Conflicts In Medical Interpreters' Role Performance

Medical interpreters discussed in this paper are latecomers in the profession of interpreters. This paper aims to give some ideas to the future medical interpreters on what it is like to work under the medical settings through analyzing the difficulties and obstacles facing the profession. Hopefully, when the demand for medical interpreters becomes real and substantial, we can contribute to avoiding being caught unprepared in the field of medical interpreting. At the same time, the author of this paper tries to give her own suggestions on how to develop a healthy and smooth profession of medical interpreting in China by drawing upon the successful cases in other countries.In Chapter One, a general picture of medical interpreting is presented, briefly introducing the definition of medical interpreting and the impact of medical interpreting on the quality of health care; at the same time, it introduces the work a medical interpreter is involved and the current situations of medical interpreting in some major western and eastern countries.In Chapter Two, the author first describes the traditional theory of medical interpreter's role, which should be a conduit. A conduit's responsibility is to interpret what two parties said verbatim, without deletion or addition. It is because of this theory that medical interpreters would feel conflicts in the real work of medical interpreting. This paper examines the sources of conflicts in medical interpreter's role performances and suggests strategies for resolving these conflicts, which justify interpreters'roles by identifying the source, redefining the relationships and identities of the doctor and the patient, and adopting specific communicative strategies. It highlights the importance of speaker and contextual factors on interpreter's communicative strategies, and points out that medical interpreters should not be limited to the role of conduit.Because of the importance of medical interpreters for the quality of health care, in Chapter Three, the author first lists the qualities a good medical interpreter should have; and then expounds how to be a competent medical interpreter. In addition to the basicbilingual proficiency and a good mastery of interpreting skills, a medical interpreter should be familiar with cultural differences between two countries, especially the cultural differences in the field of health care. Before medical interpreting, a good interpreter should be well prepared, including pre-session, in-session, and post-session preparations. At last, taking into consideration that China is in the preliminary stage of medical interpreting, the author suggests that a hospital-affiliated department should be established to supervise and monitor the issuing of medical interpreters'certification drawing upon the practices of other countries.The author hopes that this paper will give the reader a whole picture of medical interpreting and at same time, some strategies to solve the problems in the real practices of medical interpreting. it is the author's hope that more and more people would be interested in medical interpreting and join this new and rewarding profession.