Here’s a concise piece on one of the subtle aspects of interpretation — What does compassion mean for medical interpreters? — offered by Yuliya Speroff on the Medical Interpreter Blog. In her piece, Speroff has tips on communicating a greater sense … Continue reading →
Above: scenes from last year’s event. Join CAPI USA for its annual celebration on Twin Cities World Refugee Day, scheduled for Centennial Park in Brooklyn Center, 10:30 – 5 pm on Saturday, June 22. There’s free live entertainment, food and … Continue reading →
Here’s a free webinar offered by the resettlement specialists, Switchboard, designed to help newcomers succeed in their changed environment. The webinar is set for noon to 1:15, Tuesday, June 25. The target audience is direct service providers, managers, and others … Continue reading →
In his recent essay, The Dehumanization of the Healthcare Interpreter, Or How I Learned to Love Natural Intelligence, Fleuncy Inc. President Bill Glasser seemingly accepts that medical interpretation, driven by artificial intelligence, will inevitably dominate in the healthcare environment. His … Continue reading →
Get free virtual classes on psychological first aid to support people after public emergencies, disasters or personal crisis and trauma. Presented by M Health Fairview Community Advancement, the two hour training is designed for community members and health care professionals, … Continue reading →
Madeleine Schwartz had what sounds like a complicated but fascinating childhood. She lived with her mother in New York for half the year, and with her father in France for the other six months. Then as an adult in 2020 … Continue reading →
Do you have questions about your organization’s legal requirements to guarantee language access for patients and clients with limited English? Then check out this issue brief from the National Health Law Program on Title VI of the Civil Rights Act … Continue reading →
Sahan Journal delivers again with a piece on the life circumstances that led Anquam Mahamoud to run for a Minnesota House seat in the south Minneapolis district 62B. Mahamoud was born in San Diego but moved to Minneapolis with her family … Continue reading →
If you follow the work of the Minnesota state legislature, you noticed the recent commotion over medical assistance in dying — a legislative effort to offer medical help to terminally ill people in ending their lives. The legislation appears to … Continue reading →
On one hand, you’ve got the dominant languages of the world, which include English with 1.4 billion speakers, Mandarin with 1.3 billion speakers and Hindi with 602 million speakers. And then there is Romeyka. Romeyka is an endangered form of … Continue reading →
Here’s another wrinkle in the attempt to communicate effectively with LEP patients: is your patient portal truly accessible? With growing use and dependence on web-based portals, are all patients getting an even shake? According to Intersect: A Newsletter about Interpreting, … Continue reading →
It’s not news to observe that children often end up serving as interpreters and translators for family members with limited command of English. But recently University of California researchers delved into a largely unexplored area regarding the complicated intersection of … Continue reading →
When Sam Corbin, the crosswords editor for the New York Times, took on the project of learning ASL, she couldn’t resist the temptation to do what she routinely did with spoken and written English: play around with words. Being something … Continue reading →
The excellent online news outlet, Sahan Journal, recently offered a deep look at Minnesota’s surging Ecuadorian immigrant population in this piece, Ecuadorians fleeing violence and economic distress seek a new start in Minnesota. While fewer than 200 Ecuadorian emigres arrived … Continue reading →
Like most everyone else involved in language service, you’re probably hearing footsteps from artificial intelligence interpretation and translation tools and wonder how they may alter your work. For a look at the current state of AI in translation, and related … Continue reading →
With Ramadan underway from now through April 9, this is the time to brush up on related good manners when interacting with Muslim co-workers and friends. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Islamic lunar calendar, during with which the … Continue reading →
For an close look at the causes and effects of language diversity in an urban area, check out this new book, Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York, by Ross Perlin Perlin observes that up … Continue reading →
What’s the health impact when kids from minority or indigenous-language-speaking families get care that is not in their native tongue? According to Harvard Medical School researcher Ann Miller (right), there’s an 11 percent difference between them and native speakers in … Continue reading →
Find out more about how to better serve immigrant families that include children with significant medical conditions during this 11 am, Monday, February 26 webinar sponsored by Switchboard. About 10–15 percent of refugee children have significant medical conditions, and their … Continue reading →
Peter Wang served in a familiar role for his Florida family. His parents, who had been smuggled into the United States from Fujian, a province in southern China, in the late 1990s, arrived without knowing English. They worked in restaurant … Continue reading →
Get the low-down on substance abuse issues in refugee and immigrant communities at the Tuesday, February 13 meeting of the Minnesota Immigrant and Refugee Health Network. Set for 9:30 to 11 am, this online and phone session will bring you … Continue reading →
Fall down a rabbit hole of videos on practice and training for medical interpreters at this YouTube channel, Interpret Your World. You’ll find dozens of short videos on subjects such as allergies, ashtma, chest pain, COPD and much more, plus … Continue reading →
The world of commotion that drives refugees from their homes sometimes spills over into their new home here, with distress and tensions that can have an impact on community sponsors, volunteers and resettlement office staff. Here’s a webinar on basic … Continue reading →
Time to update your organization’s language access plan to serve clients better, and to meet the dictates of state and federal law? Here’s help from Multilingual, which has drafted a concise summary — How to Create a Realistic Language Access … Continue reading →
The excellent Sahan Journal reports a recent three-fold increase in Afghan refugees landing in Minnesota, and states that even that is an underestimate. According to the Journal, “In 2018, 332 people in Minnesota reported being born in Afghanistan, a number … Continue reading →
Another entry in the ledger regarding medical treatment of pregnant Black women, courtesy of the New York Times: How Unconscious Bias in Health Care Puts Pregnant Black Women at Higher Risk. Black women say that too frequently medical providers do … Continue reading →
Sometimes it’s the little things that can mess you up. Case in point: sensitively asking where your recently-arrived immigrant patient is from or may recently have been. This information allows you to offer country-specific screenings for asymptomatic conditions that can … Continue reading →
Should you ever think it’s okay to use a child as a medical interpreter for other family members, consider this essay on Multilingual by Onelia Navarro. In it, Navarro recalls a pair of shocking incidents. In one, Navarro was called … Continue reading →
Here’s another addition to the horrifying-instances-of-medical-disparities file. In a recent New York Times opinion piece, My Patient Did Not Have to Die the Way She Did, Dr. Anahita Dua recounts the harrowing case of a Black female complaining of pain in … Continue reading →
Is it true that Korean is the most scientific writing system, as described by Asian scholar Edwin Reischauer? Get a feel for the various writing systems of the world in the YouTube video above. The Roman alphabet gets stacked alongside … Continue reading →
Does race help determine who’s most at risk for heart attack or stroke? After years of including this factor in its risk assessment tools, the American Heart Association is yanking it from the equation. In this New York Times story, … Continue reading →
Sad to say, it’s still handy to have Covid test kits around the house. Here’s a way for your limited English clients to order up a free batch in their first language. Steer them toward this Minnesota Department of Health … Continue reading →
Hoping to understand and work more effectively with recent Afghan refugees? Take a look at this deep collection of respiratory illness-related information and resources available via the University of Minnesota’s National Resource Center for Refugees, Immigrants, and Migrants (NRC-RIM). With … Continue reading →
Here’s a trove of colorful ASL videos from the Minnesota Department of Health. The numerous offerings include topics such as: Protect Your Child from Covid 19 Vaccines and Kids What Teens Should Know What Are Breakthrough Cases? What Are Covid … Continue reading →
Wondering how artificial intelligence apps and machine translation will change the landscape for language access? Here’s a free webinar offered by Cross Cultural Communications, set for Wed., Nov. 8, 2023, 10:30 AM. What Role do AI and MT have in … Continue reading →
What were the wins, challenges and lessons learned as the Minnesota Department of Public Health’s Refugee and International Health program grappled with the pandemic’s effect on refugee, immigrant and migrant (RIM) populations? Get an assessment at this webinar, Cultural Communications … Continue reading →
There’s still time to register for a free online training course that explores the laws that govern language access for limited English speakers, scheduled for this Wednesday, October 11, starting at 10 am. The webinar will outline providers’ legal obligations … Continue reading →
Here”s a free class from Yale University that can help you use social and behavioral insights to create, implement and evaluate health communications online. Digital Media for Health Outcomes is designed as an evidence-based tutorial on the key steps to … Continue reading →
Good news on breaking down language barriers for Hispanic patients? No, not really, according to a survey funded by a supplemental medical insurance provider, Aflac. In the national 2023 study of Spanish-speaking patients, a third of the 2,001 employed adults … Continue reading →
Here’s a chance to voice your opinions on health equity and optimal health outcomes — and in a way that’s more likely to result in change than simply mumbling around the water cooler. The Minnesota Department of Health is looking … Continue reading →
Translating health education materials is a step in the right direction. But if the material is difficult to understand in English, translation won’t make it better. Get insight on improving the usefulness of your communication at the virtual Health Literacy … Continue reading →
What’s does job security look like for interpreters in the face of recent advances in artificial intelligence? Get the low down from Middlebury Institute of International Studies associate professor Barry Olson, a conference interpreter with 25 years of experience. Olson … Continue reading →
Getting the language right in health communication is one thing, but placing the words in a relevant cultural context is another. Get insight from industry experts on creating a culturally appropriate environment in a Public Health Communications Collaborative webinar, Noon … Continue reading →
Here’s a dose of bad news from the Hastings Center on the failures of medical interpretation and the resulting harm to patients. In this recent essay, Medical Interpretation in the U.S. is Inadequate and Harming Patients, a team of writers observe that … Continue reading →
Those hazy days that result from distant fires raise an obvious question: what can I do to protect myself and my family both indoors and outdoors? Here’s information in Spanish and English that offers steps you and your patients can … Continue reading →
Are you or your co-workers worn down by the stress of trying to meet the needs of immigrant and refugee communities? Here’s information that can help, to be offered by the Metro Immigrant and Refugee Health Network in a WebEx … Continue reading →
Among the challenges for refugee youth: overcoming stress resulting from migration and resettlement. At worst they can be subject to abuse, exploitation and trafficking, but also routinely suffer from limited access to resources and the dislocation of existing as a … Continue reading →
What is a problem all too common for medical interpreters? When Kelly Henriquez asked that question at a panel on interpreter self-care at a national conference, the answer she got was, Loneliness. Henriquez, a dual-certified Spanish medical/healthcare interpreter working in … Continue reading →
It’s one thing to interpret with pauses allowed in the exchange between speakers. But as this amusing and instructive video explains, simultaneous interpretation is a more daunting and sophisticated task that requires years of preparation. The instance depicted by the … Continue reading →
Usually we’re here concerned with the utilitarian aspects of translation. How does a Hmong patient, for example, best learn more about foot care with diabetes, post-op care or child immunization schedules? This week let’s take a step off the path … Continue reading →