|
Currently the majority of people being used as interpreters are heritage speakers, meaning they learned the language at home and have had no formal training. A heritage speaker however does not necessarily have the vocabulary necessary to interpret the kind of language used during a doctor’s visit. A person’s ability to speak the language does not ensure that they will be able to perform well in elevated situations because interpreting requires more than language ability.
Mastery of language does not guarantee that an individual will be able to function as an interpreter, but it is an important first step consideration in recruiting and hiring interpreters as well as in determining whether a bilingual employee is able to function in an interpreter role. The following report details Language Testing Options currently available. This report provides snapshot of organizations currently testing language ability and oral skills.
Language Testing Options 
There is no commercially-available tool to assess language proficiency in health care. Further, no commercially-available test is designed for Heritage speakers. Until now
Hablamos Juntos demonstration sites are helping to pilot test a set of tools, the first valid and reliable tools to be developed to test heritage speakers (speakers who have learned their non-English languages at home and have not been formally educated in these languages) and the first developed for health care. These tools are prototypes and do not now exist anywhere else.
The L&ISA program is designed to assess language and interpreting abilities of a broad range of bilingual individuals asked to interpreter in health care settings. Between January and July, 2004, Hablamos Juntos demonstration sites will use the tools to assess eight hundred individuals. This will include individuals working as interpreters, bilingual workers paid a differential for bilingual ability expected to use their language ability on the job, bilingual workers who are sometimes expected to function as interpreters, and interpreter training program candidates.
Need the Acrobat Reader? Click here to download this free tool.
* External link
For more information, call the National Program Office at (213) 743-1556
|
