Naoko Ono1),Taeko Hamai2)
1)Juntendo University
2)University of Shizuoka
This paper focuses on medical interpreting, the demand for which has increased in tandem with the advancement of globalization,
and aims to examine the characteristics of the communicative competence required of medical interpreters as well as the nature of their professional expertise.
Drawing on previous studies and qualitative analyses, the findings suggest that the competencies emphasized in medical interpreting extend beyond the mere assurance of linguistic accuracy.
They are grounded in interpersonal and intercultural coordination abilities centered on “understanding” and “relationship-building.
“Medical interpreters are expected to facilitate mutual understanding by flexibly adjusting the degree of intervention according to situational demands,
while taking into account the perspectives of both patients and healthcare professionals.
Furthermore, whereas healthcare providers tend to prioritize medical knowledge and an understanding of clinical contexts,
medical interpreters themselves place greater emphasis on empathy and a sense of professional engagement with the parties involved.
This divergence indicates the necessity of fostering shared role recognition and strengthening collaborative frameworks.
Future efforts should focus on systematizing the competency framework of medical interpreters, developing clear evaluation indicators, and enhancing education and training programs.
At the same time, it is essential to institutionally position medical interpreters as integral members of interdisciplinary healthcare teams.
Naomi Morita
The University of Tokyo
This paper is a review article based on a presentation delivered at the symposium of the 4th Annual Conference of the Japan Society for Healthcare Interpreting Studies.
It reexamines the communicative practices of medical interpreters from the perspectives of professional ethics and interactional analysis.
Medical interpreting has traditionally been understood through the “conduit” model, in which interpreters are expected to accurately transmit the speaker’s utterances.
However, previous studies, ethical guidelines, and data from the author’s doctoral research suggest that interpreters are not merely language transmitters
but participants who coordinate interaction within the participation framework of physician, patient, and interpreter.
In Japanese-English interpreting, the supplementation of subjects, the selection of personal pronouns,
and the use of speech forms inevitably influence the attribution of responsibility and interpersonal distance, thereby shaping the participation structure of the interaction.
This paper revisits the ethical concepts of accuracy, neutrality, and transparency and theoretically reconsiders medical interpreting practice from the perspective of participation frameworks.
It further conceptualizes interpreter expertise as the integration of interpreting competence and metacognitive self-monitoring and discusses implications for future empirical research
and interpreter education.
Shizuyo Yoshitomi1)2)
1)Mukogawa Women's University, Faculty of Psychology and Social Welfare
2)Nonprofit organization Multilingual Center FACIL
In Japan, where medical interpreting is not yet a system, many medical interpreters work as volunteers, either paid or unpaid. These are often coordinated by non-profit organizations. As one example, we will consider the communication challenges of medical interpreters through the example of the NPO Multilingual Center FACIL, which has been running a model project for the establishment of a medical interpreting system in Hyogo Prefecture for 20 years. When coordinating the arrangements for medical interpreters who will act as intermediaries between patients and medical professionals, the coordinator's role is to first create an environment in which the medical interpreter can communicate smoothly with all the actors involved. This time, we will discuss the issues surrounding communication between medical professionals, medical interpreters, and patients, using specific examples.
Takayuki Oshimi
Office of Medical Education, School of Medicine, International University of Health and Welfare
With the increasing number of foreign patients seeking medical care, healthcare settings are confronted not only with language barriers but also with “gaps in understanding”
arising from differences in cultural background and healthcare systems.
The primary aim of healthcare interpreting is to facilitate interpreter-mediated communication by minimizing barriers related to language, culture, healthcare systems, and medical knowledge,
thereby enabling mutual understanding between healthcare providers and patients.
Drawing on established frameworks in healthcare interpreting research, this paper examines the communication competencies required of healthcare interpreters from the perspective of clinical practice.
Healthcare interpreters are generally understood to perform three interrelated roles: linguistic mediation, ensuring mutual understanding, and cultural mediation.
However, from the perspective of healthcare providers, the value of interpreter-mediated communication is ultimately assessed in terms of its contribution to the quality and safety of clinical care.
From this clinical perspective, this paper highlights three core competencies required of healthcare interpreters:
(1) accuracy and completeness in interpreting, (2) interpreting that facilitates effective clinical dialogue, and (3) cultural mediation.
These competencies support the accurate transmission of clinically relevant information, promote patient understanding and informed decision-making,
and help address potential misunderstandings arising from cultural differences.
Rather than viewing interpreters merely as linguistic conduits, healthcare providers should recognize them as active participants who facilitate interpreter-mediated clinical encounters.
Effective collaboration between healthcare providers and interpreters is therefore essential for improving the quality and safety of care in increasingly multicultural healthcare settings.
Kie Kawauchi
Aomori University of Health and Welfare
Both "communication education for healthcare providers" and "communication education for medical interpreters" represent essential skills required in clinical settings;
both can be defined as education that fosters flexible perspectives and adaptive capabilities.
However, while the foundational concepts of communication are shared between training for medical interpreters and lectures for university students aspiring to be healthcare providers,
there are distinct differences in the structure and perception of "self-versus-other" communication, as well as the specific situational awareness and expectations required on-site.
Healthcare providers must possess the ability to receive information from patients, generate clinical data, and explain it in an accessible manner.
In contrast, medical interpreters are required to reproduce and reconstruct medical information,
necessitating the ability to deliver results rooted in correct interpretation and the assurance of accurate understanding.
By highlighting the similarities and differences in learning objectives for these two groups, this discussion will clarify the concrete meanings behind the often-vague term "communication."
Furthermore, it will reconsider the conceptualization of communication specifically expected of medical interpreters
Shinobu Hattori
Suzuka University of Medical Science
According to the curriculum standards for the training of medical interpreters, the role of medical interpreters can be summarized as serving as a linguistic bridge between patients and healthcare professionals and as a bridge between different cultures in the fields of medicine and public health. Based on this understanding, the training curriculum specifies that medical interpreters should develop communicative competence in areas such as relationships and communication between patients and healthcare professionals, cultural and social differences related to health and medical communication, and the role of medical interpreters as cultural mediators. This paper, from the perspective of an educator, examines how these components are addressed in the medical interpreter training program organized by Aichi Prefecture and discusses what is expected of medical interpreters in terms of communication.
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