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Canada Launches THE Accreditation for Community Interpreters

The first major accreditation/certification process in the world for community interpreting began last July. But it marks its official launch on December 1.

Here's the scoop. This accreditation from the Ontario Council on Community Interpreting (OCCI) requires that community interpreters who wish to apply for it attach proof of:

Training and education: 1800 hours, preferably college or university hours, of community interpreter education (with a grandfather clause)
Certification/interpreter skills assessment (e.g. through Ontario's two certification programs CILISAT or ILSAT
Language proficiency testing in the non-English language for non-native speakers only (yes, yes, we know what you're thinking: we asked about this requirement, long story...)
Post-secondary credentials or equivalent (e.g., a community college or four-year university degree)

Demanding? Yes. So in July OCCI anticipated only about 10 applications for the whole month. They got 50. And they have been snowed under with applications since then.

It's amazing, a landmark achievement in the field. (And it comes from the province of my birthplace, Ottawa.) Go Ontario! And huge congratulations to OCCI!

U.S. Government Releases Its Biggest Census on Language

On November 3, the U.S. Census Bureau released its most detailed report on language. Instead of reporting on 39 languages-, it surveyed 350. Tables based on American Community Survey data from 2009 to 2013 include languages like Pennsylvania Dutch, Amharic and 150 Native North American languages. The highlights:

One person in four in the U.S. speaks another language at home.
In the New York metro area, close to 200 languages are spoken.
About 24 million U.S. residents are Limited English Proficient.

Check out the news release website to learn more and download the table for states: find out which languages are spoken in your state. Our postage-stamp state of Maryland boasts about 170 languages--but 80 residents also spoke languages that could not even be coded!

And check out the cool graphic about the 15 largest metro areas.

November 13, 2015

IN THIS ISSUE

U.S. Government Releases Its Biggest Census on Language

On the Calendar

A San Francisco Hospital Reduces Readmission Rates with "Meducation®"

CCC Corner

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Columbia, MD 21046

Phone: 410.312.5599

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BOOK OF THE WEEK

Videoconference and Remote Interpreting in Criminal Proceedings

Sabine Braun and Judith L. Taylor (Eds).

Intersentia, 2012

Although videoconference and remote interpreting are used increasingly in courtrooms across the United States, this book comes from Europe.

There are simply not enough interpreters in all languages to meet the need in courts. Bringing interpreters in via videoconference, telephone interpreting and video remote interpreting (VRI) are powerful tools for justice.

Unfortunately, as this book attests, progress comes at a cost (in the U.S. also). Scant attention is often paid to the qualifications of the interpreter, how technology affects the quality of interpreting and the impact on access to justice in criminal proceedings. The book is based on a 2011 AVIDICUS Symposium. It discusses research and recommendations for judicial services, legal service providers, police officers, and legal interpreters.

ON THE CALENDAR

Critical Link 8 Comes to Edinburgh

Next year, from June 29th to July 1st, Edinburgh welcomes the largest international conference for community interpreting. And the second call for papers is out.

Key dates

Deadline for second-round submission of abstracts and proposals to Critical Link 8: 30 November 2015

Notification of acceptance: 1 February 2016

Draft programme available: 11 March 2016

General registration: Autumn/Fall 2016

A San Francisco Hospital Reduces Readmission Rates with "Meducation�"

Keeping patients discharged from hospitals from coming back "too soon" is a big concern in the U.S. One hospital in California seems to have found a way to do that with Limited English Proficient patients.

It uses a Polyglot tool called "Meducation�." Meducation� is cloud-based software that simplifies medication instructions at lower reading levels, in more than 20 languages. It also uses larger font sizes, pictograms and videos. The goal is to help patients understand how to take their medications, which can help to reduce hospital readmission.

For this hospital, that goal worked. A pilot study of 70 high-risk patients admitted to the hospital showed that 26% of patients who got standard medication instructions and counseling at discharge were readmitted within 30 days. However, of Meducation� patients, only 8% were readmitted.

Impressive. It will be interesting to see if the pilot study can be replicated.

CCC CORNER

CCC Had a Blast at ATA in Miami!

The CCC booth was just too much fun. A party!

CCC has done conference booths--but never before for American Translators Association (ATA). This is the biggest conference in our field. To be honest, we hadn't imagined that so many people would be so interested in our booth. Many trainers stopped by as well.

Warmest congrats to our ATA raffle winner! Cesar Muedas at the Tennessee Foreign Language Institute won a copy of The Community Interpreter�: An International Textbook (retail $120), just published this summer. Happy reading, Cesar!

And we met in person the most beautiful voiceover-voice we've ever heard. David Kim has done recording work for CCC and he dropped by to see us! (We tried not to swoon.) If you need the best voiceover in the business for English, Korean or Spanish, this is your voice.

Check out some other booth photos!

What Else Is Up at CCC?

In addition to speaking twice at ATA in Miami, last Monday I was speaking about victim services and refugee interpreting at a cultural competence conference in New Jersey. December 4th I'll be speaking about interpreting for sexual assault survivors at Christiana Care's main hospital in Delaware.

Next week we launch a full Training of Trainers (TOT) for The Community Interpreter� this week--and yet we're getting many calls asking for more! So we go on the road for a winter TOT in a California school system that will include a number of indigenous interpreter trainers, then an April TOT in Minnesota, and perhaps others.

Our Chapter 4 author Giovanna Carriero-Contreras is teaching The Community Interpreter� next week.

We just revised and updated (already!) the instructor's guide in time for next week's TOT.

In short, as usual, everything's hopping like mad at CCC!

CULTURE & LANGUAGE PRESS

For a LOOK INSIDE all our publications visit our sister website: thecommunityinterpreter.com and go to Books and Products.

For more information about Cross-Cultural Communications, please go to our website at: www.cultureandlanguage.net

For more information about The Community Interpreter�, please go to our website at: www.thecommunityinterpreter.com

Sincerely,

Marjory A. Bancroft

Marjory A. Bancroft, Director

Cross-Cultural Communications, LLC

10015 Old Columbia Road, Suite B-215

Columbia, MD 21046

Phone: 410.312.5599, Fax: 410.750.0332

www.cultureandlanguage.net