Before sending a medical file, ask how the work will be staffed, reviewed, and handled. A written answer gives you a process to check.
Certified, and certified for what
“Certified translation” is the phrase most requests arrive with, and it does not name one document by itself. The office that will receive the file decides what it will accept. A hospital records department, an immigration officer, a court clerk and a licensing board can each want something different. Before you commission anything, ask that office:
- What do you want attached to the translation?
- Do you require the translator’s credentials named on that attachment?
- Will you accept a digital signature, or does it need wet ink?
The American Translators Association’s US guidance on certified translations distinguishes a certification statement from a translator’s professional certification. It also explains that notarization concerns the signer’s identity, rather than a quality review of the translation. Confirm the receiving office’s exact requirements before commissioning the file.
Two different jobs that get booked as one
Translation is written: records, consent forms, discharge instructions, labelling, study documents, patient-facing material.
Interpreting is spoken and live: an appointment, a call, a bedside conversation, a scheduled procedure.
The ATA explains the different skills and settings for translation and interpreting. Assess each assignment separately. One person may be qualified for both, but competence in written translation does not by itself establish competence in live interpreting.
For the service scope, see DD’s medical document translation and healthcare interpreter services pages.
What to ask a provider before you commit
These are the questions that actually separate one vendor from another. None of them is confrontational; all of them are answerable in writing.
On the people
- Who specifically will do this — what is their medical background, and how was it checked?
- Is there a second linguist reviewing, and is that review a real read or a spot check?
- For interpreting: is the interpreter told what kind of appointment it is beforehand?
On the process
- What happens when a term is ambiguous in the source? Who decides, and is the decision recorded?
- Do you keep a glossary across my documents, so the same term is rendered the same way every time?
- If we find an error after delivery, how do you correct it and who pays for that?
On the handling
The HHS HIPAA interpreter guidance distinguishes workforce interpreters from outside interpreters acting on a covered provider’s behalf. Ask the provider’s privacy owner which agreement and sharing arrangements apply before sending patient information.
- How do the files reach you, and where do they sit while the work is in progress?
- Who has access, and for how long after delivery?
- Can you work inside our systems if we require it?
A provider who answers these plainly is telling you they have a process. A provider who answers with volume claims is telling you something else.
Turnaround, honestly
Ask whether the provider can meet the deadline while keeping the agreed review. Do not assume that a rush schedule either includes or removes a second linguist’s review; have the provider state the process in writing.
For patient-facing documents, have the health system identify the required language review and clinical approval before use. The HHS Section 1557 language-access letter discusses qualified human review of machine translation in specified circumstances. A fast turnaround or certification statement does not establish clinical suitability.
Rare languages and small communities
If an interpreter knows the patient or their community, ask how confidentiality and any potential conflict of interest will be handled before the appointment. The NCIHC National Standards of Practice, published in 2005, address confidentiality and disclosure of potential conflicts. These professional standards support assignment checks; they do not prove that a particular interpreter or provider has completed them.
Dynamic Dialects works across 250+ languages and matches each request to reviewed linguists on how well they fit the work in front of them, rather than on who happens to be free.
About Dynamic Dialects
Formed on 29 April 2024, Dynamic Dialects LLC is a US-based language services company working across 250+ languages for clients including healthcare, legal, government, media, and refugee and NGO programmes. Our quality, security and translation processes are guided by ISO 9001:2015, ISO/IEC 27001:2022 and ISO 17100:2015.
Working hours: Monday–Friday, 8am–7pm ET.
If you have a set of clinical documents or an interpreting need coming up, send us the details — the file types, the language pairs, the receiving office if there is one, and the date you need it by — and we will tell you what it takes, in writing, before anything starts.