It may not be necessary for American presidents to speak a foreign language – but a surprising number of the early presidents did.An entertaining blog post from the Foreign Policy magazine website suggests that foreign language ability isn’t re…

The Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters will soon be developing its exam in Arabic and Mandarin.“The Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI) recently received a $308,750 grant from the Robert Wood Johnson Foun…

Of course, companies increasingly need multi-lingual employees. But look for « multicultural » to be the recruitment buzzword of the coming decade.According to recruitment expert Kyung H. Yoon, Founder & CEO of Talent Age Associates, multicultura…

Providing language interpretation services can be a key to getting injured workers back on the job.Language interpretation services in medical settings are clearly desirable for L.E.P. (Limited English Proficiency) patients, as we have discussed many t…

Over the past 50 years or so, translation has been pushed aside as a language-learning method. This could change.For many years, before the time when there was a cassette player in every classroom, translation played a key role in language teaching. B…

Successful foreign language use requires not only knowledge, but communicative skills.I don’t know if it’s a European thing, but suddenly I’m hearing the term “soft skills” everywhere. According to Whatis.com, a specializ…

Medical professionals have to talk about subjects that many of us would rather avoid – especially with our children or parents.Mastery of medical language and emotional involvement are frequent arguments against using family members as interpreters, …

Language interpreters need to possess communicative as well as linguistic skillsProfessional interpreters are, of course, language experts. But they must be communication experts as well. If you look at a list of communication skills,  a great nu…

Not all cultures readily recognize Alzheimer’s disease as a medical condition, as one family’s story reveals. Last week, we cited an excellent article from The Bay Citizen that emphasized the growing need for health care language services in America’s…

Not all cultures readily recognize Alzheimer’s disease as a medical condition, as one family’s story reveals.Last week, we cited an excellent article from The Bay Citizen that emphasized the growing need for health care language services in America’s a…