A
Brief History of Interpreting
Community interpreting is the oldest form of interpreting, and must have existed
in all known human cultures for long into prehistory. Native American peoples
of course needed and valued multi-lingual community members who served as interpreters
with neighboring groups, since there were a great many languages spoken in North
America in pre-colonial times.
The
first historically recorded instance in North America
of interpreting was in 1534, when a French explorer named Jacques
Cartier kidnapped two Iroquois Indians. He took them to France
to learn French, and after eight months sent them back to the
United States to act as interpreters in exchanges between the
Iroquois and the French. The kidnapping episode if anything
highlights the fact that much interpreting done between human
cultures has had questionable ethical motives and results. In
fact, although other forms of interpreting got professionalized
earlier, it is only since the mid-1990s that community
interpreting developed as a profession, with a set of high standards
and its own Code of Ethics.
Simultaneous conference interpreting attracted attention in the
mid-1940’s with the creation of the United Nations, and legal interpreting
gained momentum in court rooms with the Nazi Nuremberg trials.
Health care interpreting has its origins in 1964
with Title
VI of the Civil Rights Act. It prohibits all health care
providers who receive federal financial assistance to discriminate
on the grounds of race, color, or national origin. This includes
language barriers as a form of discrimination.
In August 2000, the Clinton Administration issued Executive
Order 13166 which applied Title VI protections to all federal agencies. Combined
together, these rules detail the legal responsibilities of federal agencies and
health care providers who receive any federal financial assistance (hospitals,
HMOs, Medicare, Medicaid, and State Children’s Health Insurance Program).
COMMUNITY
AND HEALTH CARE INTERPRETING
Modern community and health care interpreting has a very
specific objective, which is to provide access to health care
and other services for Limited English Proficient (LEP) clients
who do not speak enough English to make themselves understood.
An interpreter helps people who are English-impaired to obtain
the services to which they are entitled under the law. This
includes everyday and emergency situations which refugees and
immigrants encounter in meetings with state and government agencies,
public assistance, employment counselors, schools, and health
care personnel of all kinds.
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