The university’s new Master of Arts in Interpreting and Translation Studies is designed largely to meet the need for health care translators and interpreters.

Wake Forest University has just announced the opening of a new Master’s program in language translation and interpreting.

The degree course will focus on medical interpretation, with two of its three tracks designed to prepare future language professionals for work in the health care sector.

One of the programs is a first in American education: the Intercultural Services in Healthcare option. This specialization will prepare future managers in the burgeoning field of “culture-sensitive healthcare delivery.”

The second option, Interpreting and Translation Studies, will focus on language as it relates to health care, but can also open doors to other language service fields such as business and law.

The third track represents yet another innovation: a Master’s specialized in the Teaching of Interpreting. With its emphasis on pedagogy as related to interpreting, It will be the only program of its kind in the Northern hemisphere.

In a university press release, Ola Furmanek, one of the program’s founders, clearly points out the need for degree programs focusing on health care language services:

“’It’s not enough to know anatomy and biology to be a doctor, so why would simply being bilingual be enough to be a medical interpreter?’”

Betty Carlson

See Also

• Language Translation, Inc.
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