Glossary:
-Advocacy: Taking action or speaking up on behalf of a service user whose safety, health,
well-being or human dignity is at risk, with the purpose of preventing harm.
-Code of Ethics: A set of directives that specify the requirements intended to guide the
conduct of practitioners of a profession.
-Communicative Autonomy: The capacity of each party in an encounter to be responsible
for and in control of his or her own communication. Basically, allowing your parties ownership
of what they’re saying to each other.
-Interpreting: Rendering a spoken or signed message into another spoken or signed
language, preserving the register and meaning of the source language content.
-Medical Interpreting: Interpreting for patients, their families, and service providers in the
healthcare setting.
-Sight Translation: Oral rendering of the meaning of a written text.
-Community Interpreting: A specialization of interpreting that facilitates access to
community services for individuals who do not speak the language of service.
-Community Interpreter: A bilingual or multilingual individual who is deemed
professionally qualified to interpret in community service settings.
-Interpreter: A language professional who conveys a message produced in a source
language be it spoken or signed, into a target language, spoken or signed, in real time and whose
task is to convey every element of the message.
-Standards of Practice: A set of guidelines that define what an interpreter does in the
performance of his or her role, that is, the tasks and skills the interpreter should be able to
perform in the course of fulfilling the duties of the profession.
MODULE 1 Notes
Types of Interpreters
Bilingual Staff and Staff Interpreters
Contract Interpreters
(Community Interpreters are professional interpreters)
Credential: Is a form of evidence of qualification, it shows one has paid dues and is in good
standing.
Minimum Qualifications for Community Interpreters
-Be 18 years or older
- Hold a high school diploma or equivalent
-Demonstrate bilingualism and literacy, preferably by showing proof of a
validated language proficiency test.
- Hold a certificate for professional training in community or medical interpreting
of at least 40 hours.
Types of Certification
1. Government certification or licensure
2. Professional certification (administered by a professional body).
3. Program certificates (awarded, for example, following a screening, orientation,
training or test.) This latter type of “certification” is not recognized by the profession.
Certificate VS Certification
A Certificate is a credential or official document attesting to a participation in training as short as
one hour and as long as one to two years of study in university.
While Certification is a process by which a third party, whether a governmental, professional
organization or accredited professional body, attests that an individual is qualified to provide a
particular service.
Certification Programs
NBCMI- National Board for Certified Medical Interpreters
CCHI- Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters
NCIHC: National Council on Interpreting in Healthcare
CODE OF ETHICS (C.R.A.P.I.C.R.A.P)
Confidentiality
Respect
Accuracy
Professionalism
Impartiality
Cultural Awareness
Role Boundary
Advocacy
Professional Development
FOUR COMMON BARRIERS TO CLEAR COMMUNICATION
1. Linguistic Challenges
2. Role Confusion
3. Cultural misunderstandings
4. Service system barriers
MODULE 2 Notes