IMIA - International Medical Interpreters Association

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Educational Definitions

Definition of an interpreter educational program: a program of education for interpreters with a minimum of 40 hour duration* that trains and tests students, providing them with a certificate of successful completion.

* Health care organizations should verify the completion of, or arrange for, formal training in the techniques, ethics, and cross-cultural issues related to medical interpreting (a minimum of 40 hours is recommended by the National Council on Interpretation in Health Care). Interpreters must be assessed for their ability to convey information accurately in both languages before they are allowed to interpret in a health care setting.

http://minorityhealth.hhs.gov/assets/pdf/checked/finalreport.pdf
CLAS Standards, US Dept of Health and Human Services, pg 72

IMPORTANT DEFINITIONS:

Minority language: While "minority language" (or "languages of lesser diffusion") is a complex subject, and a term used to describe languages for which there are fewer speakers in a determined region, for survey purposes the IMIA will describe minority languages as: "Languages for which there are limited OPPORTUNITIES of language-specific medical interpreter certification, association memberships, staff positions, or language specific training" (for example, Farsi, Urdu, Tibetan, or others you may indicate in this survey).

Language-neutral training: All instruction is given in the local language. Participants may speak other languages as well but the instruction is given in the local language. Exercises do not have the benefit of language coaches in non-local languages.

Language-specific training: All or some portion of the training is given by a bilingual instructor or includes language coaches in the students' non-local language(s) for exercises and as otherwise needed.

Want to become an IMIA Accredited Training Organization? For more information go here: http://www.imiaweb.org/education/accreditationprogram.asp