Gaucha TI Medical Terminology |1
Medical terminology
Gaucha TI methodology
Contents
Why 24 hours of medical terminology.......................................................................................................... 2
Gaucha application to OHA ....................................................................................................................... 2
Worksource Oregon .................................................................................................................................. 2
Outline for six sessions of four hours ........................................................................................................... 3
Rationale for the elements of my pedagogical approach: ............................................................................ 4
Medical terminology overview from CCC ................................................................................................. 4
Parallel texts.............................................................................................................................................. 4
Analysis - Summary ................................................................................................................................... 5
Analysis – Outline...................................................................................................................................... 5
Summary and Outline benefits ................................................................................................................. 5
Flash oral presentations............................................................................................................................ 5
Find three different ways to say something in English without changing the meaning........................... 6
Terminology databases ............................................................................................................................. 6
Interpreting (Translational action) with text from the fourth column ..................................................... 7
Conclusion on skills ................................................................................................................................... 7
Dialogues from Medical Language: Terminology in Context. ....................................................................... 9
Listening for strengths and weaknesses in interpreting ............................................................................. 10
Gaucha TI Medical Terminology |2
Why 24 hours of medical terminology
The TCII is a 40 hour program. When I submitted my proposal to the Oregon Health Authority, I was
required to submit a supplementary proposal for medical terminology and tried to just add 20 hours. I
ended up adding 24, so I could have eight days of eight hours each. I think I also had some resistance at
the 20 hour point, but I am not sure.
Things have changed in the last few years, so the environment could be different. This is my current
medical terminology segment of the course.
I offer it as a separate unit for translators, court interpreters, and this also allows those who have taken
medical terminology separately or simply need an extra 20 hours of training to take only this part of the
course.
That is necessary because Oregon requires 60 hours of training, and the national certification programs
require 40 hours. This program can bridge that gap, and is approved for CE credits by CCHI and by the
IMIA. However, it is taught according to principles that integrate very smoothly with the TCII.
Those who teach in Oregon will have to supplement the TCII with something that gets their program up
to 60 or 64 hours. This is what has been approved for Gaucha.
Gaucha application to OHA
In my application, I also said that in the future, if I worked with others, they would be licensed by CCC to
teach the TCI segment, and I would train them to teach the medical terminology segment. I am doing
that now so any of you can choose to do that if you want to. You can also choose to use this material –
or any other material – independently. I have not copyrighted this and do not intend to do so.
Worksource Oregon
However, WorkSource Oregon does have some requirements for the kinds of training organizations that
it will work with and provide scholarships to participants. I am almost ready to finish turning in my
application. It’s a complex process, and that has guided a lot of my decisions in how to frame the
Gaucha training program. I will explore that in the next few weeks. This is an important step so
interpreters can access funding that is meaningful and steady, not dependent on occasional
scholarships.
Gaucha TI Medical Terminology |3
Outline for six sessions of four hours
Week
1
Medical terminology
Intro, homeostasis,
Respiratory
Slides 1 to 11
2
Circulatory
Slides 12 to 19
3
Musculo-skeletal
Slides 20 to 26
4
Endocrine
Slides 27 to 33
5
Reproductive
Slides 34 to 48
6
Digestive
Slides 49 to 57
Study strategy
Parallel text reading
Introduce Merck Manuals –
interpreter as impersonator
of register
Analysis: Submit summary
and outline of parallel texts
from Merck.
Analysis – build bilingual
terminology database. This is
how dictionaries are made.
Using Merck parallel texts,
find term/definition/use in
context in both languages.
Research in the Merck – find
a system and learn about it,
and give presentation.
Find three different ways to
say something.
Analysis – note taking. Make
outlines of Merck chapters
on reproductive system in
English and FL.
Give presentation based on
outline.
Combination of all:
Outline
Two terms in database
Two sentence summary
Practice text
Chapter 3, physical
assessment: introductory,
first meeting with patient
Students give oral
presentations based on
material studied.
This helps them learn how
to prepare and impersonate
a doctor.
Chapter 15 – rehabilitation.
Chapter 9, test results
(urinary system)
Find some tricky sentence,
and discuss three different
ways to say them in English
without losing meaning.
Then interpret.
Chapter 8, labor and
delivery
Interpret
What strategies did you
have to use?
Chapter 11, nutrition and
diet.
Gaucha TI Medical Terminology |4
Rationale for the elements of my pedagogical approach:
As I started to teach medical interpreting, I noticed many perceived they couldn’t interpret medical
topics without an understanding of medical terminology. Therefore, starting with a perceived need
helped connect with the participants immediate concerns.
The conversation shifts to interpreting issues immediately, so the interpreting ethics units are dealt with
early on in the course. Then we front load a lot of the terminology, so it supports the rest of the
interpreting skills.
Participants often start to interpret, and show significant weaknesses that are not necessarily solved by
a strict terminology, skills building or protocol approach. They need to work on other foundational
issues as well. Therefore, I build certain skills into the terminology training to strengthen the
interpreting skills that will come later.
Medical terminology overview from CCC
The slides are always provided by CCC to licensed TCI trainers, and trainers can follow the trainers
manual provided by CCC.
The Merck Manuals are online at this site:
http://blog.gauchati.com/resources/terminology-resources/merck-collection/
There are more terminology resources at this site:
http://blog.gauchati.com/resources/terminology-resources/
The assignments are explained in more detail at this site:
http://blog.gauchati.com/homework-assignments/
Parallel texts
As interpreters, we are impersonating the doctor and the patient in our speech. We have ample
opportunities to hear the patient speak in the foreign language, and to hear other patients speak in
English. However, we have very few opportunities to hear doctors speak in the foreign language in the
United States. The only way to acquire that register is to read what doctors read or would expect
patients to read: texts written for educated patients, such as the Merck Manual, in the foreign language.
This study practice gives us a more in depth understanding of the concepts, and allows us to express the
terminology in a natural way, in context with its register.
One word of warning: The Merck Manuals are not available in all languages. In those cases, please
encourage the participants to search for other resources online. Univadis is an excellent resource.
www.univadis.mx, for example, allows people to register as medical practitioners and have access to
many resources. Univadis has resources in many countries, and once registered, a person receives daily
emails with news in that language. That service even has links to patient handouts in the language or
other pertinent materials that might be available.
Gaucha TI Medical Terminology |5
To register, it is necessary to sign in with a medical profession. I signed in with “other” and then
“interpreter”. For “registration number” or its equivalent, I created a number that was inspired in my
date of birth and my initials. That way it was not stolen or keeping a legitimate person out. It worked.
I didn’t do that in English. Only in Spanish. Univadis has good resources in Arabic, for example, though
the Merck hasn’t been released in Arabic.
Analysis - Summary
We do not use summary as an interpreting mode, but often we do in fact have to summarize what
happens.



When a doctor is having a side conversation with another professional.
When all we were able to interpret were the main points the doctor said, and we need a
repetition: “Doctor, the interpreter was only able to interpret this summary, and requests a
repetition of the details.”
In order to get the main points of the issue, and be able to know how to organize the details.
Analysis – Outline
Though this is not a required skill, outlining is a prerequisite for taking notes. Participants are often out
of practice with outlining in ways that are useful for interpreting. They sometimes think that an outline
is simply finding the items in bold print. When they see that an outline could just as well be a drawing of
the blood flow of the heart, or a stick figure of a human with circles on the places where there is pain,
they start to see its usefulness.
Unfortunately, in today’s society most speakers hand out the powerpoints after every presentation, and
people take “notes” with their iPhone cameras. This has removed people’s ability to take notes with a
pencil, and thus made it difficult for people to understand how note taking can help them stretch their
natural memory capacity. Outlining can help participants get comfortable with note taking of written
material, and then transfer that skill to oral messages for interpreting.
Summary and Outline benefits
These techniques benefit participants as they prepare for note taking: finding the main idea in a way
that is practical for interpreters.
Learning how to summarize helps participants develop their own ability to gain an understanding of a
topic on their own, which is critical, because they will not be able to consult a colleague on most topics.
Most study interpreters and translators do on specialized topics is independent.
Independent study also builds self confidence in the ability to explore new fields, new areas of work,
knowing that they know how to find books and resources to develop these skills and terminology.
Flash oral presentations
This helps with “impersonating a doctor”. When interpreters stand up in front of their peers and present
a topic they have just studied in preparation for an assignment they will be facing in a few minutes, this
is a very true to life situation. In real life they do not make a presentation to a doctor, but they have to
understand the doctor and be able to “impersonate” the doctor. Practicing these two minute speeches
makes it easier to speak like a doctor and interpret. It also helps people learn how to dig into the
Gaucha TI Medical Terminology |6
resources they will need at the appointment in a practical way, in the waiting room itself. Dictionaries
will not be very useful there, but the preparation they can do in their 15 minutes in the waiting room
can be very helpful.
Presenting in English is a good way to break the ice. Then, presenting in the non-English language, even
if nobody else in the room understands, is also important. It is critical to practice speaking like a doctor
in the non-English language.
Debriefing after these sessions is important. Talking about how nervous people felt, how hard it was to
do the research and speak, but what made them successful and what they had to do to better, makes
them better. It is useful to repeat this drill at least once in the program.
Find three different ways to say something in English without changing the meaning
Interpreting is the art of rephrasing without changing the message. This is exactly what we do when we
express the message in a different language. Often, interpreters are hung up by the words, or by the fact
that the syntax of the source langauge doesn’t fit the syntax of the target language. Being in the practice
of rephrasing helps them understand that the message, not the words, is what matters.
Terminology databases
This is taken from translation studies and dictionary research. It is important for the interpreter to have
a system to organize and validate the terms he or she learns. This terminology database was developed
based on the work I did in my study with New York University and the work I did in support of research
of estadounidismos (US variety of Spanish) for the Real Española dictionary.
For each term, students should research the following information, and log it in a spreadsheet.








System
Term
Context (indicate source) – copy the term in context, don’t just write it in context yourself
Definition (indicate source) – copy the definition from a source, don’t just define it yourself.
For your second language:
Term
Context (indicate source) – copy the term in context, don’t just write it in context yourself or
translate. The idea is to see the way the term is actually used.
Definition (indicate source) – copy the definition from a source, don’t just define it yourself.
Indicating sources


gives the interpreter a way to go back to these sources and read more later
increases the value of the spreadsheet by giving the term extra validation. Even “Mexican
patient in an appointment” counts! The point is knowing where you got the context and
definition.
Doing this in a spreadsheet allows interpreters to sort or filter by system, and quickly study the terms in
a particular system.
Gaucha TI Medical Terminology |7
This is the way terms are studied and collected for dictionaries such as the Real Academia Española. This
is the format of the terminology table we used to add “estadounidismos” to the new edition of the RAE
and validate them.
This method is a professional way to share information with colleagues so we know our terms are
validated.
Many students have initially found working with the database difficult, and later found it extremely
helpful and even entertaining.
Interpreting (Translational action) with text from the fourth column
Start by checking for difficult spots and discussing how to do the translational action (Dr. Christiane
Nord’s term for transferring the message from one language to another).


1.
2.
3.
4.
Challenging syntax
Terminology
Start by rephrasing the section three or four ways without losing content.
Then attempt to do the translational action, writing it on the board in the target language.
If there are multiple languages represented, have all languages do this on the board.
Mark the semantic elements and show how they move around in the structure of the sentence.
Then, discuss other interpreting difficulties, such as needed interruptions. Discuss that the reader should
not go too easy on the interpreter and just feed him 8 words at a time! The reader is here to make the
interpreter grow a bit!
Demonstrate:



Interruption for the interpreter to interpret accurately
Request for a repetition from point x
Request for clarification
Also, discuss that people should go into this with the confidence that they are there to do their best, not
to be saying, “Oh, this is so hard!” The minute people start the “this is so hard” conversation, the ability
to perform starts to decline in the whole group.
Use the rubric for scoring, below, to evaluate a different thing each week, and teaching the participants
to balance being friendly and helpful: give their colleagues something positive and something to
improve on. Often, asking our colleagues what they think they need to improve on is a great starting
point. We can then share with them how we have attempted to overcome some of those challenges. In
interpreting, it is important to learn how to give and receive feedback, because that is what we will be
doing when we work with partners in the future, and as we study together for the certification exams.
Conclusion on skills
If students can learn at least two of these strategies and own them, then they have been successful and
will be able to solve terminology problems on their own.
Gaucha TI Medical Terminology |8
This course is not intended to teach all the material so students can hear the trainer lecturing the
student about all topics, but to help students learn how to do their own research.
Of course, if it is possible to bring in specialists in different aspects of medicine to give presentations,
that should be done to replace some of the class segments. Regardless, participants should always have
the opportunity to do their own research and practice in class and have homework assigned to continue
doing it at home.
Gaucha TI Medical Terminology |9
Dialogues from Medical Language: Terminology in Context.
http://blog.gauchati.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/08/Medical-Language-Dialogues-Transcribed-wpermission.pdf
I like these texts because they are not developed for interpreters and therefore they are not simplified,
or adapted in any way. They are quite true to life.
I originally worked with this textbook, but it was difficult to obtain for a large group, and decided it was
not practical to continue to use it. I then proceeded to copy selected dialogs from the text, and request
permission from the publisher for use in our courses. It was granted, and you can find it on this page:
http://blog.gauchati.com/homework-assignments/
G a u c h a T I M e d i c a l T e r m i n o l o g y | 10
Listening for strengths and
weaknesses in interpreting
Interpreter: ___________________________
Place, time and date:
_________________________
Setting: class practice/self-practice/field work
Note: Please fill in only salient portions of the
form.
Best practices
Content:
Focus on
whether the
interpreted
message
reflected the
original
message.
Expression:
Ways in which
language
proficiency
impacts
accuracy.
Introductions/Presession
Took over session?
Transparency
Interprets 2-3
sentences at a time
without interruption
Professionalism
Confidentiality
Faithfulness/accuracy
Errors, changes in
meaning
Omission
Addition
Presentation:
Supporting
communication
with physical
strategies
Strategies to
manage the
interpreting
encounter.
Other
Comfort, confidence
Position
Eye contact
Other
Note-taking
Unfamiliar terms
Self-correction
Speaker overlap
Control the flow of
information for
accurate interpreting
Cultural navigation
General
impression
Greatest
strength or
weakness?
Evaluation by:
_________________________________
Interpreter’s response:
Steps for improvement:
Likert scale as applied to the IMIA Standards of Practice
(http://www.imiaweb.org/uploads/pages/102.pdf)
Register
Grammar
Word choice
Pauses
Crutch phrases (err,
um)
Fluency
Pronunciation/accent
5
4
3
2
1
Fulfills the expectation completely and
consistently, with ease and fluidity
Fulfills the expectation in a mechanical way
Performs the expectation but with hesitation or
lack of confidence
Performs inconsistently, lapses into behaviors
demonstrating lack of mastery
Is unable to perform the task; exhibits behavior
consistent with lack of mastery
This chart was developed based on the NCIHC Standards of Practice, and is used consistently in class for
self evaluation and for evaluating each other. It was then used in the internship we did at Tuality
Hospital, and is a working document.