Why working with interpreters is not a waste of money?
| There are
many people who simply do not have time or will to learn foreign languages or
cultures. What a shame, learning new things enriches our lives but after all
everybody takes own decision what to do with own time. This is not the case
however when we work with people from foreign countries as work colleagues or
clients and lack of interest in training in that field can lead to disasters
ranging from loosing a valuable staff members to clients who pay for the
organisation salaries. Am I exaggerating? Let me present the cases when using
interpreters and translators is an absolute must and how it can save you a
money. |
| Case 1. Police
interviews. Quite often I heard in my career that the person accused of an offence disputed the police report when it has been passed on to their advocate. The dispute ranged between ‘I never said that’ to ‘I don’t speak very well English and there was no interpreter available and simply what is there is not true’. The difficulty of that situation is that if the interpreter was not present during the interview there is always the possibility of false statement that will either be defeated in court and potentially lead to a complaint against the Police force which conducted such interview on own accord. |
| Case 2. Medical
appointments. I often heard the statements that the patient has been released from the hospital and later the undiagnosed condition developed causing a life changing incident to the patient. The hospital would get sued for malpractice and when in actual fact the attending physician taught that he/she had a successful conversation with the patient when actually patients replies have been understood incorrectly and caused further deterioration of patient’s health. |
| Case 3. Commercial
translations. Those cases are very tricky as we all like to use Google translator to translate all sorts of texts starting from emails from customers (Customer Service) to having a feel of and partnership agreement (Executive Assistance). Both are wrong modus operandi and can lead to awkward situations, feeling of disrespect and inability to establish meaningful contacts which could cause loose of leads and contracts. |
| Case 4. Business meetings. Creating the right atmosphere during the business meeting that will put the participants at easy is a known psychological factor tat contributes to success or failure of the negotiations. The interpreter can also explain any requirements that come out of the cultural differences and customs. |
| Case 5. Social
security meetings. This type of matters can be particularly confusing for the staff dealing with non-English speakers and upsetting for the clients. Dealing with the red tape in Jersey often makes clients thing that he staff is inefficient and unfriendly and staff feels frustrated with the seemingly unreasonable client. |
| Case 6. Personal
relationships and friends. Navigating relationships without knowing the language and culture of the other person can easily make people uncomfortable and put off any interactions with other people. Quite often the foreigner without a proper introduction into the English culture finds it unfriendly, cold and dismissive. |
| Case 7. Psychological
evaluation and therapy. Interpreters and translators are often to be employed during psychological assessments and therapy sessions. Despite the fact the usually it is taken into account that more sessions are given to foreign nationals to account for the fact of cultural differences and give a time to the health professional to help the patient it is important for the success of the therapy to have an interpreter attending to explain and ask additional questions in a native language. |