Global2Local has recently been asked to build curriculum for a series of courses centered primarily on medical interpreting, with the goal of advancing the skills of interpreters in our area. At this point, the vast majority of interpreters have had at least a 40 hour basic skills class, but that seems to be where their education stops. What we notice is that skills fluctuate largely from one interpreter to the next; some are excellent linguists and some are not only lacking, they don’t even know basic medical terminology. We will be sending information about our trainings far and wide to the linguist community when we are at liberty to do so; we have an ultimate goal of making Cincinnati known for its training programs. Our goal timeline is September of this year.
Here’s where we are stuck: in addition to basic and advanced medical interpreter training, we have been asked to develop a legal interpreter training as well as a class for interpreters interested in becoming translators. I have not seen or taken part in any formal class that teaches interpreters to be translators or gives them any technical skills. I would like input from the linguist community overall, your thoughts and opinions will be very important as we take the first steps in developing a course outline.
The basic reason we even thought to do an Intro to Translation class is because so many interpreters want to become translators, or they think they are already. Most interpreters see it as an “easy” skill and something they can do to make money on the side, working from home. I wish I had a dollar for every interpreter that has called our office stating, “I want to make some extra money this month, can you guys send me translation work?” We feel there is a lack of understanding; translation is something that does not come natural simply because one is bilingual or because one is an interpreter. The very amusing part is that some of the same interpreters who think they can/should be given translation work display deplorable grammar skills in even basic emails.
However, I am likely preaching to the choir as the majority of this blog’s readers are likely to be accomplished linguists with lots of experience. You are the ones we would like feedback from. What kinds of skills are essential for new translators to learn? What, especially, should they learn in terms of technology? One can assume that the class will be approximately 15-20 students, all working interpreters, all having taken a basic medical interpreting class, all with an interest in becoming a translator. We want to teach a useful class that will prepare our students to do well in the translation world; we want to set them up for success.
We were thinking that the class would not likely spend a lot of time on things like time-management or how to gain new customers, but are those topics we shouldn’t skip? How much time should be spent on these kinds of topics? Also, due to the fact that there will be a variety of language groups spoken among the class attendees, we won’t be teaching grammar either. We were hoping to focus on technology and…………???
I would appreciate general comments and suggestions of all kinds!! Also, there are many medical and legal interpreting classes taught and/or used around the country. If you have taken a course that you really enjoyed or that really helped you build your skills, will you leave us a comment with the name of the course and/or any other details? We want to look at as many courses as possible while we build ours.
Thank you in advance! We will keep you posted on our progress!
GB
