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This Manual is a unique book. Descriptive rather than prescriptive,
it is based on daily life reality instead of situations created
in a vacuum. It has been created due to the growing need to train
interpreters in the extremely important field of health services.
It is written by an interpreter and for interpreters and people
interested in serving others through the use of languages. In
it, two different sets of culture come into contact: that of the
English-speaking health provider and that of the native speaker
of Spanish whose functioning in English is still limited or nonexistent.
This Manual is based on the author's experience, which spans for
over three decades of interpreting work in the medical, legal,
socio-economic and diplomatic fields and a similar amount of time
dedicated to teaching and training.
The contents of this book reflect health-provider / patient encounters
and situations that arise due to the use of different languages
by each participant. Comments, discussions and exercises in this
Manual are geared to honing interpreting skills and to help each
participant in the interpreter's mediated medical encounter understand
each other better. Ultimately, interpreting amounts to just that:
mediating between two or more cultures and building bridges between
them!
 Eduardo
González-Muñiz was born in Cuba, where he obtained
his Bachelor-Master's Degree in Translation-Interpretation and
Literature at the University of Havana. He completed his Doctorate
in Education in Moscow, Russia. In the U.S. he became a Certified
Federal Court Interpreter. He has lived and worked in several
countries in the Caribbean, Central and South America, and has
served as an Interpreter-Translator in settings such as national
and international conferences, hospitals, international medical
brigades, courts and embassies. He was recently chosen as a Fulbright
Senior Specialist and has written numerous articles, a dictionary,
a book of chronicles and an Exercise Manual for the Training of
Community Translators and Interpreters. He has been an educator
since 1970.
"This manual will be a useful tool for bilinguals
who need practical exercises to hone their interpreting skills.
They will be able to enhance their medical vocabulary and their
understanding of the two cultures that intersect in the U.S. healthcare
field today: that of the American medical professionals and that
of monolingual Spanish-speaking patients."
Holly Mikkelson
Certified Federal Interpreter, Accredited Translator, Monterrey
Institute
Adjunct Professor; Author of numerous national and international
texts on Translation-Interpretation
"Professor González's manual is a timely, reader-friendly,
and important aid for providers and interpreters who "want
it right." Spanish expressions that have no direct English
translation, Hispanic customs or beliefs that have no true American
counterpart, idiomatic or colloquial speech, the different protocols
for interpretation in hospitals or doctor's offices -these are
the subjects of this manual. It is informed by Dr. González's
own rich experience and considerable linguistic abilities. Any
interpreter would benefit from it; and so, therefore, would the
patients and health care providers for whom they interpret. If
I were a medical doctor, I would keep one handy in my office."
Dr. Charles A. Peek
Professor, Martin Chair of English; Fulbright Senior Specialist
University of Nebraska at Kearney
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About
this book