I wrote this post in December of 2014. In April 2020, during the COVID crisis, there is a lot of remote interpreting. Only a few months ago, about 80% of the interpreting in the United States was done on-site, face to face. Will we return to face-to-face as a preferred mode of communication? Time will [...]
CLAS Standard 7: “Ensure the competence of individuals providing language assistance” The Cultural and Linguistic Appropriate Services Standards published by the Office of Minority Health, US Department of Health and Human Services in April of 2013, are closely followed by many hospitals. These standards have been written to reduce health inequities. Projections show that in [...]
The National Technology Transfer and Advancement Act (NTTAA) was signed into law March 7, 1996. The Act made a direct impact on the development of new industrial and technology standards by requiring that all Federal agencies and departments shall: Use technical standards developed or adopted by voluntary consensus standards bodies if compliance would not be [...]
I have developed a series of cultural conversations to help immigrants and members of the host society understand each other better and interact more effectively. This Proposal for Culture Conversations outlines my experience with Cultural Conversations. These conversations are open-ended, and developing a growing, enriching relationship between people of different cultures takes time. It can’t be [...]
The following are three different ways to define cultural competence or competence in intercultural communication. In today’s environment diversity training is very common, and it is important to understand what aspects of this are relevant to interpreting. In this blog post, I will focus on aspects of cultural competence that lead to developing better communication [...]
Check out this video, “Qué difícil es hablar el español” with English subtitles. 5000 words… the frustrations of unreasonable deadlines for translators. Es preferible reír que llorar. You just have to take life with a grain of salt! Catherine Tate, the 7-language interpreter…
This week I was reading the CLAS Standards. CLAS stands for Culturally and Linguistic Appropriate Services. I went to the Blueprint on the CLAS site, and downloaded the Blueprint. The full Blueprint is available for download here. EnhancedCLASStandardsBlueprint Standard 7 reads: Ensure the competence of individuals providing language assistance, recognizing that the use of untrained [...]
First of all, why test for language proficiency? We are not generally reliable judges of our own abilities. This Wikipedia article shows that many studies reveal that we have a tendency to overestimate ourselves. The Oregon Healthcare Interpreters law requires that Qualified interpreters have proof of language proficiency. The ACTFL exam is one way to [...]
Unfortunately, problems aren’t generally solved until they are acknowledged. For example, communities do not generally install traffic lights, at a cost of $140,000, until there have been several accidents at the intersection in question. In interpreting, are there risks? What could possibly go wrong? Misdiagnosis: As a result of a misdiagnosis, Willy Ramirez, a high [...]
Medical providers are required to have proof that those who work with them have HIPAA training. The Department of Health and Human Services has published a summary of HIPAA. Interpreters are Business Associates under HIPAA. I believe that voluntary compliance will help interpreters demonstrate that they are proactive about complying with HIPAA requirements and will also [...]
