What is the difference between an interpreter (oral) and a translator (written)?
According to Danica Seleskovitch (1994), a translator converts the message in the written form and the interpreter does the same by using the oral form. ASL interpreters use the gesture form. The skills for oral interpretation and written translation are very different. Sleskovitch states that interpreters need to convey the message at a much higher speed than that of translators, at least 30 times greater.
How can I request a face to face interpreter (On-site)?
Massachusetts Assignments
If you do not already have a contract with CCCS, Inc.TM for interpreting services, then we encourage you to give us a call for a free quote at 781-729-3736 during our regular business hours, or at 781-838-2583 for after hours, weekends or holidays.
If you already do have a contract with us, then please call our interpreter services department at 781.729.3736 and press 2. If you call after regular business hours, on weekends or holidays, please contact us at 781.838.2583 (781.317.6749 pager). We have face-to-face interpreters available in 47 languages and we offer our services 24/7/365 days a year.
New Hampshire Assignments and other States?
If you do not already have a contract with CCCS, Inc.TM for interpreting services then we encourage you to give us a call for a free quote at 603-880-4949 during regular business hours, or at 1.888.678.2227 for after hours, weekends or holidays.
If you already do have a contract with us, then please call our interpreter services department at: 1.888.678.2227, and press 2. If you call after regular business hours, weekends or holidays, please contact us at 781.838.2583 (781.317.6749 pager). We have face-to-face interpreters available in 47 languages and we offer our services 24/7/365 days a year.
How should I decide on which interpreting services to request?
Our biases are that it is best to provide face-to-face and on-site interpreting services, but understand that it is not always possible. At times interpreters are not available for face-to-face interpretation in all languages, however, the same interpreter request may be covered Over the Phone (OPI) in a five minute time frame, such as assisting a lost client, car accidents and other scenarios. ASL remote videoconferencing is not always recommended as clients may not sign and video may not represent clearly the three dimensional aspects of ASL language. Although, one is under the impression of saving money, the Office of Civil Right recommends that healthcare, educational and legal institutions contact their legal department regarding the best way to cover interpreter needs. It is also recommended that institutions review legal law suits concerning unsatisfactory interpreter coverage.
We encourage our clients to use Over the Phone Interpreters (OPI) as a back up to face-to-face interpreters, unless the LEP individual requests an over the phone interpreter as his or her first option. Patients have the right to choose their interpreting services modality.
How can I request an over the phone interpreter (OPI)?
Once you have established your account with CCCS, Inc.TM, you may request an Over the Phone Interpreter (OPI), by contacting us to obtain your personalized code that can be used when you dial the OPI # 1-866-999-0438. This number together with your personalized code will then give you access to OPI interpreters in more than 170 languages. After having made the interpreter request, a live interpreter will be on the line in less than 18 seconds in most instances.
Can you describe the interpreting modes offered by CCCS, Inc.TM?
Different modes, requires different skills and abilities, and many times in any given assignment more than one mode will be used. For this reason only interpreters that have been trained in the modes needed for a case will be assigned to cover that case. For example if a request is made for an interpreter to cover a conference, only interpreters with simultaneous experience would be considered for the case. We offer our services in the following interpreting modes:
- Consecutive (Relaying of the message from one language to another in an organized manner, only after the speaker has completed a thought). This is the most recommended mode for healthcare interpretation by the Interpreter standards. It is also used for legal interpreting.
- Simultaneous (The interpreter speaks at the same time as the speaker with minimal pauses). Used for groups, many legal cases, in mental health assessments and visits.
- Sight Translation/Interpretation (The interpreter reads a document, understands it and provides an oral interpretation from the written source language into the oral target language). Provider is required to be present for any legal forms, such as consent forms.
- Remote (Phone or Video interpretation)
- Relay (More than one interpreter is used because there is not an interpreter available that can interpret from the target language to English directly. An example may be a patient that only speaks Guarani, and there is no interpreter available that speaks both Guarani and English. As a result, 2 interpreters would be needed so that the patient could receive effective communication. The first interpreter would interpret Guarani to Spanish and the second interpreter would interpret or relay the message from Spanish to English.)
- Summary (The interpreter summarizes the main points. This mode is usually used when the speaker is not speaking in a logical manner.) Not recommended only for emergency situations where the message is not clear and the speaker is unable to slow down.
What languages does CCCS, Inc.TM cover?
CCCS, Inc.TM continues to add new languages to our list according to the demands of our customers. The following lists are subject to change at any time.
Face-to-Face
For face-to-face to interpreting CCCS, Inc.TM offers services in the following languages:
| Albanian Amharic Arabic Armenian Bengali Bosnian (Serbo-Croatian) Cape Verdean Creole Chinese Farsi French |
German Greek Gujarati Haitian Creole Hebrew Hindi Hmong Hungarian Italian Japanese |
Khmer Korean Laotian Persian Polish Portuguese (Continental) Portuguese (Brazilian) Punjabi Pushto Romanian |
Russian Serbo-Croatian (Bosnian) Somali Spanish Swahili Tagalog Thai Turkish Urdu Vietnamese |
Over the Phone Interpreting (OPI)
For Over the Phone Interpreting (OPI) CCCS, Inc.TM offers services in the following languages:
| Albanian, Acholi, Afrikaans, Akan, Albanian, American Sign Language, Amharic, Arabic, Armenian, Ashanti, Assyrian, Azeri, Bahasa (Malaysia), Bambara, Basque, Basaa, Belarusan, Bengali, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Burmese, Cambodian, Cantonese, Cape Verdean Creole, Cebuano, Chaldean, Chamorro, Chin (Tedim, Zome) Chinese Yunnan, Choujo, Chuukese, Cotocoli, |
Czech, Danish, Dari, Dinka, Dutch, Creole(French, Haitian), Croatian, Estonian, Ewe, Farsi, Fijian, Finnish, Flemish, French, French Canadian, Frisian, Fulani, Fulde, Fuzhou, GA, Georgian, German, Greek, Greenlandic, Guarani, Gujarati, Haitian Creole, Hakka, Hausa, Hebrew, Hindi, Hmong, Hunanese, Hungarian, Ibo, |
Indo, Italian, Jaaxanke, Japanese, Javanese, Icelandic, IIocano, Kanjobal, Hannada, Karen, Kazakh, Khmer, Kinyarwanda, Kirundi, Korean, Kosrae, Kpelle, Krahn, Kunama, Kurdish, Lanzhou, Lao, Latvian, Lebanese, Lingala, Lithuanian, Luganda, Macedonian, Maithili, Malay, Malayalam, Maltese, Mam, Mandarin, Mandinka, |
Marathi, Marshallese, Mien, Mixteco, Mongolian, More, Myanmar, Navajo, Nepali, Norwegian, Nuer, Oromifa, Pampangan, Pangasinan, Pashtu, Polish, Ponapean, Portuguese, Persian, Pulaar, Punjabi, Quechua, Romanian, Russian, Samoan, Sara, Serbian, Shanghainese, Shona, Sichuan, Sicilian, Sinhalese, Slovak, Somali |
Somali Maay, Maay (Bantu) Soninke, Spanish, Sudanese Arabic, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Taiwanese, Tamil, Telugu, Teochew, Thai, Tibetan, Tingrinya, Toisanese, Tongan, Rukese, Turkish, Turkmen, Twi, Uighur, Ukrainian, Urdu, Uzbek, Vietnamese, Visayan, Welsh, Wolof, Xhosa, Yiddish, Yoruba, Zande |
*Remote Video Interpreting (RVI) COMING SOON!
For Remote Video Interpreting (RVI) CCCS, Inc.TM will offer services in the following languages:
| American Sign Language Albanian Arabic Azeri Belarusian Bengali Bosnian Bulgarian Cambodian Cantonese Chinchow Croatian Czech Dari |
Dutch English Farsi French Fukien German Greek Gujurati Hebrew Hindi Italian Japanese Khmer Kinyarwanda |
Korean Kurdish Lebanese Macedonian Mandarin Pashto Persian Polish Portuguese Punjabi Romanian Russian Serbian Sichuan |
Sindhi Somali Spanish Swahili Tagalog Taiwanese Tamil Telugu Thai Toishan Twi Urdu Vietnanmese |
Who are CCCS, Inc.TM’ clients?
We provide our services to:
- Hospitals,
- Schools
- Clinics
- Human resource departments
- Housing authorities
- Courts
- Unions
- Businesses
- Legal institutions
- Healthcare Conferences
Does CCCS, Inc.TM cover interpreting services 24/7?
Yes, we provide interpreting services 24/7/365 days of the year, from which we draw upon our more than 300 face to face interpreters that have all gone through extensive screening and in house seminars provided by CCCS, Inc.TM We also offer over the phone interpreting services (OPI) which allows you to access an interpreter in the language needed, usually in less than 18 seconds. Following is a sample list of how some of our services are used:
- Night and weekend coverage
- Home Healthcare
- Hospitals
- Private practices
- Mental Health
- Substance Abuse
- Educational settings
- Conferences
- Community Meetings
- Vacation, Holiday
- Coverage for staff interpreters
- Liaison programs
- Voiceovers
Are CCCS, Inc.TM healthcare interpreters certified?
Certification is new and is not available in all languages. We encourage all healthcare interpreters to become certified and it will take several years if ever, for certification to be available in all languages. Currently there are two organizations that provide certifications for some languages. For more information please contact The National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters (NBCMI) at www.certifiedmedicalinterpreters.org and the Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI) at www.healthcareinterpretercertification.org. CCCS, Inc.TM supports CCHI in their endeavors to bring about a vendor-neutral approach to its certification program development. The National Board awarded its first certifications on July 8th, 2010, and CCHI began its first pilot testing on October 18th, 2010.
Is The Joint Commission mandating certification for all interpreters?
At this moment The Joint Commission has not mandated certification, and this is outlined in the letter sent by the Senior Vice President of The Joint Commission to the Senior Manager of Public Health Initiatives, dated November 6, 2009. In the letter The Joint Commission stated that they don’t require interpreters to be certified, but they do require organizations to only use interpreters that are competent and qualified. As an institute and employer, we always encourage interpreters to continue their education, such as certification preparation.
Are CCCS, Inc.TM legal interpreters certified?
Certification is not available in all languages. We encourage all legal interpreters to become certified if it is available in their language. In the legal field, NJITCE is the only nationwide certification exam developed exclusively by judiciary interpreters and translators and is recognized in some, but not all states. For the court system, certification is available but only for Spanish, Navajo, and Haitian Creole. For the other languages an interpreter can become a “professionally qualified interpreter” or a “skilled interpreter.” Different court systems have developed their own training and interpreter assessment programs. Do not confuse certification with an interpreter’s certificate. Many language companies offer certified interpreter services but they may be referring to interpreters with certificates not interpreters that are certified.
What is CCCS, Inc.TM doing about certification for Healthcare interpretation?
CCCS, Inc.TM is very proud of its exceptional contracting standards with all of its interpreters and believes in encouraging and working with its superb interpreter pool in assisting them in completing the written component of the certification, and supporting those interpreters whose target languages have oral certification exam.
Within the next few years, all interprters will need to be certified in order to keep any job in Massachussetts and possibly nationwide. Soon there will be a mandate that all interpreters have a BA, plus interpreting training to be qualified for the certification.
How do I know that CCCS, Inc.TM interpreters are qualified?
All of our interpreters go through rigorous testing, that includes written and oral exams prior to working with us. As well, all of our interpreters must have completed at least 40 hours of training in their field, with completing a 54-60 hour training, plus an 8 hour foundation assessment where we individually evaluate each interpreter’s skills in regards to interpreting, ethics, HIPAA, Confidentiality, Individual Privacy, Healthcare Safety Awareness, Sexual Harassment, and customer relations.
Once an interpreter has been contracted by CCCS, Inc.TM then their progress is continuously monitored to assure that our interpreters are delivering the quality expected of them. Random shadowing of the interpreting session and continuous education courses help us to evaluate an interpreter’s progress. The medical and legal fields are always changing and we expect our interpreters to always stay up to date through continuous education.
Regionally and nationally there are recognized languages of lesser diffusion for which finding fully trained and qualified interpreters is difficult due to the small size of the population, or the length of time present in the United States. For these challenging situations, CCCS, Inc.TM conducts a thorough screening of the proposed interpreter to ensure that the combination of interpreting experience, language proficiency and mastery of terminology are adequate for placement in your facility. If we find it necessary to assign one of these interpreters, we will obtain appropriate approval from your organization in writing before assigning the interpreter.
Do you have an ongoing quality assurance process?
For several years, CCCS, Inc.TM has had a Quality Assurance program and Customers can get a monthly report that includes incidents and CCCS, Inc.TM response to them. We also have invested in creating monthly quizzes and on-going mandatory internal trainings for all of our contractor interpreters, so that we can comply with the new regulatory standards from The Joint Commission.
Does CCCS, Inc.TM manage the yearly vaccination status for their interpreters?
Yes, all interpreters at the time of signing a contract with CCCS, Inc.TM need to show proof of updated required vaccinations (PPD, MMR) and suggested Hepatitis Bd. On a yearly basis we manage proof of PPD and we remind interpreters when there are due and remove interpreters from the pool if they do not comply with industry requirements.
Does CCCS, Inc.TM perform yearly Public CORIs on all your staff and interpreters?
Yes, CCCS, Inc.TM pays for a Massachusetts Publicly Accessible Background Check (CORI) on all our staff, interpreters and other consultants who have access to confidential information.
Can CCCS, Inc.TM tailor monthly reports according to our needs?
Yes, when signing your contract with CCCS, Inc.TM please let us know of your company’s specific needs so that we can design for you customized reports through our state of the art access program created by CCCS, Inc.TM We can also compile customized reports that will help you meet the Joint Commission’s standards.
Whom should I contact to provide feedback on CCCS, Inc.TM services?
If you have any questions comments or concerns, you may speak with a member of our staff 24/7, 365 days of the year by calling 781.729.3736 or 1.888.678.2227 (out of state). If it is an emergency, you may contact us at 781.729.3736 and then press 1, or at 781.838.2583 (781.317.6749 pager) after hours, weekends, or on holidays after hours or on the weekends.
Does CCCS, Inc.TM have errors and omissions insurance?
Yes we do, and we provide evidence of general and professional liability insurance to all of our clients that hold a current contract with us.
Do CCCS, Inc.TM interpreters follow the standards that are set out in HIPAA?
Yes, our interpreters undergo extensive screening before they are hired by CCCS, Inc.TM Part of this screening includes checking to see if an interpreter possesses knowledge of HIPAA and if he or she understands its application. Only interpreters that are aware of, and abide by the principles outlined in HIPAA are contracted by CCCS, Inc.TM
How long has CCCS, Inc.TM provided language services?
Active since 1996, CCCS, Inc.TM is a SDO, WBE/PBE certified organization located in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. CCCS can provide coverage throughout the entirety of those two states and also in the Greater New England region if given adequate notice. CCCS is proud to be one of the providers on the Commonwealth of Massachusetts interpretation contract (PRF63). Our mission is to provide professional interpreters for the limited English proficient (LEP) population in the healthcare, mental health, legal, educational, business and community settings.