What It's Like to Be an In-Person (On-Site) Medical Interpreter (As a Freelancer/Contractor)

This is a short, sweet, and to-the-point video explaining the basics of how being an in-person medical interpreter works (as an independent contractor). How do we get appointments? How do we get connected with patients at big facilities like hospitals? Do we stay in the room with the patient when the doctor leaves? If you have any further questions, feel free to comment and I may make another video to answer your questions!
Like this video? Want to see more like it? Videos like these take me multiple hours to produce and I'd really appreciate your support. Consider making a contribution on my Ko-Fi here: ko-fi.com/kghi...

[@emiliotejada263]

I just started a work as a medical interpreter and these videos help a lot, thank you!

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

I'm so glad to hear this!

[@emiliotejada263]

@@KellyGrzechHenriquez ty for ur support, I quite... i just lasted three weeks, i couldn't handle the stress, i thought i would but i had no real idea of the work...

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

@@emiliotejada263 were you doing in-person interpretation, over-the-phone interpretation, or video remote interpretation? There are definitely companies out there that take advantage of novice interpreters and work you like a dog. The fact is that interpreting is a lot of mental/cognitive work and if you're working for a company that forces you to take back-to-back phone calls for 50 hours a week, it's just going to burn you out. And phone interpreting is more difficult in my opinion.

[@emiliotejada263]

@@KellyGrzechHenriquez It was over the phone interpreting, well it was a learning experience.

[@luisOctubre64]

Hello Kelly, I was an interpreter for a couple years long time ago I am considering to start doing it again after receiving a few calls from friends here in Ireland. The Spanish community is growing so the need as well. Thank you for your free advice.

[@aaf2590]

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience and what it is like to work in your field!

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

Absolutely!

[@SJCHO-l9u]

Thank you. It was really helpful.

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

Glad it was helpful!

[@costaricaconservation9116]

Thank you for sharing this!

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

Of course!

[@mggimenez101]

im actually currently in a hiring process right now to become a medical interpreter and i am so glad i found your video, very informational and helpful😊 i will definetly look at your other videos 😁

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

Best of luck on your job search and thank you for your comment!

[@mggimenez101]

@@KellyGrzechHenriquez I got the job! 🥳I start working in exactly 1 week :)

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

@@mggimenez101 Ah! So exciting! Congratulations!!! 🎉

[@rsataulislam-cg5mo]

Please could you help how to find client?

[@mggimenez101]

@@rsataulislam-cg5mo well, I'm currently working for a company called LLS or Language Line Solutions.. they offer interpretation services (mainly medical interpreting). There are a few other companies that look for recruits worldwide, but you will have to be extremely fluent in both English and your language pair, and they'll also have to be looking for interpreters for that language pair. You'll probably do a training, if you get in. Then of course you could try freelance interpretation services, though I don't know that much about freelancing, just that you will have to build a reputation for yourself, if you want this to be your main source of income. I will say, it pays very well and most companies and/or offices are always looking for more interpreters, but in the end it depends on you. Hope this helps! Good luck!

[@Felix-qz9cy]

Wow..good information thanks

[@goawaygrey]

Thank you! I am also in virginia crazy! Love your content

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

Awesome! Thank you!

[@huhbora]

thank you for this. I always wanted to know what in-person medical interpreters did.

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

I'm so glad I could give you some insight!

[@pepirosado2182]

Thank you for your time and sharing your wisdom! My question is, you say you contract with dozens of agencies to interpret, what do you do when they want you to sign a contract (as independent contractor/freelancer) before they give you any assignment, with a non-solicitation clause saying that you agree for a period of one year after finishing your services for them, directly or indirectly, solicit any business from any customer of that agency? wouldn't signing that clause prevent you from finding work with the other agencies you want to work for? Thank you

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

I think there are gray areas here that the language of these contracts does not reflect. Not bad: unknowingly accepting assignments directly from an agency that the other agency you have a non-compete clause with subcontracts with. You don't know and they didn't tell you. I was asked by an agency I was about to contract with to disclose all of the contracts I had. First off, none of their business (I'm not their employee!) and secondly? 🚩🚩🚩 Big box of red flags. Bad and unethical: signing on with an agency, only to go to all the facilities you perform assignments for with them, using the knowledge you gained about their client list (and pay rates) to solicit business directly from those facilities yourself. The first example I gave is likely an unenforceable clause, meaning they can try, but it likely won't be held up in court. That being said, an agency can and will terminate your contract at any time for any random reason they see fit under the sun if the fancy strikes them because you aren't an employee. The second paragraph in the section on this page entitled "Problems with non-competes for independent contractors" give a decent summary of why these clauses are more problematic for THEM than they really are for you! Additionally, the section "When are non-competes unenforceable?" gives some idea of the legal landscape in the U.S. in terms of the enforceability of such clauses. www.bkllawyers.com/are-non-competes-enforceable-for-independent-contractors/ The specifics of the enforceability of these clauses is really based on where you're located. Technically anyone can take you to court for silly things as long as they have the money to pay the lawyers, even if they know it's a losing case, which could still be risky financially for you. But the likelihood of a company wasting its time and resources on a fruitless case is slim.

[@nataliatorkhova8793]

Hi:-) can you help me? I am a freelancer, translation/interpretation. I was asked how many words I can translate a week. Before I was counting signs or leters and not quite aware of words based counting. What would you answer if you are asked a question, how many words you can make a week? My planned time for work is around 2-3 hours a day.

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

That's a really difficult question for me to answer because I mostly do interpretation. I don't do translation enough to be able to give you a good idea of what I'd be capable of. Additionally, different languages and different people are going to be, well, different, in terms of how many words can be translated in any given time. I will say this, if you're tracking your time on projects, you can use this data, paired with the word count to determine how many words on average you can translate in a given period of time. If you're *not* currently tracking your time on projects, I highly recommend it. While this article isn't about translation per se, it's about what app I used (and still use!) to track my time on projects: kghinterpretation.com/reducing-opi-vri-anxiety-during-covid-19-part-3-track-your-time/

[@lauracabe]

helpful

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

Glad to hear that!

[@rsataulislam-cg5mo]

Ma'am, I'm a new follower of yours however, I would like to know about the question. Could you please give me some questions? What kind of question does the client ask?

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

Thanks for following! I have to admit, I don't quite understand your question. What kinds of questions does the client ask about what? And when you say client, do you mean the interpreting agency, the medical provider, or the patient? I ask because different people use this term for different people.

[@mariacarrillo4519]

I would have never guessed that you spoke Spanish.

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

Las aparencias engañan 😉

[@TraduttoreTraditore]

Hey, first of all thank you for the video! I have a question if that's okay. I am a student in the department of translation and interpreting. Currently, I am looking for a internship programme. I am also very interested in medical interpreting but I wasn't able to find an intership programme on medical interpreting. Do you know anything about this? Thank you for your answer ^^

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

You're very welcome for the video! I will say internships for medical interpreting are difficult to come by. I did complete one through my university program, but I had to have a sponsor from my department, as well as a sponsor from the medical facility. Fortunately at the time my university had a program set up for that at the time. From my understanding, because of HIPAA and other legal requirements in the medical field, it can be difficult to arrange for such an internship in the U.S. I will say, however, that volunteering is always a great option. If you're looking to volunteer in-person, local free & charitable clinics are a great place to check out, though you may not have structured supervision and feedback. For remote volunteering opportunities (over-the-phone and video remote interpretation), that all depends on if you're in the U.S. or not. I am aware of some volunteer medical interpreting opportunities, but I'd have to know more about what you're looking (and where you're located) to point you in the right direction. You can always reach out to me using the contact form on my website! KGHInterpretation.com

[@juanitaschoonard1860]

I have a question, I'm hoping you can help me with. I just finished my 60 hrs course for medical interpretation and I work for a private practice here in Virginia. I'm getting ready to apply for the certification written exam with CCHI, any ideas on how I can get more experience for the oral exam?

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

Juanita, practicing is your best bet. I have a bunch of videos on my channel you can practice with by yourself, but I also run a medical interpreting practice website with my partner Nanyi called InterpreMed (www.interpremed.com). We hold live consecutive, simultaneous, and sight translation practice meetings for English, Arabic, and Russian interpreters over Zoom. Remember that for the CCHI exam you'll also need to be proficient in simultaneous interpretation as well. If you go to my channel page, you can find a bunch of playlists with consecutive and simultaneous practice exercises: kzbin.info/door/hvFpXFoZojmHIIoX0jrUgw My #1 tip for the CCHI oral exam is to make absolutely sure your audio is working correctly AND know how to turn up/down the volume quickly. The Spanish audio for the simultaneous was of a different quality so I had to fiddle with the volume for a bit until I came to the conclusion the volume wasn't adjusting properly. I had to take my headphones off while the audio was blaring and interpret that way, but by then I had already missed most of the exercise! I'd also say to try and replicate the testing environment as much as possible because even if you're great at simultaneous in person, doing it with headphones over your ears so you can't hear yourself can be difficult. You can't replay the simultaneous audios so if you miss it due to technical hiccups, you have to report the issue and they'll likely get you to retake the test again another day.

[@marcobill5335]

Please what about arabic language in US , is it worth it to go with this field.

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

I know quite a few Arabic medical interpreters providing services for U.S. healthcare clients, so I imagine it is! If you'd like to learn more about the experiences of other Arabic medical interpreters, I recommend checking out professional communities for interpreters and connecting with other Arabic interpreters. They should give you a pretty good idea of what to expect. Here's a link to a page on my website with links to professional communities on Facebook: kghinterpretation.com/resources/professional-communities/ I also have this networking guide for interpreters to help them connect with other interpreters who interpret their working languages: kghinterpretation.com/resources/terminology-resources/networking-guide/

[@fabiolamiller249]

Kelly what are the name of interpreter groups can you share please I would like to join them,I subscribed to your channel too, thanks 🙏 so much for the great videos in your channel

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

Fabiola, you can find a list of the professional communities I belong to on Facebook here: kghinterpretation.com/resources/professional-communities/ I've found that medical and legal interpreters tend to hang out on Facebook, educational and conference interpreters tend to hang out on Instagram, and Reddit doesn't really have that big of an interpreting community. Twitter is mostly translators and language service providers (interpreting agencies), though there are some conference interpreters (& UN interpreters) on there as well. LinkedIn is another good option for professional networking.

[@LittleBoyOfHope]

I work as a contracted medical interpreter with agencies However, i would love to learn how to free lance.

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

Hey there! Freelance, contract/contractor, independent contractor... pretty much all the same thing, actually.

[@LittleBoyOfHope]

@@KellyGrzechHenriquez ah thats what it seemed like I hear about interpreters getting paid directly like $50/hr medically if they arent with an agency and find their own clients How does that work do you know?

[@Haithemenglish]

Can i ask what is the better courses for arabic English interrpreten

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

Haithem, many medical interpreting training courses are language neutral because they focus heavily on theory and best practices. I know there are some ArabicEN courses but I wouldn't know which ones to recommend personally. I will say asking other interpreters this question would be a great way to get the answer you're looking for. I have a list of online interpreting communities here where someone should have an answer to your question: kghinterpretation.com/resources/professional-communities/

[@Haithemenglish]

@@KellyGrzechHenriquez thank you for replying.i like interperiting specially medical one

[@ronjones9513]

Medical interpreting ESPECIALLY SPANISH is SEVERELY underpaid. As an interpreter with 12 years hospital experience DO NOT get into this minimum wage “career” lmfao

[@KellyGrzechHenriquez]

It can be for sure. I've really had to stand up for myself and my colleagues in order to be paid fairly, however it is my career and I definitely make more than minimum wage in the US.

[@ronjones9513]

@@KellyGrzechHenriquez good for you 😊 I’m happy for you.

[@jrose1999]

So you make the same as a McDonald’s employee is what you’re saying ?? Now I don’t know if I want to go into this field thanks a lot 🙄🙄🙄🙄

[@ronjones9513]

@@jrose1999 not in all cases. It’s all about finding the right place to work at but unfortunately that has not been the case for me in Arizona where every job underpays Spanish interpreters. If you wanna get into it don’t get discouraged just do your research is all I’m saying. I’ve met many interpreters who went on to be doctors and nurses. The only reason I made that comment was to enlighten people because I sure as hell wasn’t told that info when I got my certification. I wish I would’ve known before getting into it.

[@jrose1999]

@@ronjones9513 do my research. Noted I’m shocked I would assume AZ has a lot of Spanish speakers that don’t speak English. Here in New York I see a lot of good job openings that’s why I’ve even gave it a thought. At this point in my life I’m not willing to work a job where I’m not making some sizable about of income tho 😭