Personal Injury Cases: an Introduction for Interpreters

This recorded webinar was taught in July of 2022 by Seth Hammock, a Master Licensed Court Interpreter for Spanish in Austin, Texas. Seth is co-founder of GoSignify.com, an online booking service for interpreters. The host was Marco Hanson of Texan Translation. Seth explains common English terminology in personal injury cases like tort, slip-and-fall, discovery, and prove-up. He describes the process of investigation, treatment, resolution, followed by consultation, demand letters, court filings, discovery, settlement, and rarely, a trial. The linguistic challenges include regulatory language, technical vocabulary, complex narratives, and a strongly adversarial setting.
Sample sentences to practice interpreting:
"Is it correct that on March 25, 2020, you were driving north near the intersection of Watts Lane and FM-812 in Caldwell County, with Linda Torres, when Mr. Saucedo ran a stop sign and pulled his truck out in front of you?"
"Is it correct that Kenia suffered from swelling to the face, neck and abdominal pain with vomiting, concussion, a right orbital fracture, and was admitted for pain control and concussion monitoring?"
"I have that Laura had approximately $30,289.44 in medical expenses relating to this collision that were reduced down to $16,564.44. Plaintiff’s Counsel fee is $7,500.00 and expenses of $68.55, leaving Kenia Torres with $5,867.01."

[@lananguyen8148]

Thank you Marco Hanson for airing this useful training video.

[@TexanTranslation]

You're welcome, Lana!

[@marlondiazpino3933]

Revelacion

[@user-lw4en2oi4l]

Hello Marco, thank you for holding these sessions. Could you clarify what the program is that Seth mentioned he has open when he is interpreting in the event he needs to consult the translation of a word? Thank you!

[@TexanTranslation]

Sure! I think it was www.deepl.com, or the downloaded app version of that same software.

[@SpanishInterpreter2864]

Good information.. I'm just curios on the pay to do these types of Interpreting..I know texas charge minimum of $100 an hour..

[@TexanTranslation]

It will vary a lot by deposition client, but around Texas we're seeing lows of $75 and highs of $200 an hour, with various combinations of minimum time and cancellation fee.