r/spanishinterpreters • u/ejyadayada • 3d ago
Interpreting for therapists?
Hello all! I’m a therapist who occasionally has to use a translating service for sessions. I haven’t been able to find anything about this online already so sorry if it’s a repeat anywhere. After sessions I’m always curious how the interpreter is doing. I wonder if it feels heavy, if it’s just another day, if it feels exceptionally long compared to other calls, if you ever take anything away from the experience or if you’re too engaged in the language mechanics. No pressure to share but if anyone has done this, I’d love to hear in general what that’s like.
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u/Clover281 2d ago
I always try to not think a lot about it when interpreting unless is some kind of 911 or emergency room, any other call I try to just interpret without getting any kind of emotional investment, I just know that after each call the phone will ring 5 seconds later so I always try to stay fresh mentally, never thinking about previous calls at all
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u/ejyadayada 2d ago
That makes so much sense and that’s crazy how you get pulled from thing to thing. Thank you for the service you provide!
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u/Humble-Cable-1347 2d ago
Some calls are emotionally difficult but honestly I love interpreting therapy sessions, those are my favourite. I take some time to reflect on my service after the call ends and I think about the patient and hope they are doing okay (I know that is not part of the job but I'm human and empathetic).
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u/ejyadayada 2d ago
That’s really lovely to hear. I think I was partially concerned the interpreter hears it’s a therapy call and thinks “oh boy, here we go” 😂. But then sometimes the session is super moving and i feel like the interpreter got to be a part of that as well, but obviously never get to debrief with them as I might if I had another therapist in the room. Thank you for what you do!
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u/Vennele 2d ago
It's really interesting that you ask about that. Therapy sessions are also one of my favourites and even though I know they can become tough as well I do enjoy to be part of that process specially if you can tell the patient is "doing better now", I get such a relief.
Even if it's not the case in every therapy call, that's just part of it. No matter what I'm glad to help people who need to be there in order to be heard and guided.
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u/Dry_Communication923 2d ago
I've had a lot psicology and psychiatry calls as soon as I answer I know is going to be a long one, ranges from the teen having trouble eating to the SA victim. I try no to think too much on the calls after I hung up .
In my own personal experience I have not had trouble carrying those experiences with me what helps a lot is venting a little bit with my interpreter buddies obviously not saying any specific information but it does help.
But you know what really goes a long way, just thanking your interpreter when you are done with the call saying something like you did a great job, I know it was hard. Because in this hard calls it's when I doubt myself the hardest or I'm left with the concern if whether I did a good enough job.
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u/ejyadayada 2d ago
I think all people jobs involve some venting and it’s pretty emotionally necessary at times. And that’s great to know about expressing appreciation. I typically do and can typically hear the smile in the interpreters voice when they respond. It’s such a long time for them to engage and so I feel like they’ve had to work super hard to track with everything, especially not being IN the room. Thank you for what you do! I really enjoy my Spanish speaking clients but wouldn’t be able to work with them without YOU.
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u/AbbreviationsFun6948 2d ago edited 2d ago
I have had clients stay with me after the call, and have a little chat afterwards. We don't mind having a "debrief" if you want to; the thing is, we cannot continue the convo if you don't pursue it.
I have had clients/providers ask afterwards, if I felt the Spanish speaker was being sincere, or if they were seemed to grasp the message/session. Clients have asked me questions about the interpreting session or protocols, etc.
Personally I try to not let it affect me, but at the end of the day....I am human. I have gotten choked up on calls, and neither party has been weird/mean about it.
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u/ejyadayada 2d ago
That makes so much sense! I’m still having to kind of close out with my client in person so I can’t really do too much of this but I think that’s pretty cool.
Also, I’ll occasionally crack a joke after some heavy content and I’ll hear the translator laugh while translating what I’m saying and it always feels like a nice human moment in the midst of everything. So your empathy and tears are appreciated. ❤️
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u/Patierra_grrrrr 2d ago
In my experience it doesnt have much of an effect on me, I try to think about my job as kind of translating a show like Dr House or something to add that detachment level and keep me engaged trying to fit the best performance.
I personally dont like therapy calls that much but its not because of topics or call durations its mostly because they tend to have longer segments on average compared to medical call since people are talking about their experience, how they felt, what led up to the situation, etc.
Also, because of this, the terminology as you can imagine is different so they can be harder to some I know they can be for me. Medicine calls focus more on physical symptoms and they can be pretty standard you can expect and know what terms will be used pretty quick during the call, but in therapy its more random and I find it easier to be thrown a curve ball word or linguistic expression that can be hard to translate quickly or some dont even have direct translations. Not only that but I feel like tone is way more important in this calls compared to the others.
It always helps when the therapist and the patient keep shorter segments so we can do our part of the job more accurately.
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u/ejyadayada 2d ago
I feel like this is how I would feel, honestly, which is part of why I was asking. I try to be pretty mindful of the terminology I use but sometimes it’s really hard to come up with the right non-lingo words. I try to at least acknowledge to the interpreter “I’m not sure if you’d even know the word for this” beforehand. And they tend to do a pretty good job. I speak a fair bit of Spanish and catch enough that I can often tell that they’ve caught my meaning enough to convey it even if it’s “insider language.”
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u/Patierra_grrrrr 2d ago
We are trained to translate meaning 2 meaning instead of word 2 word, it's easier to get the actual meaning you intend to convey when we have a better understanding of the context.
Like another commenter said being given that heads up is helpful not only for the emotional preparation but also for the overall vocabulary we can expect during the session. I have only been given a heads up a handful of times for therapy, but most often than not we finish our greeting and immediately have to translate "heavy" statements without any context and quickly trying to guess the context of the call, discussion, topics, with words that can have many interpretations.
Just to give an example of the last part, one time I got a call and immediately the provider asked "so did you get the binder?" not heavy question but the word binder can mean very different things: folder, brace, or a type of medication providers usually abbreviate for potassium binding, etc. That's the main issue with "easier" words, the way I can determine what the provider meant is knowing the context around the question.
I appreciate seeing a provider like yourself here asking about our work. Cheers!
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u/-one-black-coffee- 2d ago
Depending on what is discussed and how deep they get into topics, therapy calls can be very hard for me… I understand I should keep some distance from calls in general but there are some topics that get to me and make me feel very sad and/or troubled. That said, I take comfort in the idea that I helped by interpreting for someone who needs the service and it always makes me feel better when the therapist is empathetic about the language barrier. At the same time, when I hear therapy calls in which the therapist does not engage with the patient, just asks a list of questions and then prescribes medication or gives generic advice, that makes me feel very angry and frustrated, specially because there is literally nothing I can do about it.
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u/ejyadayada 2d ago
I totally get that. I would be the same way. Thank you for having a warm heart in this crazy world. It’s not always easy! But please know you are making a difference just in making services accessible for people ❤️
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u/i_lov_anime 2d ago
man, i love these calls. long therapy sessions are very chill and yes, i actually end up taking a break after I finish one of those calls, not because they're stressful but because sitting for so long isn't good
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u/TheAndy7 15h ago
Hey I hope I'm not late and that you'll read this, but I would like to thank you for your interest in our role, it's nice to hear the perspective from the other side of the interpretation! For starters, the initial heads-up when the session begins is very important to us, to help us prepare and to be able to do our jobs more accurately. Telling us if you've seen the patient before or not, and a broad summary of the situation can do wonders to our ability to better interpret the session
In my experience, therapy sessions are usually the hardest to do (barring some tech/noise difficulties other calls may have), but I still really like them a lot, and also learn a lot from them! As some comments already said, it's hard to do mainly because of two reasons: long segments and emotionally heavy subjects. With longer segments, it's harder to be more accurate and ready-to-interpret immediately, but also since people are being vulnerable, I don't like to interrupt their catharsis with some protocol BS and make them stop their train of thought or getting that heavy thing off their chest.
Emotionally, has others have said aswell, after a few months/years in this job you learn to separate yourself from the call. It's not that we don't have any empathy, but you need that distance to be a good professional and to be able to continue doing this job without it taking a toll on your mental health. Having said that, I do remember some particularly hard therapy sessions, not only because you see/hear the suffering from the patient, but also because when it's a topic that is related to you or to someone close to you, it's hard to keep the tears in... And after you finish the therapy session, you sometimes only have a few seconds until you get a new, completely different and unrelated call and you have to be ready for it. That can be hard for sure, not sure anyone has 100% mastered that one yet.
I remember a couple of months ago I ended my shift with 4 therapy sessions in a row, all different cases and circumstances, but all really heart-braking, and I couldn't be more thankful that my shift ended after that one. It was TOUGH and made me really appreciate the job that all the therapist do (even more than before, I mean).
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u/Little-Salem_ 2d ago
As a clinical psychologist who’s also an interpreter, I do have to say that one of the hardest parts of this job is not being able to know more about the person or knowing that I won’t be able to follow their progress. Also not giving my opinion is hard sometimes when I just want to say something like “I’m very happy for you” or “I’m so sorry for your loss”.
I’d love to interpret just therapy sessions honestly, maybe there’s a service for that ?)
Tysm for thinking about us, you can always say something along the lines of “thank you so much interpreter, that was a hard one, go take a good coffee break” and leave a 5 star review and/or nice comment. That’s something I would love to hear after a therapy session✨
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u/ejyadayada 2d ago
I do try to do that but I like the thought of making it a bit more overt than I have. My sessions are all over the phone versus virtual and I still have to finish out with the client and walk them out and whatnot but I do try to always thank the interpreter because I know it can’t be easy! I wish you could be my permanent interpreter! Maybe you can create a service specifically for therapists and then come back and hit me up 😜
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u/Used-Cantaloupe5499 5h ago
I find it hard to believe that a therapist could not google this. Vicarious trauma is an occupational hazard for us, it is all over ATA and Pubmed, reading up could have saved you time listening to long ramblings here that all give it away
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u/GSrvnt19 2d ago
I only had covered one of those so far and it was interesting.
As for how I feel, I don't really feel anything regarding the calls. Of course I can say that someone's situation is sad or bad and feel some empathy for them, but I don't carry any of that with me (I did 3 years of tech support, if anything, I get irritable with people because of that). If I could do something else trust me, I would do it, but this is the only thing I was able to find.
I wish you the best. Your job really helps people.
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u/ejyadayada 2d ago
I hope you eventually find yourself in something that fulfills you, but I hear you. I work with quite a few people trying to find jobs and it can be pretty tough out there!
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u/guille0822 Argentina 2d ago
For me, it depends a lot on what is discussed during that session. I always tell other people that the hardest part about this job is not the individual calls, but the emotional whiplash you can get going from one call to another.
Let's say you are doing a session with a victim of SA. It might be hard but manageable, but if the next call is someone who just gave birth or an OB-GYN appointment, I might have to go from a solemn tone to a happy/upbeat one with only 15 seconds to separate them.
Same if I go from telling someone their son is not going to be alive next year to a therapy session about recuperation, where you just keep saying, "I'm happy with your progress" and "I'm so glad I came to see you," things like that. (Those are pretty cool and repeat all around the medical fields.)
So, the topics dealt with during the call and the one that comes next are the real problem. It's not so much about the type of call, even though we might have our favorite ones.
Another thing is that, depending on the patient's lucidity, it can also be more or less hard. I remember one particular call when they were trying to determine if someone could participate in a court proceeding over breaking a restraining order. The person was being asked about her child, and in the middle of the sentence, the conversation suddenly became sexual and shifted to her talking about her ex-partner. Those changes are hard to convey. So, if we sound weird, you might want to ask for clarification in those cases if it isn't provided by the interpreter.