How Interpreting Impacts Customer and Patient Experience

welocalize August 1, 2020
When most people think of interpreting, they tend to think of rows of people wearing headphones, sat in booths, translating high level discussions for the United Nations. That’s an accurate image but there are other, often life saving, areas where interpreting plays a key role for organizations in the life sciences and legal industries.

Although many of us sit behind keyboards and devices to communicate, especially in the current social distancing climate, a lot of critical communication and brand experience is still established and achieved through the spoken word. Many cultures and customers value the ability to be able to express themselves verbally, and more importantly, be listened to. It’s a vital part of establishing a long-term relationship, whether business or personal.

Interpreting During a Crisis

Not everyone absorbs information in the same way. Content should be available in as many formats as possible, recognizing that pictorial, audio, and video content is easier to access and absorb for many people. Interpreting is critical in a pandemic, medical setting, and legal environment.

COVID-19 has triggered a global response by governments, aid agencies, and health workers. The pandemic is fueled by what the WHO calls an “infodemic.” According to Translators without Borders, people aren’t getting enough reliable, accurate and timely information that they can understand and use to best protect themselves. In a medical or legal setting, everyone needs (and deserves) reliable information in a language and a format they understand.

Let’s help those on the frontlines like Translators without Borders who are working with World Health Organization to provide reliable information available in as many languages as possible. Please donate, volunteer, and spotlight… Click To Tweet

Increased Demand for OPI

In the past, many interpreters and clients have been resistant to fully embracing remote interpreting, seeing on-site as the only option. As the world has been forced to do things differently, demand for remote work will increase. We need to approach remote interpreting in an organized manner. It’s not an easy step to go from on-site to remote. It requires new skills and a shift in mindset from interpreters, clients, and service providers.

Many people in the clinical and legal setting have turned to remote interpreting, especially over-the-phone-interpreting (OPI), to communicate with their customers, consumers, and patients.

When you call a customer support or medical helpline or interact with an interpreter over a video platform, you need to be able to explain your query or problem and be understood. Real-time telephone interaction is powerful and can have a significant impact on patient safety, brand loyalty, and more. Good OPI or VRI can deliver a truly positive experience, but it can be quite complex and challenging as many interpreting scenarios require very high levels of quality and accuracy, especially in regulated sectors such as legal and life sciences. Communication errors can potentially cause serious, even fatal consequences.

Welocalize’s Medical Interpreting Expertise

With changing requirements around multilingual, global support, Welocalize provides a range of remote interpreting services to adapt to new ways of working.

“We’re here to bring the right spoken translation talent to clients in a range of industries, whether it’s for pharmaceutical drug briefings, patient communication, legal depositions, or virtual team meetings. Welocalize invests in training programs for our network of remote interpreters, educating them on the latest tools to deliver world-class interpreting services. With the right tools and collaboration, with remote language services, clients can have a wider selection of interpreting talent and can save costs,” adds Viviana Bernabe, Director of Global Interpreting, Welocalize.

How can Welocalize Life Sciences help your team manage its medical and clinical interpreting services in a remote environment? Contact us to find out more about OPI in action and how interpreting can increase engagement for your organization.

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