Thank you so much Rosa. Knowing that you had the courage and perseverance throughout all these difficulties, It makes me feel inspire and motivate that I can do it, too.
Congratulations Rosa! You are a real example of perseverance!! Just inspired me more to continue, I am also studying to become a medical interpreter!!🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💪🏻
Rosa, you are the best! Thank you for taking the time to share all of you’re knowledge, it is like a glass of water in the middle of the desert for us forthcoming interpreters. You are so talented and both you’re presence and voice are something we can all learn from and admire. I started my journey last year, and found you’re work recently by surfing for ways to study. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Great work, again thank you! Priscila López 🇵🇷
Priscila! OMG! You have no idea how much your words mean to me. THANK YOU! I am honored 🙏 I am so happy you found the content useful and most importantly, that you found it while looking for ways to study! 📚 Way to go! I wish you all the best in your journey and please stay in touch and let me know if there is something that you'd like me to talk about in further detail in a future video. Thank you!!!
This is such an incredible story! I can sympathise with you - when I was sitting my DPSI (Diploma in Public Service Interpreting exam - I am based in the UK), the oral part, which was organised and ran by the body which awards the qualification, was a breeze. The written part, however, was a nightmare. We were sitting cramped in a small room with no air conditioning and not enough space to spread our resources, we were initially given the incorrect papers and the whole affair was chaos. I 100% agree with your comment on laminated paper - in my journey to become paperless I briefly trialed those and they were the absolute worst. I am so very impressed with your grit and determination and so happy to hear you managed to get your certification!
😆 Así mismo, fue una odisea. Lo bueno es que aprendí un montón en el proceso y espero que el compartir mi experiencia sirva para que no le pase lo mismo a otros.
Wow Rosa, thank you for showing us how even though we may prepare and try our best there are still x-factors that may hinder us. Keyword I took from this vid is PERSEVERANCE!!!! Si tiene razon usted al fin del video dice dont give up. Thank you so much for you vids. Que estes bien 🙂
Thanks, Christian! You nailed it! We have to persevere if we want to reach our goals so don't get discourage by the obstacles you may find along the way.
Hi Rosa! I don't know if you'll ever read this but I was wondering if you ever felt discouraged or afraid to speak in public as an interpreter. Sometimes I feel this way , mainly because is very noticeable that I have a heavy accent when I speak. I'm currently pursuing my career in Spanish medical interpreter. I finished my class and the next step is to take the written and oral exam. What advice do you give to someone like me who's a little anxious to take the test? By the way I don't have experience yet working as an interpreter. I just started this career path and I'm so happy I found your channel.
Hi! OMG, yes! I think everyone of us has felt that at one point. Don't feel discouraged! The vast majority of us has an accent in one of our languages. It's something we have to keep working on and that will only get better with time, but don't let that get in the way of your dreams. If you are feeling a bit anxious, focus on taking one step at a time. First, the written test. You don't have to interpret at all, just learn your ethics, standards of practice and other components and you'll do great. After you take the written exam you can take a bit more time to practice for the oral. Best of luck and thank you for being so candid and sharing this great post.
I am so glad to find your channel and thank you for the info and the great video. I just passed the 40 hrs course, source and target proficiency tests and applied for the corrchi test. My questions is: will the materials (books) I used to study from, in the 40 hrs course exam, are the same that I will use for the Core Chi or there are other resources to study from. My target language is Arabic.
Hi! Welcome to Interprepedia! Thanks for being here and congratulations on passing your 40-hr course. The material covered during most 40 hr courses should suffice for you to study to pass the CoreCHI exam, but on top of that, you can read the NCHIC and IMIA code of ethics and look for articles about medical interpreting ethics because that’s a big chunk of what the CoreCHI exam is about. Now, for the CHI exam (oral) your plan of attack should be different and focused on audio practices ideally in English and Arabic but even if you only have access to English/English practices, it’s still helpful because you can still learn terminology and practice note-taking and memory/retention skills. Best of luck!
Hi rosa i am in los angeles and the same thing happened to me...computer froze,the 2nd time i couldn't hear the simultaneous part...but i hope my 3rd time is a charm!
Rosa, your oral exam experience is very interesting. Great to hear that you finally passed the CCHI oral exam. Did you take the CMI exam? Did you pass it? I am going to get certified and still don't know which one exam is better for me. Would you please share with me the written exam experince too....Compare to the CCHI exam which written exam is more difficult?
Hi! I took the CMI too and passed. Regarding the written exams, I would say the level of difficulty is similar. CCHI focuses more on ethics-related questions and NBCMI focuses more on medical terminology or concepts questions.
Hi Rosa! Thank you for these videos. You’re doing great work. I’m looking for a career change. I’m currently a high school Spanish teacher and Covid has taken away some of the “magic” out of my vocation. I’m looking into interpreting as I want to stay in the field of languages. Anyway, what you have here is great and is giving me the confidence to get started. I have a few questions: I’m currently in Miami, Fl. I heard you were in Florida too, what part? Is it possible to make a decent living off of Medical interpreting? As most people, my goal is becoming a court interpreter but I know that takes a little more time to achieve, am I correct? Well, once again, I love your channel and intend to frequent it a lot in my journey so keep the content coming.
Hi, Anneris! Thank you so much for such nice comments! Many of us became interpreters after a change in our career paths. The fact that you are already a Spanish teacher gives you a great advantage. I was in FL a few years ago, then moved around, now I'm in Hawaii but I'll be back in FL in the summer (Orlando) - crazy, huh? In my experience, you can definitely make a decent living as an interpreter. Becoming a court interpreter tends to be something we do after we gain some experience in other fields but I know of interpreters who successfully passed the certification exams for court interpreting (after a good amount of studying and preparation) without experience in other fields. I hope to see you back here soon!
Gaby! Congratulations on achieving this on your first try 🙌🏻 About not landing a job yet 🥺 Have you tried applying with GLOBO? They are actively looking for interpreters as contractors. Check this out: bit.ly/3f1VAqy
Hello Rosa! Thank you so much for your video :-) I just had a few questions: 1. How long do people usually study for these exams? I know there are online courses of 40-60 hrs, but I was wondering if there’s a specific timeline people use. Currently, I’m trying to plan the next few months and simply I’d like to know how much time I need to allocate for this exam. 2. I’m planning on purchasing the course from Transinterpreting. Do you think this course alone was enough? I am currently studying for the MCAT which also focuses on some medical terminology. Once again, thank you for your videos!
Hi Debora! Great questions! I'll try to answer them to the best of my abilities! 1. Honestly, I have no idea because everyone is different. Some people only study for a few days and others for a few months or even longer. 2. I took Transinterpreting's course a few years ago and that course has improved since. It was enough for me to pass the written and oral tests. I believe it should be enough for most to pass the written test. Now, to pass the oral test, someone without experience or who struggles with note-taking may need additional resources. I hope this helps!
Just came across your channel today and I've watched some of your videos and I love them btw! I was wondering how was your process for getting the NBCMI certification?
Hi, Jonathan! Thank you so much for being here! My process with NBCMI was super smooth. I tested from home for the written and oral. Zero issues. The only intimidating part was having to take the test with a proctor watching me the whole time but I forgot about it after a couple of minutes.
im scared for the document translation or sight translation, idk why but reading in english makes my spanish SOOO choppy, any reccs on what to study for the document translation or do you have a video that mentions what kind of documents are coomon for the test to translate
Hi Lourdes!!! I feel you 😖 the sight translation and translation components are very short (about 1/4 of a page each) You can practice with medical consent forms for anesthesia or surgery, or patient discharge instructions which in real life are the most common typed of documents we work with in the medical field. Good luck!
Hi, Evelyn! You can't go wrong with either one. Did you check out another video I made comparing the two? If you haven't, I think it would be very helpful if you do 😉
Rosa what is your first language? If you don’t mind me asking. I’m going to take my written exam soon but CCHI doesn’t provide the oral exam in my language yet.
Hello, again! I am actually back in Florida now! I just got here a couple of weeks ago, that's why I haven't been able to post new videos in over a month. This is not because of my interpretation career but I promise I'll share a video soon explaining why. Stay tuned!
I have been working as a medical interpreter, but I never got the certification. I wonder if it makes any difference in terms of salary. What do you think?
Hi Vivian! In my experience I can tell you without a doubt that it made a big difference. A couple of clients immediately increased my rate after I provided proof of my certification. Another client for which I did on-site interpretation automatically gave me priority for assignments and an increased rate. I'm not sure if that is something that happens across the board but that was my experience. Thanks for being here!
Hi, Merna! You mean the starting salary for medical interpreters? I'm not sure about that because I've never been a staff interpreter at a hospital and the information I found was based on national averages for the most part. I hope other colleagues can help answer your question.
Hi! Good question! Long story short: I started the process with CCHI. Took the written test. Passed. Moved around. Years later, I ended up in a place where they did not offer the oral test. I really wanted my certification, so I decided to start over again with NBCMI and got it. Some time after that, CCHI finally began offering the oral test in my state. I just decided to go for it since I has spent the money on the written test several years ago.
La verdad admiro tu perseverancia, porque cualquier otro hubiera abandonado a la primera. Te felicito.
¡Gracias, María! Pues cuando toca, toca 😝 pero no te voy a negar que más de una vez tuve ganas de tirar la toalla.
Thank you so much Rosa. Knowing that you had the courage and perseverance throughout all these difficulties, It makes me feel inspire and motivate that I can do it, too.
Hi Alejandra! Sure you can! Go for it! Thanks for being here!
Congratulations Rosa! You are a real example of perseverance!! Just inspired me more to continue, I am also studying to become a medical interpreter!!🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻💪🏻
Thank you, Edimar! This is a very rewarding career and I think you'll love it! 🤗
Rosa, you are the best!
Thank you for taking the time to share all of you’re knowledge, it is like a glass of water in the middle of the desert for us forthcoming interpreters. You are so talented and both you’re presence and voice are something we can all learn from and admire. I started my journey last year, and found you’re work recently by surfing for ways to study.
⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Great work, again thank you!
Priscila López 🇵🇷
Priscila! OMG! You have no idea how much your words mean to me. THANK YOU! I am honored 🙏 I am so happy you found the content useful and most importantly, that you found it while looking for ways to study! 📚 Way to go! I wish you all the best in your journey and please stay in touch and let me know if there is something that you'd like me to talk about in further detail in a future video. Thank you!!!
This is such an incredible story! I can sympathise with you - when I was sitting my DPSI (Diploma in Public Service Interpreting exam - I am based in the UK), the oral part, which was organised and ran by the body which awards the qualification, was a breeze. The written part, however, was a nightmare. We were sitting cramped in a small room with no air conditioning and not enough space to spread our resources, we were initially given the incorrect papers and the whole affair was chaos. I 100% agree with your comment on laminated paper - in my journey to become paperless I briefly trialed those and they were the absolute worst. I am so very impressed with your grit and determination and so happy to hear you managed to get your certification!
Thank you so much!!!
It seems CCHI was very supportive with you in granting extensions while you moved around. Glad the technical problems were resolved.
They were! I am very thankful 🙏
@@Interprepedia: Indeed!
Vaya odisea!!! Todo una aventura para obtener su certification. Enhorabuena. El que la sigue la consigue.
😆 Así mismo, fue una odisea. Lo bueno es que aprendí un montón en el proceso y espero que el compartir mi experiencia sirva para que no le pase lo mismo a otros.
Wow Rosa, thank you for showing us how even though we may prepare and try our best there are still x-factors that may hinder us. Keyword I took from this vid is PERSEVERANCE!!!! Si tiene razon usted al fin del video dice dont give up.
Thank you so much for you vids. Que estes bien 🙂
Thanks, Christian! You nailed it! We have to persevere if we want to reach our goals so don't get discourage by the obstacles you may find along the way.
Hi Rosa! Great video...thank you. The beach is beautiful! 😄
Gracias, Sofia 🤗
Hi Rosa! I don't know if you'll ever read this but I was wondering if you ever felt discouraged or afraid to speak in public as an interpreter. Sometimes I feel this way , mainly because is very noticeable that I have a heavy accent when I speak. I'm currently pursuing my career in Spanish medical interpreter. I finished my class and the next step is to take the written and oral exam. What advice do you give to someone like me who's a little anxious to take the test? By the way I don't have experience yet working as an interpreter. I just started this career path and I'm so happy I found your channel.
Hi! OMG, yes! I think everyone of us has felt that at one point. Don't feel discouraged! The vast majority of us has an accent in one of our languages. It's something we have to keep working on and that will only get better with time, but don't let that get in the way of your dreams. If you are feeling a bit anxious, focus on taking one step at a time. First, the written test. You don't have to interpret at all, just learn your ethics, standards of practice and other components and you'll do great. After you take the written exam you can take a bit more time to practice for the oral. Best of luck and thank you for being so candid and sharing this great post.
I am so glad to find your channel and thank you for the info and the great video. I just passed the 40 hrs course, source and target proficiency tests and applied for the corrchi test. My questions is: will the materials (books) I used to study from, in the 40 hrs course exam, are the same that I will use for the Core Chi or there are other resources to study from. My target language is Arabic.
Hi! Welcome to Interprepedia! Thanks for being here and congratulations on passing your 40-hr course. The material covered during most 40 hr courses should suffice for you to study to pass the CoreCHI exam, but on top of that, you can read the NCHIC and IMIA code of ethics and look for articles about medical interpreting ethics because that’s a big chunk of what the CoreCHI exam is about. Now, for the CHI exam (oral) your plan of attack should be different and focused on audio practices ideally in English and Arabic but even if you only have access to English/English practices, it’s still helpful because you can still learn terminology and practice note-taking and memory/retention skills. Best of luck!
Hi rosa i am in los angeles and the same thing happened to me...computer froze,the 2nd time i couldn't hear the simultaneous part...but i hope my 3rd time is a charm!
Thanks for sharing your experience, Carlos! It was for me and I'm sure it will be for you. Good luck!
Beautiful background and helpful tips, Thanks for sharing!
Thanks 😊 Glad you liked it!
Rosa, your oral exam experience is very interesting. Great to hear that you finally passed the CCHI oral exam. Did you take the CMI exam? Did you pass it? I am going to get certified and still don't know which one exam is better for me. Would you please share with me the written exam experince too....Compare to the CCHI exam which written exam is more difficult?
Hi! I took the CMI too and passed. Regarding the written exams, I would say the level of difficulty is similar. CCHI focuses more on ethics-related questions and NBCMI focuses more on medical terminology or concepts questions.
Great job 👍
Thank you, Monica! 🤗
Hi Rosa! Thank you for these videos. You’re doing great work. I’m looking for a career change. I’m currently a high school Spanish teacher and Covid has taken away some of the “magic” out of my vocation. I’m looking into interpreting as I want to stay in the field of languages. Anyway, what you have here is great and is giving me the confidence to get started. I have a few questions: I’m currently in Miami, Fl. I heard you were in Florida too, what part? Is it possible to make a decent living off of Medical interpreting? As most people, my goal is becoming a court interpreter but I know that takes a little more time to achieve, am I correct? Well, once again, I love your channel and intend to frequent it a lot in my journey so keep the content coming.
Hi, Anneris! Thank you so much for such nice comments! Many of us became interpreters after a change in our career paths. The fact that you are already a Spanish teacher gives you a great advantage. I was in FL a few years ago, then moved around, now I'm in Hawaii but I'll be back in FL in the summer (Orlando) - crazy, huh? In my experience, you can definitely make a decent living as an interpreter. Becoming a court interpreter tends to be something we do after we gain some experience in other fields but I know of interpreters who successfully passed the certification exams for court interpreting (after a good amount of studying and preparation) without experience in other fields. I hope to see you back here soon!
I got it in my first attempt, and have never been able to land a job with it 😥
Gaby! Congratulations on achieving this on your first try 🙌🏻 About not landing a job yet 🥺 Have you tried applying with GLOBO? They are actively looking for interpreters as contractors. Check this out: bit.ly/3f1VAqy
Hello Rosa! Thank you so much for your video :-) I just had a few questions:
1. How long do people usually study for these exams? I know there are online courses of 40-60 hrs, but I was wondering if there’s a specific timeline people use. Currently, I’m trying to plan the next few months and simply I’d like to know how much time I need to allocate for this exam.
2. I’m planning on purchasing the course from Transinterpreting. Do you think this course alone was enough? I am currently studying for the MCAT which also focuses on some medical terminology.
Once again, thank you for your videos!
Hi Debora! Great questions! I'll try to answer them to the best of my abilities! 1. Honestly, I have no idea because everyone is different. Some people only study for a few days and others for a few months or even longer. 2. I took Transinterpreting's course a few years ago and that course has improved since. It was enough for me to pass the written and oral tests. I believe it should be enough for most to pass the written test. Now, to pass the oral test, someone without experience or who struggles with note-taking may need additional resources. I hope this helps!
Just came across your channel today and I've watched some of your videos and I love them btw! I was wondering how was your process for getting the NBCMI certification?
Hi, Jonathan! Thank you so much for being here! My process with NBCMI was super smooth. I tested from home for the written and oral. Zero issues. The only intimidating part was having to take the test with a proctor watching me the whole time but I forgot about it after a couple of minutes.
@@Interprepedia Thanks so much!!! I'm planning on getting my certification this year and I'm trying to decide which test to take.
im scared for the document translation or sight translation, idk why but reading in english makes my spanish SOOO choppy, any reccs on what to study for the document translation or do you have a video that mentions what kind of documents are coomon for the test to translate
Hi Lourdes!!! I feel you 😖 the sight translation and translation components are very short (about 1/4 of a page each) You can practice with medical consent forms for anesthesia or surgery, or patient discharge instructions which in real life are the most common typed of documents we work with in the medical field. Good luck!
Thank you Rosa for all this valuable info. I am planning to take the test, would you recommend NBCMI over CCHI?
Hi, Evelyn! You can't go wrong with either one. Did you check out another video I made comparing the two? If you haven't, I think it would be very helpful if you do 😉
Rosa what is your first language? If you don’t mind me asking. I’m going to take my written exam soon but CCHI doesn’t provide the oral exam in my language yet.
Hi! My first language is Spanish. Best of luck on your upcoming exam!
Hey Rosa, so you were in Florida, I wonder how you ended up in Hawaii. Does this have to do with your interpretation career?
Hello, again! I am actually back in Florida now! I just got here a couple of weeks ago, that's why I haven't been able to post new videos in over a month. This is not because of my interpretation career but I promise I'll share a video soon explaining why. Stay tuned!
Fantastic Rosa. Thanks, I will.
I have been working as a medical interpreter, but I never got the certification. I wonder if it makes any difference in terms of salary. What do you think?
Hi Vivian! In my experience I can tell you without a doubt that it made a big difference. A couple of clients immediately increased my rate after I provided proof of my certification. Another client for which I did on-site interpretation automatically gave me priority for assignments and an increased rate. I'm not sure if that is something that happens across the board but that was my experience. Thanks for being here!
Does anyone know what the start salary is?
Hi, Merna! You mean the starting salary for medical interpreters? I'm not sure about that because I've never been a staff interpreter at a hospital and the information I found was based on national averages for the most part. I hope other colleagues can help answer your question.
👍
omg. this sound awful. I have my exam in a few months and I hope this doesn't happen to me. Thanks for the information.
I know, right?! 🤦🏻♀️ You will be just fine, worry not.
Hi Rosa! Did you get certification from cchi and nbcmi? Why both?
Hi! Good question! Long story short: I started the process with CCHI. Took the written test. Passed. Moved around. Years later, I ended up in a place where they did not offer the oral test. I really wanted my certification, so I decided to start over again with NBCMI and got it. Some time after that, CCHI finally began offering the oral test in my state. I just decided to go for it since I has spent the money on the written test several years ago.
OMG! What a circus! Anyone else would have given up!
Yes, it was kinda crazy :-D
🙌🏾