Resources for Interpreting in Cancer Care

One of the interpreter training workshops I offer is Interpreting in Cancer Care. At a recent workshop, many of the participants commented on the curated list of resources I put together as part of the workshop handout and I decided to share it with my blog readers.

Now, oncology is an enormous field with many sub-specialties and nobody can know everything – not even medical providers. However, as interpreters, we should always strive to develop our knowledge and our glossaries. Whether you’re a seasoned interpreter who wants to brush up on oncology terminology before an appointment or a new interpreter who wants to be ready for interpreting in cancer care, I hope you’ll find this list of resources helpful. Continue reading “Resources for Interpreting in Cancer Care” →

Idioms for Medical Interpreters: Part 1

Why Are Idioms Important For Medical Interpreters?

Why is there an article on idioms in a blog for medical interpreters? Wouldn’t your time be better spent studying up on medical terminology or learning about medical procedures?

Image credit: Roisin Hahessy.

Image credit: Roisin Hahessy.e credit: Roisin Hahessy

My answer to these questions is this: yes and no. Undoubtedly, fluency in medical terminology, as well as continuing education to keep up with new developments in medicine, are a must for healthcare interpreters. However, interpreting encounters in healthcare settings is not all about dense medical jargon. Even in the most serious appointment, people’s speech is peppered with various figures of speech such as idioms, proverbs, cultural references, and metaphors. And sometimes, it’s not the name of a new advanced treatment (monoclonal antibodies, anyone?) that will give you pause, but an idiomatic expression.

Idioms are an indelible part of any language. The Cambridge English Dictionary defines idioms as a group of words in a fixed order that have a particular meaning that is different from the meanings of each word on its own. Some examples of idioms are: it’s raining cats and dogs (=raining heavily), to spill the beans (=to reveal secret information), to kick the bucket (=to die, very informal). The thing about idioms though is that, while some are easy to figure out from the context, a great many others are tougher. For me, the hardest idioms are the ones that come from the world of sport since I`m not very familiar with American sports (What is a slam dunk??? Just kidding, I know what it is. Which is a good thing, because I recently heard it used by a doctor, as in: this procedure is a slam dunk).

Continue reading “Idioms for Medical Interpreters: Part 1” →

And best of all, they are free: suggested podcasts for medical interpreters

rsz_02a97692-c0d3-4413-9f8a-4c7d982792eb — Listening to the Sawbones podcast while walking my dog

Whether you are someone thinking of becoming a medical interpreter, are about to take your medical interpreter exams or are a seasoned interpreter wishing to expand your knowledge of all things medicine, you will need resources – to help you learn more, to bolster your knowledge of medical terminology, and to practice interpreting skills. One way to access such resources is to take a training course – and in fact, both organizations certifying medical interpreters on the national level require interpreters to take at least 40 hours of training. Outside of prerequisite training, there are hundreds of opportunities to get those CEUs (continuing education units) that are required for re-certification. There are training opportunities that are free or paid, online or in person, lasting from 2 hours to 3 days. But what if you want to learn about medical topics outside those formal training sessions? Something you can do as part of your leisure time, or maybe on the go while you’re commuting to work? Something that is free?

In my previous two posts, I wrote about using TV shows like Grey’s Anatomy as a resource for medical interpreters and described the ways books about doctors and medicine can help medical interpreters not only to gain more knowledge but also to hone their interpreting skills. In this post, I`m going to talk about the third source of information and skills practice – podcasts. For those of you who are new to this concept, I will explain what podcasts are and where to find them, and I will also provide a list of podcasts about health and medicine as well as a list of episodes centered on the topic of medicine from podcasts that are not medical in nature.

Continue reading “And best of all, they are free: suggested podcasts for medical interpreters” →

Read, Lead, Succeed: suggested reading for medical interpreters

Why read?

Reading is life! I am an unapologetic bookworm and I attribute my success in learning English to my insatiable appetite for reading. In addition, by reading books about doctors and medicine, I have gained insight into the medical world and have learned a myriad of new words and expressions that helped me do my job of a medical interpreter.

As I wrote in this post, where I recommend that medical interpreters watch TV shows in order to improve their medical vocabulary and get some interpreting practice, stimulating input is a key factor in learning. And chances are, if you are a medical interpreter (or are thinking about becoming one), you are interested in medicine. This is where books about medicine come in! Please note that the books I`m talking about are not medical textbooks on anatomy and such, and neither are they novels set in hospitals. I’m talking about books about medicine and medical providers, often written in the form of memoirs. Such books are a perfect source of the following:

general insight into the world of medicine and medical training
information on diseases, symptoms, treatments, complications, and outcomes
medical vocabulary, which can be general or specialized depending on the book
interpreting skills practice (see the section on audiobooks below for more details on how to practice).

Continue reading “Read, Lead, Succeed: suggested reading for medical interpreters” →

Netflix and Learn: Unconventional Resources for Medical Interpreters

This is a blog post where I finally get to talk about how great Grey’s Anatomy is and nobody can stop me! On the serious side, this blog post will describe a possibly unconventional resource for medical interpreters which can be used to add to their medical glossaries and contribute to their overall knowledge of medicine and healthcare: medical TV shows. You can find a list of more conventional resources in my blog post here.

About 5 years ago, when I was living in Novosibirsk, Russia, I got to interpret at a lecture on totally thoracoscopic radiofrequency ablation of atrial fibrillation. The lecture was given at one of the leading medical institutions in Russia by a visiting professor. It was decided that I would interpret consecutively by standing next to the professor and speaking into my own microphone. As far as arrangements for preparations went, it couldn’t have been more perfect – I was given the lecture presentation slides in advance and allowed to meet with a cardio surgeon from the institute so that I could go over the terminology that I had questions about and run some translation choices by him. The lecture itself went smoothly and afterwards, when the visiting professor thanked me for my help, he asked me if I’d had any medical training. I told him about my extensive preparations but also said I learned a lot from watching Grey’s Anatomy. The professor started laughing – and then he abruptly stopped when he saw that I wasn’t joking. I’m not sure what he made of that but I stand by my opinion: watching medical TV shows can be a valuable tool for medical interpreters.

Continue reading “Netflix and Learn: Unconventional Resources for Medical Interpreters” →