| Pages in topic: < [1 2] | Working with case managers-Is it the interpreter's responsibility to check on patients? Thread poster: Adriana Johnston
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Ewa Olszowa 
Canada
Local time: 03:33
Polish to English
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Furthermore to my point, I agree with lee roth that it is not always possible to do everyting by the book and various scenarios happens and ocassionaly we cross the boundaries.
But my experience is, that all these small additional tasks can add up to a time consuming jobs distructing us from our regular job. I am getting such requests for extra tasks on a regular basis (not so much in medical interpreting but even when doing translations). For example, I do translate school diplomas and ge... See more Furthermore to my point, I agree with lee roth that it is not always possible to do everyting by the book and various scenarios happens and ocassionaly we cross the boundaries.
But my experience is, that all these small additional tasks can add up to a time consuming jobs distructing us from our regular job. I am getting such requests for extra tasks on a regular basis (not so much in medical interpreting but even when doing translations). For example, I do translate school diplomas and get asked to check with the school abroad for so and so, check with consulate for something, call abroad to check at the goverment office if the application has been processed, do on-line research for fligts, etc. If I refuse stating that I do not provide this kind of services, everyone reacts with surprise "oh, but it is just quick checking...". For everyone it is "just small thing" but if I add up all the people with all these "just small things", I would be doing nothing but providing free administrative assistant services. I did it a couple of times at the beginning and then stopped, as it turned up that I became representative of these people, getting follow up phone calls, etc.
Now, I say that if they need extra assistance, they should hire someone who provides this kind of services - i.e. linguistic consulting - to do these extra tasks and assist them until the case is completed. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Inga Petkelyte
Portugal
Local time: 08:33
Lithuanian to Portuguese
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| Well, we all do extra | Feb 17, 2015 |
lee roth wrote:
is it too much of an effort to be nice and act humanly?
Lee, I'm afraid you misssed the crucial difference here: one thing is to offer extra service because we feel like that, it is our human need, and another thing is when we are requested to do lots of extra services requiring lots of extra time and distracting us from other projects we are working on at the moment.
In one situation, we just cannot act differently, in the other, we feel being exploited. And THAT is wrong.
| | | | Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 03:33
Romanian to English
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| sorry, I did not miss the point | Feb 17, 2015 |
Inga Petkelyte wrote: lee roth wrote:
is it too much of an effort to be nice and act humanly? Lee, I'm afraid you missed the crucial difference here: one thing is to offer extra service because we feel like that, it is our human need, and another thing is when we are requested to do lots of extra services requiring lots of extra time and distracting us from other projects we are working on at the moment. In one situation, we just cannot act differently, in the other, we feel being exploited. And THAT is wrong.
I all the cases I presented above I volunteered, without being asked. Don't get me wrong, I do not do this on a regular basis, but there are some particular situations where the interpreter should act as he feels, not what some abstract rules, code, guide provide.
In the context of the asker's question, it is not such a big deal or hassle to get the information and relay it to the case worker. Personally, I wouldn't have asked this question.
Best,
Lee
| | | | jyuan_us
United States
Local time: 03:33
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
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| To avoid getting yourself into legal trouble | Feb 17, 2015 |
lee roth wrote: Inga Petkelyte wrote: lee roth wrote:
is it too much of an effort to be nice and act humanly? Lee, I'm afraid you missed the crucial difference here: one thing is to offer extra service because we feel like that, it is our human need, and another thing is when we are requested to do lots of extra services requiring lots of extra time and distracting us from other projects we are working on at the moment. In one situation, we just cannot act differently, in the other, we feel being exploited. And THAT is wrong. I all the cases I presented above I volunteered, without being asked. Don't get me wrong, I do not do this on a regular basis, but there are some particular situations where the interpreter should act as he feels, not what some abstract rules, code, guide provide. In the context of the asker's question, it is not such a big deal or hassle to get the information and relay it to the case worker. Personally, I wouldn't have asked this question. Best, Lee
You should only do interpretation, literally speaking.
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Adriana Johnston
United States
Local time: 02:33
English to Spanish
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TOPIC STARTER | It is what I was thinking.. | Feb 18, 2015 |
I'm appreciative for all of your answers and I value your opinion. Like I said, this is really my first direct client, and I am used to only wrorking with agencies who I guess do everything else- I don't know. I do know that before I signed the contract with this client, they mentioned that they were "burned out" with translation agencies, now I realize, that may be they weren't paying enough to do extra tasks, or perhaps they weren't adhering to the contract.
My contract only specifies i... See more I'm appreciative for all of your answers and I value your opinion. Like I said, this is really my first direct client, and I am used to only wrorking with agencies who I guess do everything else- I don't know. I do know that before I signed the contract with this client, they mentioned that they were "burned out" with translation agencies, now I realize, that may be they weren't paying enough to do extra tasks, or perhaps they weren't adhering to the contract.
My contract only specifies interpretation during appointments, and I thought I was just going the extra mile by doing the extra stuff. Think I should re-do the contract. It looks like they are taking advantage. ▲ Collapse
| | | | Liviu-Lee Roth
United States
Local time: 03:33
Romanian to English
+ ...
Adriana Johnston wrote:
I'm appreciative for all of your answers and I value your opinion. Like I said, this is really my first direct client, and I am used to only wrorking with agencies who I guess do everything else- I don't know. I do know that before I signed the contract with this client, they mentioned that they were "burned out" with translation agencies, now I realize, that may be they weren't paying enough to do extra tasks, or perhaps they weren't adhering to the contract.
My contract only specifies interpretation during appointments, and I thought I was just going the extra mile by doing the extra stuff. Think I should re-do the contract. It looks like they are taking advantage.
If they try to take advantage of you on a regular basis, charge them. If it was only an one-time occurrence,
let it go.
You should renegotiate the contract if they expect the extra service.
best,
lee
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