Certified Medical Interpreter (Spanish)

[yalla_habibi]

Hello, I came on here to ask about the process of getting a certification to be a medical interpreter. I received a degree in Spanish language and am an advanced speaker, but there is definitely room for growth and I would like to be prepared to serve Spanish-speaking communities as a physician. what does the process look like and for those who have gone through the process, what courses/programs do you recommend?
thank you in advance!

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[Blueprint Med School]

It's a great idea and very much solidifies your resume of being bilingual. I would go to your local hospital and try to talk to some of the medical interpreters there because there's probably a community college or tech school that does a majority or a healthy share of the certification and trainings.


David D MD - USMLE and MCAT Tutor
Med School Tutors

 

[YCAGA]

What David said is great advice. Just know you will need a C1 level of Spanish to do this properly, which is a pretty high level of fluency. Most Spanish majors I have met in the US are probably around low B2 in the two most important skills in interpreting: listening and speaking. Often times just a high B1 if their program was very heavy on literature (imagine an English degree but in Spanish).

 

[YCAGA]

Oh, but with that being said, this is an amazing thing to do for your med school application and your future patients in pretty much any state. Good luck!

 

[Livin_Like_Larry]

I did this for Portuguese interpreting. The languages are similar not exactly the same as you may already know. Would be happy to talk more about my experience getting certified to talk to Portuguese-speaking pt's. Good luck with the process my friend.

 

[YCAGA]

I did this for Portuguese interpreting. The languages are similar not exactly the same as you may already know. Would be happy to talk more about my experience getting certified to talk to Portuguese-speaking pt's. Good luck with the process my friend.

Did you do remote or in-person interpreting? I am pretty ignorant to the Brazilian population in the US, but I can't imagine many if any hospitals have a high enough concentration of Portuguese speaking patients to justify the expense of in-person interpreting. (I left out Portugal since the country itself is so small that I know for a fact we don't get too many Portugal Portuguese speakers in the US).

 

[Livin_Like_Larry]

Did you do remote or in-person interpreting? I am pretty ignorant to the Brazilian population in the US, but I can't imagine many if any hospitals have a high enough concentration of Portuguese speaking patients to justify the expense of in-person interpreting. (I left out Portugal since the country itself is so small that I know for a fact we don't get too many Portugal Portuguese speakers in the US).

Very true, I never interpreted as a job in itself but to boost the resume and to become ACA compliant. I suppose the license is only helpful if you work in a clinic that serves a lusophone community (unlike a Spanish certification that could be used in pretty much any major US city). However, there are pockets in the US where the lusophone community is actually surprisingly large. Rhode Island for example is one of them. I don't go to AMS, but I know they have a Medical Portuguese class for just that reason.

 

[Proudfather94]

I would be interested in doing this as well. I took 3 semester of Spanish and was told I was almost fluent at the time. Would it be smart to do this after medical school? My city has a large Spanish speaking community so it would be a great help to some of the patients I will have.

 

[YCAGA]

I would be interested in doing this as well. I took 3 semester of Spanish and was told I was almost fluent at the time. Would it be smart to do this after medical school? My city has a large Spanish speaking community so it would be a great help to some of the patients I will have.

It is very unlikely you reached C1 after 3 semesters of Spanish. Here is the self-assessment guide to give you an idea of the level I am talking about. Of course you would need to pass an official exam:

You need a pretty high level to translate, especially because it is not uncommon to run into patients whose first language is not even Spanish. So imagine how difficult it would be to translate broken English if you did not know English very well.

 

[Proudfather94]

It is very unlikely you reached C1 after 3 semesters of Spanish. Here is the self-assessment guide to give you an idea of the level I am talking about. Of course you would need to pass an official exam:

View attachment 344694

You need a pretty high level to translate, especially because it is not uncommon to run into patients whose first language is not even Spanish. So imagine how difficult it would be to translate broken English if you did not know English very well.

That true what a bummer. I really like communicating with people that only speak Spanish because they really don't get much contact with other cultures and some people treat them like crap here for not being able to learn English. I like to be at least one example of a friendly person to them to show we all don't think of them like that.

 

[YCAGA]

That true what a bummer. I really like communicating with people that only speak Spanish because they really don't get much contact with other cultures and some people treat them like crap here for not being able to learn English. I like to be at least one example of a friendly person to them to show we all don't think of them like that.

You can still get involved in the Spanish speaking community! And C1 is not unattainable, otherwise there would be no interpreters! This does not include homework but C1 is possible after about 600-700 classroom hours, but that can be self study too