Introduction to Healthcare for Spanish-speaking Interpreters and Translators is a guide written for those who work or want to work as a translator or an interpreter in the healthcare setting, but have had little or no formal teaching about seeking employment in the healthcare profession. This book could also be used as a model to help healthcare trainers to teach programs for translators who choose this profession. The book is presented in 3 sections, subsequently subdivided into 28 chapters. Part I offers a brief introduction to healthcare interpreting, including accuracy, cultural differences, how to distinguish between a trained and an untrained interpreter, as well as a definition of a code of ethics. Part II delivers an overview of possible healthcare settings, including primary care physicians, hospitals, and emergency departments. Part III proposes an outline of the “main body systems, conditions and disorders, diagnostic tests and treatments” which are systematized using the body as a framework. Other chapters treat neurology, cardiology, and orthopedics. The language of this guide is plain and straightforward, and provides summaries of key elements at the end of each chapter.
Accuracy, seen in chapter 2 of Part I, is an important concept, and one of the most problematic in the act of translation, especially in healthcare when dealing with the life of a human being. According to the author, the interpreter has the difficult role of understanding the “intention of the utterance and portray it as faithfully as possible in the other language.” Interpreters are involved in situations where “information needs to be exchanged,” and if the interpreter does not interpret the information precisely, the consequences could be deadly. Accuracy therefore is an important theme throughout the book. It as if Crezee is standing alongside the translator at the bedside of a patient walking through the digestive track cycle, making key points clear and translating between patient and doctor.
Part II, Interpreting in healthcare settings, includes helpful insights regarding who the translator would be working with in potential settings. In each of these, the staff is named and their roles are explained since they may all appear the same in a hospital setting. It is therefore in the best interest of the interpreter to pay attention to name badges “in order to know with whom he or she is dealing.” Other than doctors and nurses, translators may also need to communicate with physical therapists, social workers, pharmacists, and or dietitians. Chapter 8, also in Part I, describes the Emergency Department or ERs, and lists in common language translation suggestions for burns, pain, assault, drug overdose, and falls. Diagnostic tests and treatments follow. The format of the book makes for an accessible and convenient guide to the English-Spanish translator.
Part III is organized like a body, starting with neurology and the brain and ending with urology and gynecology, the study of the reproductive system. Each chapter, 17-28, is written in the same manner, making the somewhat complicated science behind the human body, more approachable. Each chapter discusses a new part of the body and begins with terms involving Latin and Greek roots and their corresponding definition that would be beneficial to a translator. For example, cerebellum is the part of the brain that is behind the brain stem. The text also includes well-chosen and thorough diagrams as visuals, with labeled parts and arrows describing the flow of liquid or oxygen. Each chapter in Part III concludes with an English-Spanish glossary of common words or medical terminology that is used in everyday work in the healthcare setting. By using a strict layout and multiple visual aids, the systems of the human body are clearly available to even the translator with limited knowledge of the subject.
Introduction to Healthcare for Spanish-speaking Interpreters and Translators is a practical resource, written concisely for the purpose of creating easy access to interpreters and translators so that they can familiarize themselves with specific healthcare settings, anatomy and physiology of the human body, frequently used medical terminology, and relevant conditions, diagnostic tests and treatment possibilities. Even though healthcare is constantly evolving, this handbook provides an effective summary of what needs to be known by an interpreter, translator, and/ or educator in the healthcare field, specifically those who work between Spanish and English. Chapter 4 focuses on the United States healthcare insurance system, which makes this work even more useful in the US.
This book is written for English-Spanish translators and includes comprehensive English-Spanish glossaries at the end of each chapter in Part III. An additional helpful aspect of the glossaries is that they include the abbreviations that designate the country in which a specific term is commonly used in the Spanish speaking world, thereby clarifying the terms are actually used in North, South, and Central America, as well as in Spain.
Publication Dates
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Publication in this collection
Jan-Apr 2018
History
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Received
13 May 2017 -
Accepted
23 Aug 2017
