‍

There is a lot to think about before hiring an interpreter, while in most cases you need one at short notice. Therefore, we have listed five points that you should take into account to ensure that your message is conveyed correctly to the recipient. If you follow them, you can establish effective communication with all your patients, customers or employees.

‍1. Choose the right interpreter provider according to your needs‍

Choosing the right intermediary of interpreters, to ensure your needs, is A and O. Since the need for interpretation can often come suddenly, with short foresight, is rapidity and simplicity two key words to follow when choosing an intermediary. For emergency bookings, the cut-off time at DigitalTolk is 2-15 seconds, which makes us Sweden's fastest interpreter service.

‍Quickness and simplicity However, we must never compromise peace of mind. Whether you need an interpreter for a migrant in a trauma unit in a week or for a patient in an emergency department right away, peace of mind important. Our unique booking system automatically ensures the best match, and we have a 99.8% occupancy rate. With us you will also find interpreters for smaller languages.

‍2. Location or distance interpretation, what to choose?‍

We recommend in most cases distance interpretation by phone or video call as it is more cost effective, more sustainable and the system has more interpreters to choose from.

In particularly sensitive cases, such as issues involving children or sensitive care issues, we recommend instead a so-called contact interpretation where the interpreter is in place. Through our flexible booking system, the assignment is primarily given to the interpreter, within your specifications, who is closest to you geographically.

‍3. The right knowledge, characteristics and experiences‍

The right knowledge, characteristics and experience can be decisive factors in choosing an interpreter. At DigitalTolk, all interpreters are carefully selected. Of course, language skills are assessed, but other training and knowledge are also taken into account. In the booking platform, you can filter by the level of training or type of training you want the interpreter to have, for example, if you need a legal or medical interpretation, as well as geographical distance and gender.

‍4th. Professionalism‍

Interpreters should behave in a professional manner. In order to ensure a professional treatment of our interpreters, you as the client leave feedback immediately after the interpretation assignment. The interpreter also provides feedback, which allows us to know which requesters and interpreters work best together. If you want to book the same interpreter again, this can be done easily via the platform.

‍5. Good interpretive practice‍

An interpreter must follow Kammarkollegiet's guidelines for interpreters contained in the publication “Good Interpretation”, as all interpreters at DigitalTolk do. The publication collects the requirements which, for reasons of legal certainty, should be imposed on professional interpreters.

If you have any other questions about what to consider before hiring an interpreter, please feel free to contact us HERE.