 415 Lisbon St., Lewiston, ME

Language in the Labor Force

This week we're at the 2011 Maine HR Conference.   The 2011 Census indicates that Maine's population is rapidly diversifying; both Portland and Lewiston's minority populations doubled over the past decade (no time to crunch the numbers? for a good recap of all the data see Downeast Denizen's blog post).  In a time where Maine's overall labor force is shrinking, that means that more and more employers are working with staff from different backgrounds and who might speak different languages.

Sadly, many times employers only realize that they need an interpreter after a problem has developed.  This week, CCME Language Partners can be found at the 2011 Maine HR Conference talking to employers about how to proactively respond to the new workforce.  Employers today are using translations to explain safety procedures beyond a shadow of a doubt, staff training to head off workplace tensions, and interpreters to clear up misunderstandings and pave the way to good communication between management and personnel.  See a glimpse of our talks here:

Tips from the trenches

I'm going to let you in on a dirty little department secret: you don't always need an interpreter.  That's right, even sitting on our pile of golden interpreters, the proverbial Midas of language services, we don't always immediately run to the language line.

It's ironic, right?  We're supposed to be in the business of selling interpreters.   

As we discussed this odd phenomenon and compared notes over the refugee-services water cooler, we came up with these "how-to" tips for confident cross-cultural communication.  We realized that we all do the same things when working with limited-English proficient clients. It's not rocket science, but it is powerful stuff:

• Assess your statement - what are the implications if they don't understand?  Use these steps below for simple, concrete communication.  For complex issues, run--don't walk--to your nearest intepreter service.
• Slow down (speaking louder doesn't help, slower does).
• Shorten your statements
• Avoid compound sentences
• Explain processes and don't assume they'll know how systems work
• Draw a picture
• Watch body language for furrowed brows or glazed eyes
• Ask open-ended questions to make sure they understood
• When you have to repeat something two different ways and it's clear that they still don't get it then reach for the interpreter. 

This last point is important.  It's a glorious victory for a client when they can explain their needs without having to use an interpreter; they are one step closer to independence.  But don't ever let a client continue to struggle or leave with questions.  Use a phone interpreter service for five minutes at the end of the appointment to make sure all was understood.  Your time--and theirs--is worth getting it right.

Article review: The debate over remote interpreting

Recently an two interesting studies came out comparing various forms of interpretation.

The Annals of Emergency Medicine showed that on-site interpretation lead to greater patient and provider satisfaction.   This reinforces what on-site interpreters have known for years: there's something special about being in the room.  I was once told by a medical practitioner that over 70% of their diagnosis comes from the conversation before they ever touch a patient.  Wouldn't you want that conversation to be as accurate as possible, capture every gesture, every nuance?  Additionally, our health system is overwhelming and disorienting to many who are new to this country.  On-site interpreters provide a comforting presence to patients--a piece of the familiar in an intimidating new environment.

On the other hand, the another study in the Journal of Internal Medicine found that patients preferred to have simultaneous interpreters via a remote wireless feed.  Technology is revolutionizing our field.  Phone interpreter companies are growing exponentially, with national and international reach.  They are able to offer more languages and at a cheaper price than many local interpreters can afford.  In these lean economic times, that's an important consideration.  Also these jobs enable freelance interpreters who speak rare languages enough work to stabilize their income, leading to a professionalization of the field.  That's 100% fantastic.

Obviously, both articles found that trained, professional interpreters increased patient and provider satisfaction.  However, as a profession we have very little data as to the best practices of phone vs. on-site interpreters.  When does it make sense?   Which settings can use the phone, and which need an on-site interpreter?   What is key to good outcomes? And is satisfaction the same as good health?

These articles give us some marvelous first steps towards quantifying how we create good interpreting outcomes.  As a manager who advises hospitals about the best interpreting tools for the job, I look forward to more such studies.