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We in full swing with our fall session  of Bridging the Gap 2015… we have 24 participants with the following languages: Spanish, Japanese, Arabic, Nepali, French and Sign.

Affordable Language Services Just completed our Summer sessions of Bridging the Gap 2015…Congratulations to all the attendees- thank you for your hard work! This is the top training program for medical interpreters in the US with a presence in thirty-one states, the District of Columbia and Qatar. Affordable Language Services is the only company in Cincinnati that offers this intensive training program. We have been providing these this training since 2004 and have graduated over five hundred medical interpreters. If you missed this session, you can enroll for our Fall 2015 Session on line at

On March 17th, 2014, twenty-four medical interpreters graduated from the Bridging the Gap Program. There were seven languages represented in the training: Spanish, Russian, Arabic, Turkish, Nepali, French, and Japanese. Bridging the Gap is a well-recognized medical interpreter education program with a presence in 31 states, the District of Columbia and Qatar.

The interpreting profession for spoken languages has come a long way since it began using volunteers to national certified interpreters of today.  The demand all over the United States for all languages has skyrocketed in the past 10 to 12 years. In the past, interpreter services were provided by volunteers, children and other community members without any training. These ad hoc interpreters were doing the best they could with what they had.  Many family members acted as interpreters and many times they left out crucial information. They were omitting and or distorting the message during the medical encounters leaving the limited English proficient patients open to risk. Sometimes the limited English proficient patients would not follow instructions or they were less likely to come back for follow up appointments due to the poor communication between the provider and the patient.  According to the recent census, 20.8 % of the population in the United States speaks a language other than English.  Laws like Title VI, which prohibits discrimination on the basis of race, color, and national origin, are some of the reasons for the new emerging interpreting profession.

The medical field is constantly changing and evolving.  As such, so is the knowledge required of an interpreter. Breakthroughs in healthcare are discovered and introduced into mainstream care regularly.  These changes are not limited to terminology and treatments, but extend to an evolving code of ethics that reflects cultural and societal evolutions.  To stay in touch with these advancements, medical interpreters must periodically attend continuing education seminars and workshops to keep their skills and knowledge sharp and current.  In fact, many healthcare providers require a similar amount of continuing education from interpreters, as they do from nurses and doctors. If you’re currently working as a medical interpreter, our upcoming Bridging the Gap medical interpreter training course will improve your ability to facilitate communication in the healthcare field. It also fulfills the CCHI and NBCMI requirement for a 40-hour course in healthcare interpreter training, which is needed to take their tests for national certification. This course is extremely beneficial for bilingual speakers who are currently providing medical interpreting services.

Congratulations to Serry Hassan! Affordable Language Services is making him Interpreter of the Month for April due to his consistent hard work as a Qualified Arabic Medical and Legal Interpreter over the last several years. On many occasions Serry has been called out on jobs in the middle of the night and on weekends to interpret for medical patients. Without his devotion to providing this service for Arabic speakers, many may have found it more difficult to understand an already frightening experience at the hospital.  Clearly, this is more than just a job to Serry, so we asked him a few questions to try to understand what drives his commitment and passion for interpreting.

Michael Felger is one of Affordable Language Services’ medical interpreters. He shares with us one example of a time when his expertise came in especially helpful.

Interpreting Case Study:

A DesMoines area woman says she was having trouble understanding doctors’ instructions because she’s deaf. Her daughter Addison was at the hospital after being referred to have her tonsils and adenoids removed, and the staff was instructing the mother what to do to prepare the girl for surgery.

Why Get Certified – Thomas Johnston’s Story