Spanish Medical Interpreting Program

A career as a healthcare interpreter

There is much more to being a certified healthcare interpreter than you would think! 

¿Hablas español? Do you want to build on your bilingual skills and work with the Latino community in the healthcare field? The Spanish Medical Interpreter certificate at CBC may be for you! Our program prepares you to enter the rewarding, flexible, and well-compensated career of healthcare interpreting. Interpreters are fueled by a passion to help members of the Spanish-speaking community to access quality health care services.  
 
This 30-credit certificate begins in fall and includes six courses. You can choose to complete the certificate in one year or two. To be accepted into the program, you must have native-like oral proficiency in both English and Spanish and pass an entrance test. 

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About the Program

The Spanish Medical Interpreting program is a six-course certificate designed to give you the knowledge, skills, and real-world experience that you need to confidently enter the interpreting profession and pass a national certification exam in the process. With our flexible programming you can complete this certificate in one or two years, depending on how many credits you take per quarter. 
 
Our programming combines classroom lecture and skill-building activities with clinical service learning tailored to your abilities as you progress through the program. In addition to the skills of interpreting, you will learn the protocols, standards of practice, and ethics of interpreting. Students will develop knowledge of bilingual medical terminology, human body systems, and understand how care is delivered in U.S. health systems. Students will learn how to support effective communication across cultures, while helping healthcare providers and limited-English proficient (LEP) individuals to work towards equitable health outcomes. 
 
Students who successfully complete this certificate and obtain national certification can begin working in a variety of community healthcare settings. This includes work in community clinics, public health events, and hospitals as a freelance or staff interpreter. Program graduates will also be qualified to work as telephonic or video remote interpreters through local or national service providers, giving occupational opportunities that are as flexible, or stable, as each graduate desires.  
 
Associate of Science in Health Science 
Students that complete the six courses in the certificate plus an additional 15 credits (total of 45 credits) from the list of approved courses will receive an AS degree with an emphasis (concentration) in Spanish Medical Interpreting. Check out this page for more info.  

Clinical Requirements

In addition to the class lectures, some of the courses in the program have clinical requirements. These hours include a minimum number of shifts, which are performed at various healthcare clinics located throughout the Tri-Cities. Shifts are available during the week and on Saturdays.

What are the Benefits of the Program?

  • During the program you will learn relevant bilingual medical terminology, along with definitions of important terms and concepts. 
  • You will learn about national interpreter protocols, ethics, and standards of practice.  
  • There will be plenty of guided in-class interpreting practice, plus a chance to practice everything you learn in class with patients and healthcare providers during the courses with clinical hours.  
  • You will be prepared for taking the national written and oral interpreting exams and guided through the application and testing process. 
  • Lastly, we will have guest speaker events to meet industry professionals and program alumni. 

Program Sequence

You can choose a course sequence that takes place over 3 quarters (10 credits per quarter) or 6 quarters (5 credits per quarter).

If you take 10 credits per quarter, the sequence will be:

Fall 
  • INTP 101 Introduction to the Interpreting Profession (5 credits)
  • INTP 102 Medical Terminology for Interpreters I (5 credits)
Winter
  • INTP 103 Consecutive Interpreting I (5 credits)
  • INTP 104 Modes of Interpreting (5 credits)
Spring
  • INTP 201 Medical Terminology for Interpreters II (5 credits)
  • INTP 202 Consecutive Interpreting II (5 credits)
If you take 5 credits per quarter, the sequence will be:

Fall Y1
  • INTP 101 Introduction to the Interpreting Profession (5 credits)
Winter Y1
  • INTP 102 Medical Terminology for Interpreters I (5 credits)
Spring Y1  
  • INTP 103 Consecutive Interpreting I (5 credits)
Fall Y2
  • INTP 104 Modes of Interpreting (5 credits)
Winter Y2
  • INTP 201 Medical Terminology for Interpreters II (5 credits)
Spring Y2
  • INTP 202 Consecutive Interpreting II (5 credits)

Recommended Prerequisites or Corequisites

There are no required prerequisite courses for the Spanish Medical Interpreting Program. For students who wish to improve their Spanish language proficiency, we recommend any of the Spanish for Spanish Speakers courses.  
 
 
  • SPAN 205 Spanish for Spanish Speakers (5 credits) 
  • SPAN 206 Spanish for Spanish Speakers (5 credits) 
  • SPAN 207 Spanish for Spanish Speakers (5 credits) 

Information Sessions

If you would like more information about our program, please attend one of our frequent Informational Sessions. During the session, questions will be answered by the Program Faculty and a Completion Coach. Anyone interested in a career as a healthcare interpreter should attend. These sessions are free and open to the public. Check out the dates for upcoming sessions and register via our CBC calendar.

Washington State Credentialing

A medical interpreting certification is required for medical interpreters in Washington State. The Washington State Department of Health and Social Services (WA DSHS) grants medical interpreting certifications to candidates who have passed either the CoreCHI or Hub-CMI exam, which are considered national exams. Each of these tests costs about $200.  WA DSHS no longer offers its own certification exam for medical interpreting.

The two organizations that offer national exams have the following requirements to become a candidate and take the exam:

  • Be at least 18 years old
  • Have completed at least 40 hours of interpreter training
  • Show proof of proficiency in English and Spanish. Sometimes this means taking a separate language proficiency assessment.

Candidates who pass this test may submit their results to WA DSHS and request a medical interpreter certification. There is no cost to obtain this certification. WA DSHS will also require:

  • A signed code of conduct
  • A Background check
  • Complete the New Interpreter Orientation

These requirements may occasionally change. For more information, visit the WA DSHS Language Testing and Certification Program website.

Professional Licensure Outside of Washington State

Each state, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. protectorates vary in what professions they require to be licensed and the educational requirements for those licenses. It’s important to understand whether the degree or certificate you obtain from CBC will meet the educational eligibility requirements for a license in the state in which you plan to practice. 

View educational licensure requirement by state.

 

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Application Process

Spanish medical interpreters work with languages, interpreting what the healthcare providers say in English, into Spanish, and what the Spanish-speaking patient says, into English. For this reason, healthcare interpreters need to have strong listening and speaking skills in both English and Spanish and be able to understand a wide variety of accents and regional variations. Applicants to the program should be able to speak and understand both languages at the Advanced-Mid level. To make sure you are ready to be successful in our program, you must show us that your language skills are strong enough, by passing an entrance test. 

Get Started with SMIP!

To apply to SMIP, you will first need to visit the Get Started with SMIP Canvas class. This class will walk you through the application process, the entrance test, and also provide detailed information about funding and application deadlines.

This canvas class also has a mini-entrance test that will let you experience the format and questions that the real entrance test uses!

Testing Dates

Dates will vary per calendar year. This year’s dates are listed in the “Get Started with SMIP!” Canvas Class. 
Testing is generally open between April and September. 
To be accepted into the program each fall quarter, you must schedule an entrance test during this window. 

Program Acceptance

Students are accepted into the program based on the score achieved in the entrance test. Please be patient as it may take several weeks to grade the tests. You will be notified of the entrance test results via the email address you provide on the application form. Accepted students will receive an email outlining the next steps to start the program such as applying to become a CBC student and course registration. 

If you do not pass the entrance test, the evaluators will specify if you should improve your English or Spanish proficiency. We encourage you to check-out our suggestions for improving language proficiency, take classes if you can, and to apply again the following year.

What can I do to prepare for the entrance test and to be successful in the program?

You do not need to study medical terminology in particular, as this will be taught during the program. We do not have any specific materials to study for the entrance test, however, here are some suggestions to improve your language proficiencies: 

Read every day.
  • Make reading in Spanish and English a part of your everyday routine. Read to yourself out loud to add in pronunciation practice.
  • If you have a library card, you can download eBooks and audiobooks straight to your phone or tablet with the Libby app! Check out their Spanish-language collection here.
  • Make lists of new vocabulary terms that you read, and try to work them into conversation. When you write down a new word, you’re more likely to remember it. 
Listen to audiobooks, podcasts, radio or TV in Spanish and English.
  • The Podcast Project has free Spanish-proficiency exercises based on Spanish-language podcasts. 
  • Seek out content from different countries and about different topics. The Radio Ambulante Podcast covers a broad range of topics, and also has written transcripts available in English and Spanish.
  • Try to retell the stories or events, paraphrasing or summarizing what you’ve heard. Give your opinion about it. For example, do you agree or disagree with what happened? Why? 
Get used to speaking in Spanish in all types of situations.
  • Can you tell stories using the past, present and future tense? Practice your storytelling using these visual (picture) prompts.
  • Practice telling stories in the past tense, making sure to use the preterite and imperfect tenses in the correct way in Spanish. You can look up lessons like this one to put you on the right track. 
  • Do you find yourself switching between languages when you run into a word you don’t know? Notice the gaps in your vocabulary. Jot them down and look them up or ask a native speaker how they would say it.
  • Instead of filling in the gap with an English or Spanglish word, try to find a creative way to “speak around” the gap and still get your idea across.  
Use digital resources.
  • Start using Google and online bilingual dictionaries like WordReference to explore vocabulary.
  • Enable the Spanish dictionary and spell check on your phone and computer. Use the dictionary function of your phone to define words you are not familiar with. 
Be prepared for lifelong learning and be patient.
  • Bringing your language skills up to the level required of a professional interpreter is not a task that can be accomplished quickly. By engaging deliberately with written and spoken language every day, you will definitely be able to improve your skills over time! 

 

Program Learning Outcomes for Spanish Medical Interpreting

Program learning outcomes are the knowledge, skills, and abilities that students will achieve before they graduate. The outcomes below were developed by the faculty in Spanish Medical Interpreting with input from accrediting bodies, advisory committees, employers, etc. This collaboration ensures that the outcomes are relevant for careers that this certificate leads to.

Student who graduate with a Spanish Medical Interpreting Certificate will be able to:

  1. Describe the human body, its systems, and related medical concepts.
  2. Explain and relate the frameworks of the U.S. healthcare system and the interpreting profession.
  3. Apply professional standards of healthcare interpreting.
  4. Understand and express spoken language (English and Spanish) as used in healthcare settings.
  5. Analyze healthcare interactions and make decisions to promote intercultural communication.
  6. Interpret between English and Spanish in entry-level healthcare settings.
former student Itzel Ramirez

Spanish Medical Interpreter Program

“When I first started the Spanish Medical Interpreter Program, I had no idea I'd have the opportunity to serve and volunteer in our community. The shifts at both Grace Clinic and the CBC Dental Hygiene Clinic have given me not only an insight into what the interpreting field really is, but a sense of confidence as well.”

— Itzel Ramirez SMIP Graduate 2018-2019

What does being "certified" mean?

A certified interpreter is a professional interpreter who has proven themselves to be competent by an accredited professional organization or government entity through rigorous testing based on appropriate and consistent criteria that have been used in developing valid and reliable tests.

Interpreters who have had limited training or have taken a screening test administered by an employing health, interpreter or referral agency are not considered certified. Someone who possesses a "Certificate of Attendance" or a "Certificate of Completion" from a training program is not considered to be certified. The CBC certificate in Spanish Medical Interpreting is not a substitute for national certification.

Careers

SMIP students

A medical or healthcare interpreter is a bilingual or a multilingual person who is professionally qualified to interpret in clinical settings. A medical interpreter can work in healthcare settings of any kind, including: 

  • doctor’s offices 
  • clinics (e.g. medical specialties, rehabilitation clinics) 
  • hospitals (all departments such as the ER, the NICU, diagnostic imaging, labor and
  • delivery, before, during and after surgery) 
  • home health visits
  • mental health clinics
  • public health presentations

Generally, the setting is an interview between a healthcare provider (doctor, nurse, lab technician) and a patient (or the patient and one or more family members). 

 

Career Outlook

The demand for professional interpreters has increased worldwide and the local language services industry is also growing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that “the employment of interpreters and translators is projected to grow 24 percent from 2020 to 2030, much faster than the average for all occupations. About 10,400 openings for interpreters and translators are projected each year, on average, over the decade.”

Can I make a living as an interpreter?

The language industry is booming and evolving fast, on a global and local scale. Certified healthcare interpreters are needed in virtually every healthcare facility, with Spanish being the most in-demand language. 

What kinds of employers hire interpreters?

Translation and interpretation agencies, also called language service providers (LSPs), hire freelance interpreters to provide language services across multiple languages and locations. The interpreting appointments can be held in-person, via video or telephone. If you want to work as a freelance interpreter, you will sign up with either one or more agencies. Working as a freelance interpreter offers flexible work hours.

Healthcare facilities (such as clinics, hospitals etc.) hire in-house and per-diem interpreters to provide on-site interpreting, combined with remote interpreting services across multiple languages.

What is the difference between a translator and an interpreter?

The field of healthcare interpretation is still a young profession, and as a result, there is sometimes confusion about its basic aspects. Even though we often hear these two terms used interchangeably, the fields of translation and interpretation are actually different professions, each requiring specialized training, skills and certifications.  
 
Each profession focuses on a different mode of communication. A translator renders the written word from one language to another. An interpreter renders the spoken or signed word from one language to another. Many language professionals work as both interpreters and translators, while others focus on only one.

     

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image of interpreter with doctor and patient