The Importance Of Medical Interpreting

Scientific problem statement and its significance. When it comes to medical interpreting, one of the most demanding and responsible branches of interpreting, many misconceptions arise concerning the communicative process and the requirements for the expertise and abilities of interpreters. Not every interpreter, no matter how fluent they are in both languages, let alone a person without appropriate training, is necessarily capable of mediating the conversation between a healthcare worker and a patient on a satisfactory level, when none of the parties is bilingual. It is obvious that medical interpreting is not a simple task and requires a fair amount of professional training, self-education, and cultivation of specific personality traits.

The Code of Ethics for Medical Interpreters consists of twelve tenets and covers the obligatory requirements for professional medical interpreters in terms of behavior and performance. According to them, interpreters should not intervene with their own opinions, counsel, or advocate patients unless it facilitates better communication and understanding between the patient and the medical provider; interpreters have to constantly work on the improvement of their working skills, keep up with the latest professional standards, and be in the know of the updates regarding medical terminology or changes in their working languages; interpreters should always stay professional and impartial, especially when it comes to working with family members or acquaintances, up to the point where they might want to refuse to work on the assignment, if the quality of work could be affected for that reason; interpreters should know their limits and never accept assignments beyond their expertise; interpreters must be accountable for their words and actions, responsible, and disinterested in order to gain trust of the clients and come up to their

Interpreters should take into consideration the meaning of nonverbal aspects of communication such as posture, eye contact, facial expressions, gestures, nodding, physical closeness, physical contact; loudness, pitch, speed, flow, the intonation of their voice, sentence stress etc. Even in medical discourse cultural background and beliefs should be taken into account during interpreting so as not to limit the process to verbatim rendering, which can lead to misunderstandings due to culturally rooted beliefs or superstitions dealing with health and healthcare. The job of an interpreter as a culture broker is to make sure the patients understand the doctor’s instructions and will follow them in future even if they go against their cultural beliefs, and the healthcare providers get the full and accurate picture of the patient’s symptoms, and there are no cross-cultural misunderstanding between the two