For Professionals

• Five  Ways Why LanguageBank Interpretation Services are Different
• LanguageBank Services
• What Professionals Should be Using Language Bank Services
• Information for Professionals
• Getting Started
• Frequently Asked Questions
• Request an Interpreter 

Five Ways Why LanguageBank Interpretation Services are Different

1. Personal: Face-to-face interpretation  with a trained interpretation professional is the best way to ensure that you understand your clients with limited English proficiency, and that they understand you.

LanguageBank recognizes the need for phone interpretation services in some situations, and can provide these services to professional clients who have made previous arrangements with LanguageBank. Our face-to-face interpretation is complementary to phone interpretation, and there may be some situations where phone interpretation is necessary until a LanguageBank interpreter can arrive.

2. Professional: LanguageBank interpreters are trained professionals. Our training includes: professional standards of practice, triadic communication, medical and/or legal terminology, and interpretation techniques. LanguageBank interpreters are also covered by insurance.

3. Individualized: LanguageBank makes every effort match an interpreter with needs and preferences of all parties involved. Whenever possible, the same interpreter is available to assist clients with ongoing interpretation needs.

4. Convenient: LanguageBank saves you time and money by increasing your efficiency. When you request an interpreter  or call us we send the most appropriate interpreter available to meet your interpretation needs, notify the client/consumer (in their language) of the appointment (if necessary), and send one monthly consolidated bill to your facility.

5. Quality: LanguageBank can greatly decrease the likelihood of communication errors, and increase the likelihood of a quality outcomes.Building quality communication into service delivery not only engenders trust and respect from consumers, staff, and the community. It ultimately strengthens your bottom line as well.

If you wish to explore the benefits of LanguageBank services further, and/or have an immediate interpretation need, please call us at 603-224-8111 or 800-244-8119.
 

Information for Professionals

LanguageBank is a professional service designed to meet the interpretation and translation [link to Translation landing page] needs of professionals, and the people they work with who have limited proficiency in English. While all LanguageBank interpreters receive initial orientation training and opportunities for continuing education, not all LanguageBank interpreters have necessarily received additional training in medical and legal interpretation.
 
If you are interested in learning more about LanguageBank services and service options, please see LanguageBank Services Getting Started, and Frequently Asked Questions.

If you wish to explore the benefits of LanguageBank services further,  you contact us or you can also call us at 603-224-8111 or 800-244-8119.


LanguageBank helps us ensure that all our patients are receiving quality care. 

What Professionals Should be Using LanguageBank

Any professional who provides services to people with limited English proficiency should be utilizing LanguageBank to better serve their clients as well as to comply with federal regulations:

• Physicians and Medical Personnel
• Attorneys and Law Enforcement Officials
• Court Officials
• Public School Administrators and Teachers
• Public Health Workers
• Social Workers
• Employers

If you wish to explore the benefits of LanguageBank services further, and/or have an immediate interpretation need, call us at 603-224-8111 or 800-244-8119.
 

LanguageBank Services

LanguageBank services are available when and where you and your clients need them.

Routine services
A trained LanguageBank interpreter can meet with you and your client at your convenience. The interpreter can accompany your client through the meeting, process, or procedure, and can ensure that you are getting the information you need, and your client is getting the information he or she needs.

Routine (non-emergency) services should be scheduled 48 hours ahead of time, during our regular office hours (8:30 am–5:00 pm, Monday – Friday)

Emergency services
LanguageBank is available to New Hampshire professionals 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Depending upon the availability of interpreters, LanguageBank makes every effort to provide you and your clients with high quality interpretation services in an emergency.
Emergency services can be requested by calling our office number (603-224-8111) or (1-800-244-8119). When calling before 8:30 am and after 5:00 pm, our answering service will be able to assist you.

 Request an interpreter

Getting started

If you wish to explore the benefits of LanguageBank services further, and/or have an immediate need for interpretation services, please call us today.

Languages: LanguageBank can provide trained professional interpreters in over 20 language and dialects, and additional languages are being added as needed.

Rates: Our rates are competitive with other interpretation services. Call us for our current rates.

Package Services: LanguageBank is prepared to provide a proposal that is tailored to your organization and your need for interpretation services, including possible opportunities to partner with other organizations that share your needs.

LanguageBank service packages offer cost savings over our fee-for-service rates. We can also show you how LanguageBank services are cost competitive with phone interpretation services. Let us know if you would like to meet with us to discuss your organization’s needs.
Ask for the LanguageBank Coordinator

During Office Hours (8:30 am to 5:00 pm): 603-224-8111 or 800-244-8119
On-Call (emergencies): 24 hour answering service, 603-224-8111 or 800-244-8119

 Request an interpreter

Frequently Asked Questions

Providing Court or Other Legal
Interpretation Services


What is an interpreter?

An interpreter is a person who renders orally into one language a message spoken in a different language. An appropriate interpreter for a court or legal setting is an adult who is a fluent speaker of both languages in question, who is not a relative of the patient, and who has received professional training as an legal interpreter.
 
What is a court interpreter?

A court interpreter is anyone who interprets in a civil or criminal court proceeding (e.g., arraignment, motion, pretrial conference, preliminary hearing, deposition, trial) for a witness or defendant who speaks or understands little or no English. Court Interpreters must accurately interpret for individuals with a high level of education and an expansive vocabulary, as well as persons with very limited language skills without changing the language register of the speaker.
Interpreters are also sometimes responsible for translating written documents, often of a legal nature, from English into the target language and from the target language into English.

What do court interpreters do?

In English-speaking countries, they interpret for people who come before the courts who cannot communicate effectively in English. These include defendants and witnesses in criminal courts as well as litigants and witnesses in family and civil courts. Interpreters also work in out-of-court settings such as attorney-client meetings, depositions, witness preparation sessions, and interviews with court support personnel (e.g., probation).

The interpreter's job is to interpret (translate orally) from one language to another everything that is said, preserving the tone and level of the original language, adding and deleting nothing. Interpretation is usually in one of two modes, depending on the circumstances: simultaneous or consecutive. Trained interpreters use the same grammatical person as the speaker for whom they are interpreting.

What does “using the same grammatical person” mean?

Whether interpreting simultaneously or consecutively, properly trained interpreters will use the same grammatical person that the speaker uses in the source language. In other words, if the speaker says "my name is John" the interpreter will say "my name is John" in the target language, rather than "he says his name is John" or "his name is John." The main reason for this practice is practical: if you do otherwise, the pronoun references quickly become hopelessly confusing. Example: If you interpret "then he hit me" as "he says then he hit him" there is no way of telling who hit whom. (And an interpreter who introduces more confusion and ambiguity than there was in the original message is not doing a good job.)

What if an interpreter doesn't know how to translate a word or phrase?

This is a question of ethics and technique. If an interpreter is interpreting for a witness and that witness says something that the interpreter does not understand, the interpreter is obligated to seek clarification, after asking the judge's permission. If the interpreter is simultaneously interpreting the proceedings, the answer depends on whether the importance of the thing said seems sufficient to outweigh the intrusiveness of interrupting the proceedings to request a repetition or clarification, and that determination depends on the interpreter's judgment. Theoretically the interpreter should always interrupt in such situations, but many often do not.
In proceedings longer than about half an hour, it is necessary for interpreters to work in teams of two, not only to relieve one another periodically so as to avoid fatigue, but also to provide mutual assistance with these sorts of problems.

In a perfect world, interpreters are fully trained and prepared for the material they interpret, the acoustics are ideal, and the speakers are considerate.

What happens if an interpreter makes a mistake?

Not if, but when, because interpreters are human, and humans are not infallible. Interpreters are ethically obligated to correct their mistakes immediately -- assuming they are aware of the mistake. If not, it is up to someone else to bring the error to the court's attention. There are complex and sensitive issues of protocol involved. Poor interpretation has indeed caused injustices; that is why standards, training and certification are so vitally important.

What kinds of cases do court interpreters typically do?

Interpreters cover virtually every kind of case in the municipal, state, and federal courts. State court interpreters cover matters including: personal injury cases, small claims, landlord/tenant disputes, domestic violence, child support, drug offenses, sexual assault, arson. illegal gambling, to name a few.
 
Is special training required to become a court interpreter?

Yes. Court interpreting is a very demanding job that requires complete fluency in both English and the target foreign language. The level of expertise required for this profession is far greater than that required for everyday bilingual conversation. The interpreter must be able to deal with the specialized language of judges and attorneys, as well as with the street slang of witnesses and the technical jargon of criminalists, police officers, and expert witnesses. Most people do not have full command of all registers of both English and the foreign language and, therefore, require special training to acquire it.


What kinds of skills does it take to be a good court interpreter?

In addition to total fluency in both English and the foreign language, a court interpreter should have excellent public speaking and interpersonal skills.

Sometimes the testimony to be interpreted is shocking or traumatic, and the interpreter must be able to deal with such matters without becoming emotionally involved. The interpreter must also be able to refrain from expressing personal opinions or acting as an advocate for one side or the other in a court case, and must be able to work unobtrusively.

The interpreter must be able to work well under pressure and react quickly to solve complex linguistic and ethical problems as they arise. On the other hand, when a problem cannot be solved by the interpreter alone, the interpreter must demonstrate the good judgment required to inform the court of that fact and take whatever steps are necessary to resolve the situation. And finally, good court interpreters constantly strive to improve their skills by reading from a wide variety of sources, attending conferences, researching new terms and concepts, and honing their interpreting techniques.

 Request an interpreter

Frequently Asked Questions
 

Providing Health Care Services through an Interpreter

What is an interpreter?

An interpreter is a person who renders orally into one language a message spoken in a different language. An appropriate interpreter for a health care setting is an adult who is a fluent speaker of both languages in question, who is not a relative of the patient, and who has received professional training as an interpreter.


How do you decide if you need an interpreter?

You need an interpreter whenever a patient requests an interpreter, or whenever you as a provider believe that language or cultural differences may be causing a barrier to clear communication between you and your patient.

Legally, you are required to provide language assistance for limited-English-speakers if you receive federal funds of any kind. According to Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act [link to Compliance with the Civil Rights Act], no recipient of federal funding may run its programs in such a way as to discriminate on the basis of race, color or country of national origin. One common form of discrimination on the basis of national origin is ineffective methods of communication between English-speaking staff and limited-English-speaking patients. One method to ensure equal access is to work through trained interpreters. The Office of Civil Rights has taken action in numerous parts of the country against institutions who are out of compliance with Title VI by not providing linguistically appropriate care.


How do you choose an interpreter?

The quality of interpretive services available in different areas will vary, depending on the sophistication of the local systems and the training available. Contracting certified interpreters is a good idea if certification is available. At the very least, the interpreter should be:

Fluent in both languages in question. Language screening is needed to establish the degree of fluency.


Trained as an interpreter. The fact that a person is bilingual does not make her or him an interpreter. There are special skills involved. While training available for interpreters will vary by region, some professional training is absolutely necessary. Untrained interpreters are at extremely high risk for adding material, omitting material, changing the message, giving opinions, and entering into long discussions with the patient or provider from which the other is excluded.


Not a family member. Family members have a valid role in providing patient support, however, they are not appropriate interpreters. Family members often edit the patient’s message heavily, add their own opinions, answer for the patient, and impede the development of the patient-provider relationship. Patients may be loath to discuss certain problems in front of a family member, and confidentiality becomes a concern. Family members are rarely trained interpreters and often are unfamiliar with medical terminology. In general, a family member should be used only for interviews where confidentiality is not a concern, where nothing of a delicate nature will be discussed, and where medical terminology will not be used.

Never a child. In addition to those concerns mentioned above, the use of children to interpret creates an inversion of power relations in the family, where parents, not children, are normally in control. Lack of vocabulary in both languages is a serious problem. In addition, children are often traumatized if they are required to pass on bad news or if they are held responsible for negative outcomes.


How do you work effectively through an interpreter?

Introduce yourself to the interpreter; establish the interpreter’s level of English skills and professional training, and request that the interpreter interpret everything into the first person (to avoid “he said, she said”).
 

• During the medical interview, speak directly to the patient, not to the interpreter.
• Speak at an even pace in relatively short segments; pause so the interpreter can interpret
• Assume that, and insist that, everything you say, everything the patient says and everything that family members say is interpreted.
• Do not hold the interpreter responsible for what the patient says or does not’t say; the interpreter is the medium, not the source, of the message.
• Be aware that many concepts you express have no linguistic, or often even conceptual, equivalent in other languages. The interpreter may have to paint word pictures of many terms you use; this may take longer than your original speech.
• Avoid: highly idiomatic speech, complicated sentence structure, sentence fragments, changing your idea in the middle of a sentence, and asking multiple questions at one time.
• Encourage the interpreter to ask questions and to alert you about potential cultural misunderstandings that may come up. Respect an interpreter’s judgment that a particular question is culturally inappropriate and either rephrase the question or ask the interpreter’s help in eliciting the information in a more appropriate way.
• Avoid patronizing the patient. A lack of English language skills is not a reflection of low cognitive function or a lack of education. Your patient may be college professor or a medical doctor in her own country, just as easily as she may be a farm worker.
• Acknowledge the interpreter as a professional in communication. Respect his or her role.
• Be patient. Providing care across a language barrier takes time. However, the time spent up front will be paid back by good rapport and clear communication that will avoid wasted time and dangerous misunderstandings down the line. 
  
    Request an interpreter

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