Depending on the reason for the visit, a doctor’s appointment can be challenging even if you speak the doctor’s language. If these language skills are lacking, it is almost impossible to successfully manage a visit to the doctor or hospital. However, it is greatly important to understand diagnoses and treatment approaches in order to maintain and restore your health. An interpreter for your doctor’s appointment can help here.
I can support you: whether you have an appointment with your GP, a specialist or in hospital. As an interpreter, my portfolio also includes interpreting medical consultations into English and German.
Procedure for a doctor’s appointment with an interpreter
It often makes sense to interpret these appointments consecutively. This means that the doctor speaks first and what is said is then interpreted into the other language. The patient then has the opportunity to respond, after which the interpreter again translates what was said. If you proceed in this way, no additional interpreting equipment is required, pen and paper are sufficient to take notes and to translate even longer speeches completely and correctly into the other language. On the one hand, this makes organising the interpreting assignment less complicated, and on the other hand, it also saves on the cost of interpreting equipment.
The job title ‘interpreter’ is not protected. However, it is important to find a professional interpreter for your medical appointment, seeing as health is a particularly sensitive topic. Professional associations such as VKD are a good point of reference for this. Only people who adhere to high standards and a certain level of professional ethics are accepted into this association. Association membership is also a good indication that an interpreter is well-connected – this means that even a multilingual event or a complex event is no problem for them, as they can draw on an extensive network of colleagues who cover even the most exotic languages.