Spanish/English Health Care Interpretation

Serve as a lifeline

Are you fluent in English and Spanish? You can use your skills to positively impact people’s lives as a Spanish/English health care interpreter.

Interpreters are in high demand to bridge the communication gap between health care providers and patients or families who speak limited or no English. Skilled interpreters are essential to ensure that people have access to quality physical and mental health care, can understand a diagnosis and are able to make informed decisions.

The Alverno difference

Whether you are majoring in nursing, psychology, social work or other fields, Alverno’s Spanish/English Health Care Interpretation courses will equip you with unique, in-demand skills. You will learn the technical aspects of interpreting, study communication across cultures and prepare to address ethical challenges.

We embrace hands-on, interactive learning, including in-class role playing, projects and group work. You’ll participate in a simulation in Alverno’s clinical nursing facilities, where high-tech mannequins speak Spanish while you interpret in a hospital-like setting. Learning continues off campus through an internship, giving you real-world experience and connections before you graduate.

Alverno is home to a welcoming and inclusive community of students from diverse backgrounds. As Wisconsin’s first Hispanic Serving Institution, we are committed to the success of our Latinx students, from enrollment to graduation, and are home to such student organizations as the Hispanic Nurses Association and the student chapter of the Hispanic Professionals of Greater Milwaukee.

As an Alverno Spanish/English Health Care Interpretation student, you will learn how to:

• Communicate in both Spanish and English, using the specialized vocabulary of the health care field in both languages.
• Act as a cultural mediator using your understanding of the meaning of culture, cultural proficiency, and issues related to transcultural communication, specifically as this relates to the Latinx culture.
• Accurately interpret in a variety of Spanish/English health care settings by utilizing your learned skills in specialized vocabulary, effective listening, recall, positioning, register, and non-verbal language.
• Operate as a health care interpreter that recognizes and understands the cultural impact and influence of your role.
• Integrate your understanding of ethical standards in health care interpretation within your interpretive practice.

“In the Spanish-English health care interpretation program, we learn not just about the language but also about the cultural aspects of interpretation. We learn how to navigate cultural barriers, and what to do when we need to relay messages around words that don’t have direct translations.”

—Jessica, psychology major and Spanish-English health care interpretation minor, class of 2021

Alverno Spanish/English Health Care Interpretation students are ready for careers at:

• Hospitals and clinics
• Community organizations
• Video remote interpreting
• Freelance interpreting and translation
• Language agencies
• And more!