HEALTHCARE INTERPRETING: FILLING THE TRAINING GAP TO ACHIEVE REQUIRED COMPETENCES

Abstract

At a time when societies are becoming more demographically diverse, the employment of professional interpreters to facilitate communication between healthcare practitioners and patients is of great benefit to both patients and the healthcare system. However, as an emerging profession, the definition of the professionalism of practitioners is not very clear, and there are gaps in the training they receive. Taking this into account, this article is mainly divided into two sections. Firstly, we analyse the models about interpreting competence made by different researchers, find their respective characteristics, and integrate them to obtain a model of competence applicable to healthcare interpreting. Secondly, we take Spain as an example of a recent immigration country with a long history of interpreting training. Based on the above mentioned competence model we have analysed syllabi of all formal training courses on interpretation and those representative informal training ones to explore whether they can meet student training needs regarding the requirements of stakeholders. The research results show that due to the limited diversity of language combinations, there is a shortage in thematic knowledge, terminology referring to specific cultural aspects corresponding to each language and the development of corresponding strategic competence. Furthermore, the development of the healthcare (thematic) subcompetence seems to be still an unfinished business. In order to fill these gaps, we have put forward recommendations to the establishment of a complete training system for the long run, as well as a fast-reacting and more feasible option that can be implemented at an earlier stage. Keywords: healthcare interpreting, interpreting competence, training gap