Week 1 – Discussion Board 1

[Art Liebl]

In 250 words talk about yourself. Where do you live? What languages do you speak? Why have you decided to become an interpreter? Reply to 2 other students by Monday night.

[Estevao Rosacruz]

Hello there, my name is Estevão Rosacruz, but you can call me Stephen. I’m 25 and live in a countryside city in a southern state here in Brazil with my wife, Bella, who is pregnant with our second son, Magnus, and our 8-month-old son, Baldur. I was born here in Brazil but moved to the USA as a teenager, where I lived in Texas for 7 years and mastered the English language. I also learned a fair amount of Spanish while working as an auto-painter with a lot of Mexican immigrants, and it was a language that came to me very naturally because it’s very similar to my mother tongue, Portuguese, but I am in no way a fluent speaker, at least not yet.

When I started a family, my main goal is to be as present as I can in all of their lives while still being able to provide for them as best as I can. Since I always had a passion for the English language, something I inherited from my father, I decided to focus my career on translation and, most recently, interpretation. Speaking of my father, he is also a translator, and I look up to him a lot since he was always working at home and could spend a lot of time with us, which, as I said, is something I intend to do with my own family.

It was quite a discovery for me that I could use my language skills to actually help someone in the medical area, something I’ve seen closely that is very necessary when there’s a language barrier between the professional and the patient. So, I’m very excited to learn as much as possible here in this course. I look forward to getting to know all of you and learning together.

[Carlos Martinez]

My name is Carlos Arturo Martinez Gonzales from Mexico so i decided to start this medical interpreter program because i think his is an important job here in the medical field i been in situations of surgeries during this past 3 years and i been seeing how difficult is for the patients that doesn’t speak English to communicate with the doctors and the nurses its really overwhelming be in a situation that this people that comes to the hospital cant be understanding by the hospital workers at the hospitals really need a lot of help feel so sad sometimes to hear my relatives and friends that work an the medical field that they need help to attend people that doesn’t speak their language.

[Shivangi Patel]

I can feel you. It is so difficult and such a pain to make others understand your body language and signs especially when you have medical procedures and surgery done and when you actually need help and no one is around. Medications and procedures which needs timely follow ups, time management should be applicable during emergent situation and easy communication

[Estevao Rosacruz]

Hey Carlos, I totally get where you’re coming from. It’s rough seeing folks struggle in medical situations, especially when they can’t communicate with the hospital staff. Making healthcare more accessible for everyone, regardless of language, is such a game-changer, something I hope all of us here can do with excellency after completing this course

[Art Liebl]

Welcome to week 1! This first week is to get you used to the online platform and for you to get to know each other!

Your instructor for this week is Art Liebl. Please feel to connect to me through my email, or the button, “Contact Instructor” with any issues you may encounter this week.

Here are your assignments for the week:

1. Weekly Reading: Read chapter 1 from the manual. Please translate any and all terminology in the chapter- translating English terminology into your target language.

2. Discussion Board Topics: From the dashboard, scroll down to Week 1 – Posting #1 and posting #2. Please respond to the initial question from the instructor. During the week, bounce off other students’ comments, or the instructor’s comments. By the end of the week, you should have an initial posting and 2 other postings based on other students or the instructor.

3. Weekly Quiz: Take the first quiz- week one. It is auto graded

4. No written assignment

Instructor: Art Liebl
Instructor email: aliebl@interpretersassociates.com

Week starts: December 19
Week ends: December 24

If you have any technical problems or questions: aliebl@interpretersassociates.com

[Carlos Martinez]

Already read the chapter 1 and did all the translation of the terminology.

[Art Liebl]

I extend a hearty welcome to you all! I am very excited to be here with you this very first week of class; I am sure you will enjoy your ten weeks with us here! It will be both an intense and yet enjoyable experience. So buckle up and enjoy your time with us. During the course you will be introduced to medical interpreters who have over 10 years experience, as well as medical physicians who are both physicians and interpreters. So…..take advantage of this time with them. Ask them whatever comes to mind, clear up your doubts if you have any.

I started interpreting and translating when I moved to Brazil in 1995 working in the graphics arts field/business field. I grew to have such a passion for communication that when I came back to the USA I stopped my work as a graphic arts technician (working on huge rotary presses) and moved into the translation and interpreting field. I achieved my medical interpreter certificate back in 2002. To be honest I was not very good at medical interpreting as I had a lot of unclear ideas as to anatomy and current medical science. But, with perseverance I can honestly say that I have learned tons and today feel comfortable in any and all medical setting. You will no doubt pass through the same experience, so, be patient with yourself; you are at the start of a marvelous career!

Good studies to you!

[Carlos Martinez]

Thanks For this great opportunity i look forward to complete this interpreter certificate to start helping people that need me out there so much that we need to do in this country.

[Shivangi Patel]

Hello Art Liebl,
Good to see you here after having so many conversations over the phone. I love your autobiography and your descendance across the country in this sector and now as our moderator.
Thank you for this program and all your help

[Carolina Swanstrom]

Hi Art, thanks for the help so far and I’m excited to learn from you and all the other experienced instructors and coaches.

[Alexandra Cumplido]

Hola everyone! Welcome to week 1 of a new exciting career ahead of you! My name is Alexandra and I will be your instructor for the majority of the course. A little history on me, I became an interpreter with Interpreter Associates back in 2012. At the time I went to the in-person class, I live in RI and would take the train up to Boston every Saturday for a few months. Meanwhile I was also in college earning my Bachelors in Science in medical imaging. After completing the course I went on to work as a hospital interpreter and took my national board exam to become a Spanish Certified Medical Interpreter (CMI) with the IMIA [ you will learn about them in the course] in 2015. For the past 11 years I have worked in hospital settings, out-patient settings, over-the-phone setting and now as an online instructor. All while also putting my skills into practice with my own patients in the Mammography field. Becoming an interpreter has been life changing for me and the fact that I can take this skill with me anywhere and have it be validated by a reputable program has given me many opportunities. I am so excited to be your guide through this course. It is an intense course nonetheless but I am very accessible so please don’t hesitate to reach out as I want you all to succeed! Use the break to look over the manual and get familiarized with it and the online web page. Happy Holidays!!

[Carolina Swanstrom]

Hi Alexandra, looking forward to this course to learn from your years of knowledge.

[Shivangi Patel]

Hello my name is shivangi patel. Currently residing in nashua,NH. I speak Gujarati and Hindi languages. I work as a medical assistant at the medical center and I did my pre medicaL school next I am going to apply for masters program but in meantime I thought to apply for a medical interpreter since in my practice I see many people across the nations who have immmigrated to United States, some of them who do not speak English this service would be very useful for them for faster pace and ease for communication between people. Specially medical terminologies are quiet some difficult so people sometimes hesitate or do not feel comfortable and they have to be dependent on other family members to come along for translation but after medical interpreter services being available to almost all the hospital facilities and clinincs; people find it easy and less cumbersome to get help and understand on what is going on. This is a btter idea instead of using a cellphone and google translating since manay people do not use phones. I feel this is a very short course and with this license you can practise as a medical interpreter in less than 2 months, that is something very short and you are getting a very useful certificate which has a good demand and high pay scale during visits. So I think this is a worth investment doing this program and I also feel great and proud working in heakthcare sector like this where I can help the needy and also I can work remotely whenever urgent. I am doing this program in Gujarati language and I also know proper written and spoken Gujarati so its definitely worth helping others who needs this language help.

[Estevao Rosacruz]

Hey Shivangi, it’s awesome how you’re already making a difference in healthcare. Your plan to become a interpreter in Gujarati sounds fantastic. It’s clear you’ve got a big heart for helping others, especially those who might struggle with English in medical situations, something that I feel all of us here in this course can relate. Best of luck!

[Saika Pierre]

Hi Shivangi, I agree with your sentiment that this program is worth the investment. It will indeed be very rewarding as we are opening ourselves up to more opportunities (high pay scale, meeting new people) and helping others as well!

[Hellen Grajeda]

Hello Shivangi,

I agree that medical terminology is difficult because it’s never ending! I was always so uncomfortable interpreting as a child because I had no idea what a lot of the medical terms where. I also agree that becoming a medical interpreter is a great investment because the opportunities are endless.

[Carolina Swanstrom]

Hello everyone, my name is Carolina. I’m 29 and I live in New Hampshire with my husband and my cat. Born and raised in Mexico, when I was 23 and fresh out of college, I decided to move for a couple months to Boston to practice my English with the EF program, I couldn’t let go how beautiful New England was during summer and fall so I decided to stay longer and shortly after I met my now husband which made it easier to stay.

Growing up living close to the Arizona border in Mexico is common to learning English as soon as you start school, so it’s a language that I was always familiar with and time makes you realize what a wonderful tool it is to be bilingual, not only for your own advantage but to help other people too.

The main reason that I decided to go for this career path is that I get to use my skills to help patients and families to make sure their voice is heard. I have a friend that is a medical interpreter that inspired me to finally apply and she had nothing but good things to say about her job which makes me excited to meet people, grow professionally in this field and see where this is going to take me. Hope to get to know everyone and best of luck.

[Saika Pierre]

Hi Carolina! I agree with your statement; being bilingual is a great tool that benefits us and others around us! I know this will be a very rewarding experience for us all. Best of luck!

[Hellen Grajeda]

Hola Carolina!! I agree that it’s great being bilingual because you can be helpful to so many! I also agree that it’s important for help patients and families to have their voices heard and that is where we would come into place. I’m looking forward completing this course and starting my journey with helping patients.

[Saika Pierre]

Hi everyone! My name is Saika Pierre, and I’m a 23-year-old residing in Bridgewater, MA. I am originally from Haiti, and my first language is Haitian Creole. I moved to Massachusetts eleven years ago.

In my junior and senior years of high school, I took a Medical Interpretation course, which taught me the fundamentals and ethics of medical interpretation. This decision sprang from my desire to contribute to the medical field, leveraging my fluency in English and Haitian Creole to assist patients in need and have their voices heard.

I am currently serving as a Community Health Worker at Mass General Hospital; I advocate for and connect patients to care, community resources, and social services. I work particularly with the Haitian population. I’m very excited about the opportunity to become an interpreter. I am driven by my passion for addressing health disparities within marginalized communities and striving for health equity; I firmly believe in the importance of culturally competent healthcare.

I aspire to be a public health professional, and my overarching objective is to champion healthcare accessibility for all, transcending linguistic and cultural barriers to achieve lasting health equity. I have chosen to become a medical interpreter as it will allow me to actively contribute to breaking down communication barriers in the healthcare system. This role will empower me to play a vital part in ensuring that every individual, regardless of their background, receives the quality care they rightfully deserve. I look forward to learning with you all!

[Hellen Grajeda]

Oh hello everyone! My name is Hellen, I just turned 30, and I currently live in Providence, RI but grew up in my beautiful country of Guatemala where I only spoke Spanish. I moved to Rhode Island in 2015 and I’m still currently adjusting with how different this country is compared to mine.

When I was younger, I noticed the importance of having access to an interpreter because I myself, experienced the frustration/confusion of not being able to understand what was being consulted when it came to medical visits. Being able to communicate with an interpreter was a breath of fresh air and a major relief because I felt more re assured with the information that was being shared with me. By having an interpreter, I was able to discuss and effectively communicate with my provider. Due to my own personal experiences and also interpreting for my parents growing up I’ve been intrigued into potentially becoming an interpreter. I came across with this opportunity of joining this online course and with very little consideration I completely hopped to it!

I sincerely am looking forward into expanding my vocabulary because I’ve always felt so limited when it came to interpreting. My overall goal is to be able to interpret in a wide variety of settings, so that I can be exposed in different fields and strengthen my vocabulary. I would like to feel confident when communicating in a different language because I would like patients to trust the information that I am provided them. At the end of the day, I would like to always provide the best patient care, and I know that the best care for an only Spanish speaking patient, is giving them the accessibility of communicating in their primary language.

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