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Brand the Interpreter
What if La Malinche—the Indigenous woman who famously served as interpreter and advisor to Hernán Cortés during the Spanish conquest of Mexico—could share her stories? Imagine the insights and experiences she could offer about the power of language and navigating the complexities of two worlds. That’s the spirit behind the Brand the Interpreter Podcast!
Hosted by Mireya Pérez, an interpreter and personal brand advocate, this podcast gives today’s interpreters a platform to share their own fascinating stories, challenges, and triumphs. Each episode pulls back the curtain on the world of interpreting, from navigating high-stakes conversations to facilitating cross-cultural understanding, offering listeners a glimpse into the lives of the professionals who bring meaning across languages.
Whether you’re an interpreter, a bilingual professional, or simply curious about the magic that happens behind the scenes, Brand the Interpreter immerses you in the stories of language professionals making an impact every day. It’s more than just a podcast—it’s a celebration of language, connection, and the vital human element that makes communication possible.
Join us to explore how the power of language, driven by human connection, shapes understanding, opens new worlds, and transforms perspectives, revealing the deeper truths that unite us all.
Brand the Interpreter
Q&A: A Distinction between Certification and Qualification in Interpreting
Ever wondered about the difference between being a qualified interpreter and a certified interpreter? Perhaps you're an interpreter looking to further your career or maybe you're an individual or business in need of interpreter services? Either way, we promise you'll gain clarity in our latest episode of the Brand the Interpreter Podcast.
As we navigate further into the labyrinth of interpretation qualifications, we reach out to two seasoned professionals in the field - a language access consultant in healthcare and a federally certified court interpreter. They each bring a unique perspective, highlighting the nuances of certification in the medical and legal field, and how they differentiate from being a qualified interpreter. Through their eyes, we see the true value of striving for certification. Not only does it build credibility, but also instills confidence in the interpretation profession. So, lend us your ears for this enlightening episode and don't forget, your insights and experiences are always welcome here!
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Speaker 1:Hello and welcome to another episode of the Brand the Interpreter podcast. This is Mireya, your host, if you're new here and if you're a returning listener. Thank you, as always, for your continued support. It is mind-boggling to me that we are in the last month of the year, but then again, now that I think about it, I feel like I say that maybe every year, so especially in the last few years, now that I'm getting older. For some reason, the time just is flying by. So many things to do, so little time. But nevertheless, here we are December of 2023, and we are coming to the close of Season 6 of Brand the Interpreter.
Speaker 1:As I shared with you in the last episode, there have been many changes both in my personal and professional life. You know that I did move, currently from California all the way over to Virginia, and in my professional setting there has also been a lot of new and exciting changes that I'm super happy about and embracing the changes completely. But, of course, with more things on your plate, it becomes increasingly difficult to be able to get to everything, particularly things that are done in your spare time, such as, of course, this podcast. And although in these last couple of months, because of everything that's been shifting, I haven't been able to push out as much content, whether it be the podcast or on social media, I know that I'm constantly thinking of new ways and new things to be able to bring to you so that we are both entertained and are learning at the same time, and speaking of different things to be able to bring to the table as we come to the close of this calendar year, Unexpectedly, I started receiving recorded questions, and I say unexpectedly because, while that has always been an option on my website to be able to go and send me a recorded message, it hasn't been utilized.
Speaker 1:As much as I would love for you, the listeners, to be able to record your questions for the podcast and then suddenly, maybe I manifested it because I started getting questions that were recorded, or written questions that were then converted into a recording by the listener.
Speaker 1:So that's exciting to me, because what that does is allows me the opportunity to close the season for Brandy interpreter with questions directly from you, the audience, which I totally love. So today we'll be hearing the question from Victoria, submitted all the way from San Diego, california hey, san Diego and we are going to also listen to the responses submitted by other professionals in the field. So, Victoria, I want to thank you personally very much for opening up this discussion and this conversation. That I know for a fact. You are not the only one out there wondering about this very specific question, which I'll introduce in just a bit, and know that I appreciate your patience in getting this response prepared to air on the show today. So, without further ado, let's get into today's special episode on Q&A, with Brandy interpreter responding to Victoria's question from San Diego on qualified versus certified. Take a listen.
Speaker 2:Hi, my name is Victoria and I'm from San Diego, and my question for Brandy interpreter is what is the difference, in general and in terms of requirements, between qualified and certified interpreting? In other words, it's qualified interpreting a legitimate way to explore the field. Thank you, and I hope to hear from you soon.
Speaker 1:What a great question, Victoria. What I ended up doing was inviting a couple of guests to respond to this very great question. Our first response comes from another than Cindy wrote from NCIHC. Let's take a listen.
Speaker 3:Hi, my name is Cindy Rode. I'm a national consultant on language access and health care and also interim vice president of the National Council on Interpreting in Health Care, and this is a response to a query sent in by Victoria in San Diego. Hi, victoria. Victoria asks what is the difference between a certified interpreter and a qualified interpreter, and let me see if I can shed some light on that. One of these terms is relatively easier to define than others. Certification means a certified interpreter is one who holds a credential from a valid certifying body. So for healthcare interpreters, that would mean the CCHI, the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters, or the NBCMI National Board for the Certification of Medical Interpreters. Both of these organizations have tests in a variety of language pairs. They both require that the candidate be over 18, have at least 40 hours of basic training and be able to prove that they are fluent in English and in a language other than English, and to pass both a written and an oral test. For other domains, there are also certification processes for social service interpreters. The Washington State Department of Social and Health Services has a certification process for social service interpreters. There are also certification processes through the ATA for translators, through state court systems for state courts and through the federal court system for federal court. So that's pretty clear and straightforward.
Speaker 3:The term qualified is a little bit squishier technically, under the upcoming, soon to be released, regulations related to Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, a qualified interpreter is one who is able to interpret effectively, accurately and impartially, both receptively and expressively, using any necessary specialized vocabulary.
Speaker 3:So while the regs do not specify amount of training or anything like that, or a particular credential, it's hard to imagine that anybody could fulfill those requirements without having had some basic training at least. However, a lot of places around the United States, this term qualified is used a lot more informally, often to refer to an interpreter who perhaps has passed some sort of screening test, which is not necessarily a valid and reliable certification process perhaps an interpreter who has an excellent background or a great deal of experience. These are more difficult to prove, and so this term qualified is a lot more subjective. However, I'd also like to say that things are always changing around the country, and if anyone knows of qualification processes in which this is used in a different way, please let me know. I'd be interested in finding out as well. So, victoria, I hope that answers your question a little bit. Please feel free to contact me and write back to Brandy interpreter if you have any more questions.
Speaker 1:Very well, that was a response from the healthcare side of the profession. But what about the legal side of the profession? Is there such a thing as certified versus qualified? And for that response I invited Athena Matilski, a federally certified court interpreter. Let's hear what she has to say.
Speaker 4:Hello everybody. My name is Athena Matilski, federally certified court interpreter and owner of Athena Sky Interpreting. I'm also cross-trained as a medical interpreter and a conference interpreter. I have a degree from York University. This audio is in response to brand the interpreter, listener Victoria, who asked a really interesting question about what a qualified interpreter is versus what a certified interpreter is, and she wanted to know if being a qualified interpreter is a legitimate way to explore the field. So it seems like a straightforward question, but as I start answering it, I realize how complicated it is. Basically, there are different accreditation processes or certification processes throughout the country, based on what state you're, in what language you speak and what type of interpreting you're trying to do. So let's take court interpreting. If you're a Spanish interpreter, in most states in the United States there is now a certification process for you. So you would go through that certification process. You would take a written exam. Sometimes you would take an oral proficiency exam to look at your language skills in Spanish, and then you would take an oral interpreting exam which tests your interpreting skills and also takes a look at your language skills Once you get to the end of that, if you pass it, with a particular percentage, which can vary by state, then you become a certified interpreter and that shows anybody who is working with you that you have that minimum level of expertise. Now you can work throughout the country as a medical and a court interpreter without certification, and there are certain venues where maybe that would be more appropriate, where it's simpler and where it's okay that the person who is Interpreting might not have as much expertise. But it really is a Good idea to go through the certification process Because you'll learn as you go and you will get that minimum level of understanding and what we do is really important. It's really important for us to be accurate and many of us don't realize how inaccurate we are until we've gone through the process of listening to our recordings and working on our skills and getting better. So that's all about being certified.
Speaker 4:But Victoria's question was about what it is to be a qualified interpreter and the honest answer to that is I can't really Tell you because it depends on whose definition of qualified you are looking at. So what I can say is that in many states, if you don't have a language that is tested, then you are given the opportunity to go through the certification process and you wouldn't necessarily become a certified interpreter because, let's say, they don't have the Interpreting exam in Swahili, which happens to be your language. Well then, you can't be a certified Swahili interpreter, but in certain states you might be a registered Interpreter or you might be a qualified interpreter, and what that would say is that you have gone through some of the testing process, you've taken the written exam, you have been through an orientation and Maybe they've had you take an exam in your other language, maybe you took a Swahili exam just to see your skills in Swahili, but that your interpreting skills have not been verified because that test does not exist. So in some states you will then be called what is a qualified interpreter and if that's the case, it's not your fault that you aren't able to go through that testing process. It's still your responsibility to make sure that you have that minimum level of interpreting ability. It's still your responsibility to make sure you're accurate and impartial and everything else.
Speaker 4:But you might have to use the term qualified, but it really depends on the state. I actually am not sure which states Use that term. I think it's actually possible that New Jersey uses the term qualified interpreter in some capacity, but you really have to look at who is using that term, because what happens a lot of time is people go around saying, oh yeah, I'm a certified interpreter and really know they just went through a class and they got a certificate. That's not the same as being a certified interpreter, right? So you have to look at who is using this terminology, and the important thing at the end of the day isn't what we're calling the interpreter, it's what their standard of interpreting actually is. It's what their, their interpreting expertise is.
Speaker 4:For medical interpreting, there is a qualified version, particularly for one of the exams, because there's more than one medical interpreting Certification exam. But according to the National Center on interpreting in health care, that's the NC IHC, they do have the qualified credential as a possibility. So you basically you can start exploring your career as an interpreter right away. You can accept assignments that you know are within your skill level, and it's really important, as quickly as possible and as methodically as possible, to get the skills that you need and to get the certification to back it, so that you have more confidence and your clients can have more confidence as well. So I hope that that answered your question. Again, my name is Athena Matilski. You can find me at AthenaSkyInterpretingcom, and you can always email me at inquiries at AthenaSkyInterpretingcom. Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Well, there you have it, Veronica a response from both the health care and the legal setting. Now here's my two cents on qualified versus certified. When you embark on the journey of becoming a professional interpreter or Utilizing your languages in a professional setting, you can absolutely begin by exploring the field as a qualified interpreter. Chances are you may come across other competitors or other individuals that are also competing for the same job, and that's when I think you'll truly begin to see the difference between your qualification and your certification. This doesn't always necessarily apply. There are times where hiring managers barely know the difference between an interpreter and a translator and therefore may not necessarily know the difference between a qualified and a certified interpreter. It very much depends on the entity that you are applying to and, of course, on how much they know about the industry. A certification, let's say, as a translator through the American Translators Association, may mean nothing to someone that is simply looking for someone to do a quick and cheap job. So while I see nothing wrong with exploring the field and it being a legitimate way to do it, as a qualified interpreter, if you're already doing the work meaning in order to become qualified, you are already taking courses and formalizing your training, then at some point I would highly encourage you to consider the certification, if it exists, in the specialty area that you're looking to provide services. I would also say that for those individuals that have gone through or going through the process of becoming certified and have not yet passed that threshold and are currently sitting in the qualified interpreter threshold again, I think the same thing definitely applies. You want to make sure that you keep pushing forward so that, if anything else, just like Athena just mentioned, you are growing as a professional. So there is certain experiences that come in addition to the feeling of completion, of accomplishment, when you arrive to that destination that you planned on arriving from the beginning. So if you had certification in mind, you want to get past that threshold, wherever it is you're currently at, to be able to accomplish that, and of course, that only comes by pushing ourselves to get to that point. So you thought it was going to be an easy answer and you might have been left with more questions and answers, but hopefully you were guided more towards a very specific solution for the very question that you posed and for anyone else that also was interested in understanding the difference. Hopefully you're a lot closer to deciding whether you're going to go one way or another. Of course, everything that is shared here is not shared in absolute. Every situation is completely different, and all we're wanting to do, or I'm wanting to do here, is to share as much resources and information so that you're able to make an educated decision. Best of luck to you, victoria, in all of your endeavors, and thank you once again for having submitted your question to Brandy Interpreter.
Speaker 1:I'd like to take the opportunity to thank the guests that gave of their time to be able to submit the responses. Thank you so very much for your willingness to be a part of the process. It really does take a village, and I am very grateful to you All. Right, folks, as we wrap up today's episode, I want to encourage you to do the same. Please submit your questions via the recording app that is available on my website, wwwbrandyinterpretercom. Head on over to the Contact Me section and when you scroll down below my image, you will see a little recording orange recording app. You're able to submit your recordings through there and they come directly to me.
Speaker 1:I do my very best to either invite the people that can give you the answers, or we do a special episode in which we talk further about your particular question. In the meantime, if you haven't already, I would very much appreciate that you continue sharing the episodes, particularly those episodes that really resonate with you and that you think will resonate with somebody else another colleague potentially. Feel free to please share, share, share these episodes because, of course, it can only grow if individuals, more individuals, know about the Brandy Interpreter podcast. That's all I have for you today. I hope that you enjoyed today's episode and I hope that you connect with me on social media. Find me on LinkedIn or Instagram or simply send me a message via the website. Thank you so much for joining me today. Have an amazing weekend and I will see you here next week. Take care Until next time.
