Interpreters Expert Witnesses Part 1

Interpreters expert witnesses may opine on medical interpreting, source languages, sign language interpreting, and more. In Characteristics of Good Medical InterpretersAlex Uvarov, A&A Languages, LLC, writes:

Medical interpretation is an important subset of the field of interpretation that requires the interpreter to possess certain important characteristics. A good medical interpreter must have a strong medical vocabulary. The interpreter must know how to translate basic medical terms such as asthma and x-ray and also advanced, highly specialized terms such as nuclear stress test and sickle cell anemia.

One aspect of medical interpretation that can be difficult to handle is dealing with emergency situations. Sometimes a patient that an interpreter works with on a regular basis will have an emergency appointment and that interpreter will be called upon to go help the patient as soon as possible. In these situations the interpreter should make an effort to go to this emergency appointment, for the sake of maintaining continuity with this patient. In case the interpreter cannot make this emergency appointment the interpreter should follow up the next day to find out the nature of the emergency.