SERVICES
BLI is focused on delivering quality results through experienced linguists and professional customer service.
Language Assessment and Training Programs
- Language Proficiency Assessments
- Language Training Programs for linguists
- Language Training Programs for bilingual staff
Healthcare Services and Programs
- Medical Interpreters Assessment
- Language Training Programs for medical interpreters
- Language Training Programs for medical staff
Languages offered:
- Arabic
- Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese, and Taishanese/Toisan)
- French
- Korean
- Russian
- Spanish
- Tagalog
- Vietnamese
Language Assessment and Training Programs
Sector expertise and customer service defines our approach:
- Our experience in the Healthcare & Legal fields brings linguistic and cultural support to your organization.
- We have a clear understanding of the common obstacles faced by dealing with multiple languages and cultural differences.
- We will provide you with a dedicated Project Manager to help you implement the right solution for all your linguistic and cultural requirements.
- Our report highlights the interpreter's key strengths and areas for improvement to help the interpreter meet quality standards.
- Our coaches apply their knowledge of sectors' specific terminology. They teach interpreters and translators not only medical or legal terminology, but ethics and protocols, as well as regulations. Cultural sensitivity is an important component of our program.
If you are looking to assess or further develop skills of interpreters, translators, and bilingual staff, The Berkeley Language Institute ensures that you achieve your language requirements and goals.
Language Training Programs for Interpreters and Translators
Do you rely on your bilingual staff to provide ad hoc interpreting and translation services? Are you confident that they have command of the target language and English as well as the interpreter skills necessary to be the communication link between your clinicians and their Limited English Proficient (LEP) patients? Have they received adequate training? If you do not know the answers to these questions, we can help.
The Berkeley Language Institute provides training in interpreting and translating. Our professional, intensive courses are specifically designed for people who are required to perform on-the-job interpreting and/or translation, need to be assessed and need and/or want enhance their linguistic skills.
Our instructors are all linguists who are professional interpreters and/or translators and who have industry specific skills and experience.
Language Training Programs for Bilingual Staff
The Berkeley Language Institute staff can help you identify and assess your language needs or utilize existing data to craft and implement a Language Training Program that meets the immediate, intermediate and long term linguistic goals of your organization while keeping in mind time and budget constraints and regulatory requirements.
Language Proficiency Assessments
The Berkeley Language Institute offers oral and/or written proficiency assessments that can be adapted to your industry. You will receive a comprehensive report that may include recommendations for improvement. We can provide additional materials and training that address those areas and we will retest the candidate at a reduced rate.
Our Language Proficiency Oral Assessment helps you ensure that your staff can communicate effectively in English and other relevant languages. This assessment is ideal for your current and prospective bilingual employees. The oral assessment is conducted over the phone, in 20 to 30 minutes, and measures the following skills:
- Listening and comprehension
- Ability to convey meaning
- Syntax
- Vocabulary range
Our Language Proficiency Written Assessment helps you ensure that your staff is able to use the target language in written exchanges that focus on practical, social and professional topics. The written assessment evaluates and measures the following skills:
- Reading comprehension
- Writing skills
- Grammar
- Syntax
- Spelling
The Professional Interpreter Assessment evaluates the following skills:
- Memory
- Accuracy
- Pronunciation,
- Pace
- Ability to convey meaning
- Sight Translation
- Industry Terminology
Healthcare Services
Developing interpreting skills for Healthcare
The need for qualified medical interpreters is critical to delivering professional language services to a growing number of Limited English Proficient (LEP) patients. Medical interpreters must have training in interpreting ethics, conduct and confidentiality along with verifiable language skills.
Our Medical Interpreter Assessments evaluate a broad range of skills and are conducted by evaluators who are linguists with in-depth medical interpretation experience. The Medical Interpreter Assessments are conducted in eight different languages (see our list of languages here). We support hospitals, clinics and health care organizations in their efforts to improve the health and satisfaction of their Limited English Speaking (LEP) patients as well as their efforts to adhere to federal (Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) and state (SB 853) laws and regulations (Department of Managed Care and Joint Commission).
Medical Interpreters Assessments
The Berkeley Language Institute offers one of the most comprehensive Medical Interpreter Training and Assessment programs available in the Healthcare field. Our institute provides training and assessment for medical interpreters, hospital staff interpreters, bilingual staff, and other healthcare professionals who need and want to enhance their medical knowledge and interpreting skills.
The Medical Interpreter Assessment defines and evaluates interpreting aptitude and skills, in the following areas, utilizing role play methodology:
- Memory
- Accuracy
- Pronunciation
- Pace
- Ability to convey meaning
- Sight Translation
- Medical Terminology
The 30 minute interpreter assessment is conducted via telephone, and is accompanied by a detailed evaluation report delivered within two business days. A certificate is provided upon successful completion of the evaluation.
Our teams of Evaluators are professional, native speakers of the target language and possess the in-depth industry-specific background needed to ensure that your bilingual staff and interpreters clearly understand and communicate the needs of your multicultural patients.
Language Training Programs for Medical Interpreters
Our institute provides professional training for healthcare interpreters, bilingual staff, and other healthcare professional looking to enhance their knowledge and medical interpretation skills, as well as their cultural competency. Ethics and protocols in a Healthcare setting are part of the training.
The training is offered at the client's premises by our coaches, who are all professional interpreters with extensive experience in medical interpreting. Our instructors have years of experience providing language services to prestigious medical institutions such as the University of California San Francisco, Stanford University, Kaiser Permanente, and also at countless private practices throughout the United States.
After an initial evaluation of the healthcare interpreters, a program is designed to meet the interpreters' needs. It includes: role-playing, medical terminology, pacing, protocols, memory exercises, sight translation, and cultural competency. A certificate of completion is given to interpreters who have completed the training and have met the requirements.
Training Courses for Medical Staff and Healthcare Interpreters
Training is offered on-site or through video conferencing depending on the modules chosen.
A certificate of completion will be provided upon completion of each course.
ON-SITE TRAINING
Introduction to healthcare interpreting (4 hours)
A. General skills for healthcare interpreters
B. Roles of the interpreter
C. How to improve interpreting skills
Protocols and ethical principles (4 hours)
A. Pre-session
B. Session: 1st person voice, managing flow, positioning
C. Post-session
D. Ethical Principles
1. Completeness and Accuracy
2. Impartiality
3. Confidentiality
4. Respect for individuals and their communities
5. Cultural responsiveness
6. Professionalism and integrity
How to improve interpreting skills (3 hours)
1. Memory skills
2. Note taking
3. Sight translation
4. Asking for clarification
5. Cultural clarification
6. Role-Plays:
- Diabetes
- E.R
- Pre-natal care
- Psychiatry
Cultural sensitivity and the role of the interpreter (3 hours)
E. Culture in the medical encounter
F. Cultural beliefs and practices
G. Cultural clarifier role
H. Role Plays / Scenarios