The Climate for Interpreters
The World Herald has an article highlighting the crucial role and growing need of interpreters. What I can say on this topic is that the potential is there. As an interpreter for both an interpreting agency and the public schools, I’ve seen hundreds of English-Spanish bilingual children, any one of whom could go on to study languages and become an interpreter. Groups like MTI (Medical Translation and Interpretation) of Nebraska are pressing Nebraska legislature to pass a bill requiring certification for medical interpreters. This is a positive move to ensure quality intepretation for clients and customers, since families sometimes use relatives—oftentimes sons or daughters—to interpret for them, one can expect some technical terminology to be lost.
Court certification is already in place and the test is no cake walk, so if you know any potential interpreters, get them interested now! It’s a fascinating and fulfilling career whose necessity grows daily and, transitively so, whose pool of future candidates grows at the same rate.
