Medical Interpreter Role

The Role of Interpreter in Medical Settings

Successful health care relies deeply on efficient communication between provider and patient. However, researchers ,have discovered that there is a huge gap in communication between doctors and patients where unprofessional interpreters,such as bilingual nurses, relatives or friends of patents are used(Harold Michael Lesch & Bernice Saulse,2014).Often very few of those interpreters have a clear understanding of what their role is, including the interpreters themselves(Sandra Hale).As a result, professional interpreters are in high demand.

1,The importance of medical interpreting.

In the United States, the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first witnessed important changes

Researchers have found that inadequate linguistic proficiency or conflicting professional notes imposed on the interpreter can impede interaction between doctors and their patients.

2.The role of interpreters in medical settings.

An interpreter commented that she cannot interpret neutrally when she was interpreting for her mother, because she was there as a daughter, not an interpreter (Hsieh, 2006a). When interpreters provided services that overlapped with providers (e.g., providing medical information), they claimed the identity of a member of the health care team (Hsieh, 2007). From this perspective, to understand interpreters’ communicative practices, researchers should examine interpreters’ understanding of their roles and the corresponding communicative goals that motivate those behaviors.

New interpreters tended to adhere to the conduit role, experienced interpreters actively intervened in the dynamics and processes of provider–patient communication through their appraisals of various factors (Hatton & Webb, 1993). However, it is difficult for interpreters to reconcile the ethical principle

2.1 the overview of the interpreters’ role in community

Later Knapp-Potthoff and Knapp take interpreters an invisible translating machine which appear to be inspired by the technology-based mode of simultaneous conference . However, this is rooted in courtroom interpreting where interpreters are denied for any dealing with meaning. Later Laster and Taylor (1994: 112f), associated the standard of “literalism” with the conduit model of interpreting. On the contrary, Joseph Kaufert and associates, studying native Canadian interpreters from the perspective of medical anthropology, are frequently describe interpreters as culture brokers and patients’ advocate.(Franz Pöchhacker)

And the survey conducted by (Angelelli,2002)Interpreters perceived their role as visible, most interpreters in the study said they strive to be invisible in provider–patient interactions.

2.2 the role of interpreters in medical settings Medical interpreters’ communicative strategies are closely tied to their understanding of their roles. They play not only as the role interpreter, but also mediator, and cultural brokers.