The woman in the hospital must have been scared – her interpreter just told her that she needed stomach surgery. The misinformation came from the doctor asking the housekeeper at the hospital to interprete for his Portuguese speaking patient.

The official hospital interpreter arrived at the patients room and found out that the doctor was trying to explain to the patient that she needed to have a pap smear. The housekeeper didn’t know the word for “pap smear”, so she used the word for surgery. No wonder the patient was highly agitated and upset. Here she is in a hospital where she can’t understand the doctor, she is told that she needs surgery and she has no idea why.

Lesson learned – anyone who is translating (written word) or interpreting (spoken word) must be FULLY bi-lingual and have training in how to translate or interprete. Professionals learn that it is OK to ask the speaker for a clarification if the sentence is not clear or a word is unknown.

Avoid misunderstandings – ask us at Rapport International (www.rapportintl.com ) or ask your local foreign language translation agency.