My cooperation with the World Health Organization dates back more than fifteen years and encompasses dozens of successful conferences all over the world and half a dozen of published translations.
However, my involvement as a simultaneous interpreter in nearly ten editions of the Health Financing and TB courses, conducted by the WHO Barcelona Office for Health Systems Strengthening, is for me a special case of professional development and fruitful cooperation.
Despite what many people may think, there is much more to healthcare than medicine per se, and from a linguistic standpoint, healthcare is a very dynamic terminological environment.
As the courses progress from one edition to another, healthcare realities and concepts continue to evolve, and so do the linguistic equivalents of healthcare terms and concepts in the target language. By providing simultaneous interpretation at successive editions of the course and translating hundreds of pages and PowerPoint slides for each edition, along with occasional major publications, I have come to better understand and appreciate the not-so-simple health financing concepts which help me word them accurately in the target language.
My work with the WHO Barcelona Office for Health Systems Strengthening has demonstrated the value of extended cooperation with specific interpreters for my customers and for myself. I am grateful to my customers in the WHO for their patience in explaining the concepts to me and my booth partners and for taking the time to discuss potential equivalents in the target language. This has helped me to become a better interpreter and translator and to provide a better service to the course organizers and listeners.
The attention that the Barcelona Office for Health Systems Strengthening offers to its interpreters never ceases to amaze me – from travel arrangements to having all materials printed and arranged in the booth, the Barcelona office staff makes the interpreters’ job much easier and much more pleasant, motivating us to learn more and become better at what we do.