Interpretations in Canada: Taking Care of Business and People

From Canada to the World

In a rapidly globalizing economy, Canada is emerging as a prime location for international commerce, immigration, and study. Canada already relies on language services for many purposes, some of which we’ll look at today. Interpretation services rates are more competitive than ever, and this is the perfect time for Canadian businesses to invest in interpretation services to ease their way into a multilingual arena.

Languages of Canada

According to census data from 2016, close to half of all Canadians that speak a language other than English or French reside in Ontario. Of the residents of Toronto, about a quarter of them speak a language other than English or French at home.

Immigration rates are high in Canada right now, at a little over 6 per 1,000 residents, although that is down by 1.4% from 2019. People from all over the world are coming here to live, work, study, and visit, and language services are what makes that possible. In this blog post, we want to focus specifically on interpretation, the conversion of spoken words between languages.

Interpretation Services for Canadian Businesses

Knowing the details of the languages needed is extremely important when it comes to setting up an interpretation project. For instance, when we do interpretation between English and French in Canada, knowing if the French needed for the audience is French Canadian or French for Europe will help select the appropriate interpreter. We cannot assume is French for Canada, we must confirm since there are differences in vocabulary and that can affect the meeting or presentation.

In another case, if the interpretation is between Chinese and English, knowing the Chinese spoken needed is important to select a Mandarin or Cantonese interpreter or the most convenient to be as close as possible to the language in need.

We can tell you how important interpretation services are but showing is always better. Let’s take a look at how businesses use interpretation services every day.

Legal Interpretation

Interpretation for law is an arena in which there is no margin for error. JR Language uses only legal professionals fluent in the source language, target language, and the legal system. Legal interpretation must be localized for languages and the specifics of our laws. Legal interpretation is used for:

Courtroom proceedings, including key accounts by experts.
The discovery process, which is when all parties in a case collect and exchange evidence.
Interviews and testimonials.
Correspondence, like phone calls.
Interactions with law enforcement.
Readings of documents, like wills.

Medical Interpretation

Interpretation for medicine saves lives and ensures better care. Imagine how reassuring it must be to have a professional interpreter on hand when you’re sick or hurt in a place where you don’t speak the local language. Here are a few ways that medical interpretation is used:

Communication between doctor and patient. Sometimes there will be a bilingual medical staff member, but all too often a family member has to be the go-between, and the terminology might not be familiar to them and sometimes family concerns can override communicating the necessary information. Professionals guarantee accuracy.
Doctor-to-doctor communication. For example, an English-speaking brain surgeon encounters a rare case and wants to talk with another brain surgeon in Japan who published a paper on it. That paper was first put through medical document translation so that the doctor could read it and a medical interpreter can help them over a phone or video call so a proper discussion can be held.
Doctors to authorities and the public. This pandemic is a perfect example of medical interpretation being used to help the public, report to government authorities, and inform the media.
Doctors and medical school professors across the world can teach students with interpreted lectures, question and answer sessions, and tutoring. Students can interact with each other to discuss the lessons and exchange notes.

Business interpretation

We’ve written a lot of material on this language blog on how businesses use interpretation services in Canada and all over the world. These are 2 of those previous blogs listed below.

1. Remote Interpretation for Depositions
2. Interpretation for Zoom Calls and Remote Meetings

In general, there are situations in which interpretation help business and people overcome the language barrier:

Client and prospect calls! It’s often best to do business, especially in the getting-to-know-you phase, with direct phone or video calls. Your next big client could be a few interpreted sentences away.
Customer service. A professional interpreter to help you and your customers’ order, troubleshoot, pay, return, and schedule will get you the best results.
Communicating with employees. Legal interpretation comes into play here when dealing with HR matters, company policy training, and safety training.
Communicating with co-workers domestic and overseas. Corporations large and small use remote offices, and your next star salesperson might speak Icelandic, or Gujarati, or Vietnamese or French.
Communicating with vendors, partners, and suppliers. If an Ottawa seafood restaurateur who speaks English wants to talk with a vendor in Indonesia to arrange a deal, interpretation services will make this possible.

It is the responsibility of employers to ensure that their employees receive information in their language of proficiency. We use industry professionals fluent in both languages to ensure quality and specificity. Having a dedicated interpretation and document translation services liaison already in place to welcome prospects elevates your brand in a big way.

Onsite Interpretation Services

You have your choice of interpretation methods to fit your needs. A professional language services company can discuss interpretation rates and the right methods for your project with you.

Simultaneous interpretation, also called conference interpretation, is when the interpreter speaks a beat behind the speaker. If one language is needed, the interpreter can stand by the speaker. If multiple interpreters and languages are needed for a large group, this can be done using headsets with the interpreters in another room or booths. Interpretation can also be accomplished by sitting next to the listener and whispering.

With consecutive interpretation, the first speaker says a few sentences or even a “paragraph,” and the interpreter gives the converted version. Consecutive interpretation is often used in courtrooms, medical settings, small meetings, over the phone, or when multiple languages are being converted by one interpreter.

Remote Interpretation

We provide remote interpretation on-demand by using professionals in different time zones worldwide. Remote on videos, like Zoom interpretation or over-the-phone interpretation, is an excellent option for a hundred different uses, to name a few:

Networking. Your next big client could be on a multilingual networking call. More of us work remotely now than ever before, negating both geographic and linguistic barriers.
Education and training. Interpretation services for Canada allow ideas and information to flow from pole to pole.
Corporate events and conferences. Whether celebrating a merger, an anniversary, or holding a board meeting, business interpretation allows professionals to communicate multilingually with ease and polish.

Let Us Interpret Your Message

Our concepts are only as good as the language that we use to express them to each other. Reaching your target markets and making profitable connections can’t happen without proper communication. Using a professional interpretation company opens up the entire world to your message while you are taking care of people and business in the language that facilitates communication.

Whether you are looking for interpretation services in Toronto or in Vancouver we have a team of professional translators that can assist you with remote translation or on-site interpretation and fulfill all your live multilingual communication in a consecutive or simultaneous style.

Enquire today for interpretation services rates and interpretation options. Our translation company has dedicated language specialists and project managers to ensure that your interpretation project is planned and executed smoothly and thoroughly.