A promising job: medical interpreter  (Dr. Jenny Park, President of LA Translation and Interpretation)

When people immigrate to the U.S., they would usually find jobs lower in status than in their original country due to lack of proficiency in English.  However, there is a job that provides you high and stable income in the U.S. because you are bilingual in Mandarin and English because no American can speak Mandarin as well as you do.  And that is the medical interpreter job.

“Become a medical certified interpreter.  It is easier than becoming a court certified interpreter, and provides a stable job.”  Compare to court interpreting test, medical interpreter certification test is easier because it does not have simultaneous interpreting and sight translation is only for English into Mandarin. Currently, there is a shortage of certified interpreters.  Especially, the state of California adopted      “Language Access Plan” in 2015 which recommended providing court certified interpreters free of charge not only in criminal but also in civil cases.  It has been implemented for 2 years, but due to the shortage of certified court interpreters, currently they are assigned to priority cases only such as TRO, child custody, eviction, guardianship and conservatorship, and elderly abuse.

The situation is worse with medical certified interpreters.  The law provides that a medical certified interpreter should be provided free of charge to all the patients with limited English proficiency, but there are only  25 National Board certified medical interpreters in California. “There should be at least 30 more interpreters to meet the demand for now,” says Dr. Park.

LA translation provides a Certificate in 40-hour training in medical interpreting which is required to take written and oral tests to become certified by the National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters. The school is approved by the state government to provide the program.

“If you are bilingual, you should make a challenge to become a certified interpreter, “ says Dr. Park. “Once you are certified, you have it till you die.  You can work efficiently as interpreter long time after retirement. You can work as freelancer, or be employed by a hospital or a court, speak for and listen for those who are not proficient in English, and you can always learn new things and promote self development.”   Further, for such a good job, the only investment acquired is “my native language and English proficiency” and “a small amount of tuition for the training.”  213-368-0700.  info@latranslation.com.

移民到美国之后，受英语水平的限制，人们新找的工作往往比其原籍国工作的地位要低。然而，美国有一种工作可以为会讲普通话和英语的您提供稳定的高收入，因为没有美国人能像您一样熟练地讲普通话。这份职业就是医学口译。

“成为认证医学口译。入行门槛比认证法庭口译低，并且能提供稳定的工作。”与法庭口译测试相比，医学口译证书测试更为简单，因为不会考同声传译，视译也仅限于英语到普通话。目前认证口译人员短缺。值得注意的是，加利福尼亚州于 2015 年采用了“语言协助服务计划 (Language Access Plan)”，建议将刑事案件的认证法庭口译服务推广至民事案件中。该计划已经实施了 2 年，但由于缺乏认证法庭译员，目前只能为优先案件安排口译服务，比如 TRO、儿童监护、驱逐出境、监护和接管以及老人虐待案。

认证医学口译方面的情况更加糟糕。法律要求免费向所有英语水平有限的病患免费提供认证医学口译服务，但加利福尼亚州只有 25 个国家委员会认证的医学口译人员。“应至少再增加 30 人才能满足现在的需求”，Park 博士介绍道。

洛杉矶翻译学院有资质授予 40 小时医学口译培训证书，通过笔试和口试之后即可成为美国医学口译认证委员会 (National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters) 认证的译员。本院已获州政府授权，专业提供培训课程。

“如果您会讲普通话和英语，不妨来试试认证口译这份挑战，”Park 说道，“获得认证之后，证书终身有效。退休之后可以长期从事口译工作，可以做兼职，也可以当医院或法院的雇员，为英语不熟练的人架起沟通的桥梁，同时您也可以不断地学到新知识，提升自我。”此外，获得如此好的一份工作，您需要做的唯一投资就是“熟练使用母语和英语”以及“一小笔培训学费”。咨询电话：213-368-0700，电子邮件：info@latranslation.com。