Case Studies

Ongoing nationwide training program administered by a large US academic institution that focuses primarily on emergency management and preparedness. Each course is designed to be carried out in a classroom setting with hands-on small group activities. Their audience is composed mainly of first responders, emergency managers, and community members. Their goal is to prepare everyone to be resilient before, during and after a disaster, both natural and man-made.

The Challenge:

Trainers need to ensure that the Spanish-only groups receiving the training fully understand the material and are able to interact in real-life situations with English-only emergency teams. This means that at the end of each training the participants should have learned and understood the training concepts so that when a real emergency takes place both groups can apply the same concepts. In doing so, these training courses should be interpreted into Spanish using everyday language where the community as well as law enforcement, paramedics, mayors, firefighters and stakeholders can all understand.

Aside from classroom-style trainings, there are also breakout sessions and hands-on activities where the English-only instructors must interact in small groups. For this, the interpreters must work alongside each trainer and participant and provide consecutive interpretation.

The interpreters required for these trainings must be familiarized with the terminology and training modules, which included a broad range of topics for each training such as Disaster Preparedness, Emergency Management and Crisis Preparedness, Hazardous Materials, Cybersecurity, and more. It is also required that they keep confidentiality as a result of some of topics discussed in these trainings. Interpretation was key during these trainings because pre and post-tests are administered in order to be certified.

Some of the challenges that needed to be addressed were:

• Instructors providing the training will need the interpreters to be flexible and adapt to the dynamics of the class. Because there are breakout sessions, the instructors walk around the different work groups and interact with them, however language can be a great barrier.
• For this training, the language barrier affects in both directions since Spanish-only groups must provide a short presentation and share experiences where they apply their knowledge to the English only trainers.
• Simultaneous interpretation equipment is needed as well as microphones for both instructors and participants.
• The need to have a technician/event supervisor present at all times that can oversee and manage all interpretation equipment to prevent any technical glitches.
• Although presentations are only provided in English, the pre and post-test are not, therefore they have to be translated on site and interpreted for the entire group. Keeping into account that the group is composed of first responders and community members, the language register used in both the presentations and the tests have to adapt to the educational background of the individuals.

How did Lighthouse help:

Due to the nature of these trainings, Lighthouse provided interpreters who were skilled and experienced in these specific topics and terminology. Our interpreters were able to rapidly adapt and provide not only simultaneous, but consecutive interpretation during trainings and breakout sessions.

Lighthouse provides language services in ways that go beyond the client’s expectations, and this was not the exception. During each training, our team was able to provide excellent interpretations, which was evident in the results of the post-tests that the attendees had to answer.

The state-of-the-art interpretation equipment used allowed the training to flow smoothly and without any technical issues. Having a trained, experienced inhouse technician on site for the duration of the course allowed the client and attendees to work within their schedule.

These are some of the ways in which Lighthouse Translations & Interpretations was able to help:

• Our interpreters easily transitioned from simultaneous interpretation to consecutive interpretation during the different activities of the course. Attendees were able to have one on one conversations with the instructors and clarify any doubts with the help of our interpreters.
• Our interpreters easily interpreted english into spanish and from spanish into english in order to facilitate the participants presentations and interaction with the trainers.
• Professional and experienced in-house event technicians and event supervisors were present at all times to give technical support and prevent any possible technical glitches that may be present. Our event supervisors are not only there to ensure that all the interpretation equipment works well, but can assist with microphone distribution, and even problems with video projectors and presentations.
• Some of the courses are starting to be sent to our document translations department beforehand for Spanish translation, ensuring that the use of terms is cohesive among the documents used during the training and the simultaneous/consecutive translation provided on-site.
• Although pre and post-tests are not provided previously for translation, as a benefit to the attendees, our interpreters went beyond and above and assisted with their on-site translation.

Solutions:

• Professional conference interpretation equipment that addresses the needs of your specific event.
• Experienced in-house event technicians/event supervisors on-site during the entire event.
• Highly qualified, flexible and trained interpreters who can also translate documents on site.

Conclusions:

At Lighthouse Interpretations & Translations, we seek to be dedicated and efficient. Whether it is simultaneous/consecutive interpretation or document translation, we provide only the best and qualified interpreters, technicians and supervisors who ensure a quality service all around, which always surpasses our client’s expectations.

Quotes:

“Your team was great. I really appreciate their professionalism and their willingness to assist as we needed them. They did a fantastic job.”

“Following up on our event from last week, I wanted to extend once more our genuine appreciation for the translating services you provided us with. We were all so impressed with the fantastic work of the interpreters. All around, this was an A+ team to work with.”