The aim of this proposal is to discuss medical interpreting in America. Translation studies develop each day. Holmes in his famous paper “The Name and Nature of Translation Studies” showed that all forms of translation are included in what is called “Translation Studies”. Due to this, interpreting is part of translation studies. Although, interpreting is an old practice, much more research has to be done in order to fulfill the gap and to expand the area, which is much smaller than translation.
Although important, the great majority of interpreting studies focus on “conference interpreting” (Gile, 1995; Baker, 1997; Cronin, 2002). To discuss interactions in medical interpreting, we interviewed professionals working as interpreters in medical scenarios; they were asked about their expectancies and roles. Findings will lead to an informed view of the profession that is almost inexistent in some countries in Latin America. Following Polasek (2013:4) ideas that “medical Interpreting is a specialized field that requires years of training and continuous learning”, we long for developing an educational material to help interpreters and their clients to succeed in communication.
Patrícia Gimenez Camargo is currently working on her PhD dissertation from the University of São Paulo (USP) in Translation Studies, having completed a Masters in Linguistics- Discourse Analysis and Interpreting. She currently teaches and directs the Translation and Interpreting Department at Universidade Nove de Julho in São Paulo/Brazil. Her major research interest is medical Interpreting. Her wider interests also include teaching interpreters and community interpreting.