No matter who you are, the pandemic is likely to have left you feeling confused and uncertain. You may feel unsure when you’ll be able to return to normal life again, whether that means seeing more of your loved ones, heading back into your place of work, or leaving your local area. Now imagine if you didn’t understand the updates on the news and the advice from medical professionals. For many people around the world, this is the reality, as they have little to no access to translations in their native language.

How Australia Has Tackled the Problem

In light of the pandemic, Australia has launched a new translation and interpreting service. The country’s latest Census figures revealed that households that speak languages other than English are growing 12 times faster than those who speak English. However, the non-English speaking (NES) households were left in the dark when seeking medical advice amidst the pandemic. Australia’s Translating and Interpreting Services (TIS National) tackled this problem head-on and put in motion a video remote interpreting service for ‘telehealth’ consultations. The new video remote interpreting services allows medical professionals to book a video consultation with any NES patients, with an expert interpreter present on the call, helping them to deliver essential information about their health and Covid19. So far, the service has recruited 2,300 interpreters speaking more than 140 languages.

Video Remote Interpreting Services Are Needed Now More Than Ever

For new medical advice, and for government updates and restrictions to be effective, they all rely on one thing - a strong line of communication. Across languages, countries and cultures, everyone should have access to this crucial information that helps keep you and those around you safe. Not only are face-to-face appointments at clinics and hospitals hard to come by at the moment, but medical information online in non-English languages is often non-existent or buried deep in a website. Many sites rely on auto-page translation; this frequently provides unreliable information, and when it comes to medical advice this can have a dreadful impact. So, without face-to-face appointments and no access to medical information online, non-English speaking people are left vulnerable.

Video remote interpreting services (VRI) is one of the many ways that translation helps everyone have access to advice and updates during COVID-19, as consistent communication is key to keeping individuals and communities safe, no matter which language they speak. At Talking Heads, we offer a range of interpreting services including VRI, where one of our expert interpreters will be present on the video call and remain friendly and professional at all times. Our interpreters are well versed in working in the medical sector, meaning they will provide accurate and clear translations of medical terminology, and of course, everything is treated as confidential. We also offer trustworthy medical translations of medical records, treatment plans, and hospital letters that are translated to an impeccably high standard.

If you would like to learn more about video remote interpreting and how our professional linguists will help your patients understand medical advice, then please contact us today.