Tag: cross-cultural

Interpreting Humor and Jokes: Who has the Last Laugh?

I’m very excited to share with you this very special post –  the first guest post on the Medical Interpreter Blog! The idea for it came about when I was attending the California Healthcare Interpreting Association’s 20th Educational Conference conference in San Diego, California.  I attended many excellent workshops and presentations that day, but one presentation, Humor and Jokes: Who has the Last Laugh? was particularly enjoyable, not least because the team presenting it was also from Seattle!  So when I approached Tamas Farkas and Michaela Kiley of the Cross Cultural Health Care Program (CCHCP) after their talk, they humored me (pun intended!) and kindly agreed to share their ideas with readers of this blog. So now you, too, can learn why dealing with humor in medical settings is no joke and what to do when somebody decides to make a pun.

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Read, Lead, Succeed: suggested reading for medical interpreters

unnamedWhy 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).

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