Interpretation II: Bilingual Medical Terminology

This course is an extension of Level I training. This bilingual course (English/Spanish) covers both the language of medicine at the provider's level and the colloquial level for different Latin American countries. This course is very popular on the West and East coast because of the diversity of Latinos in our area.

Medicine has a language of its own. Medical language, like the language of a people, possesses a historical development. Current medical vocabulary includes terms used by Hippocrates and Aristotle 2000 years ago, like femur (Latin) and hemorrhage (Greek); eponyms, i.e. words based on the personal names of people, like Parkinson's disease; and terms from modern language, like laser (acronym for "light amplification by stimulated emission of radiation").

Latino immigrants add a unique flavor to the language of medicine. Communication with the patient and family members is essential to properly triage, assess, and diagnose medical conditions. A clear contextual understanding of the patient's cultural medical expressions by national origin will complement the medical language.

Learning Outcomes:
1. Analyze words by dividing them into component parts. Students will be introduced to the tools of word analysis that will make understanding complex terminology in both languages easier.

2. Relate the medical terms in both languages to the structure and function of the human body. A major focus of this course is to explain terms in the context of how the body works in health and disease.

3. Identify Mexican, Central American, Caribbean, and South American medical colloquialism relating to the diagnosis, pathology, and treatment of disorders. Students will be exposed to the great diversity of medical expressions within the immigrant population, which results from 500 years of European, African, and Indigenous cultural influences.

MUST BE BILINGUAL IN SPANISH & ENGLISH, WRITTEN AND SPOKEN.

NOTE: Level I, II and III courses may be taken in any order. Level IV is required before sitting for the national certification exam. .

This course meets the training requirements for both The Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters and The National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters.

Note:
All class meetings are online. Course materials are included in the cost of the class. Levels 1, 3, and 4 are non-language specific. Level 2 is language-specific (must be bilingual in English and Spanish, written and spoken). Students are encouraged to complete all four Medical Interpretation courses in sequence to build foundational knowledge and progressively develop the skills needed for professional medical interpreting.