By Sarah-Claire Jordan
Language interpretation in general can come in extremely handy in situations where two parties who don’t have a common language need to interact. Many times, an interpreter is on hand to work with clients for languages that are more common in a certain area. However, when someone speaks a language that no one in the facility can interpret into English and vice versa, a great option is to call a telephone interpretation service and work with an interpreter who is a specialist in the language.
1. In a hospital
The first setting where telephone interpreters become especially important is in a hospital. Many hospitals have interpreters on hand who can work with Spanish speakers or any other common foreign language spoken in the area, but immigrants settle everywhere. Hospitals do not have the budgets to hire a whole slew of different interpreters just in case someone comes in and speaks only Swahili or Turkish. They do, however, have telephones and enough money to pay for a telephone interpreter when need be.
Using a telephone interpreter in a hospital setting also eliminates the need to use family members (especially children) as interpreters. This practice is flawed in several ways. First of all, you will have to take into account any biases the family member may have. They also may not know what certain medical terms mean, and in explaining them to the patient, may give them the wrong information. If they happen to be children, it can be rather traumatizing to have a relative in the hospital in the first place, and having the added pressure of interpreting for them can be too much. It is far better to just call a telephone interpreting service and work with an unbiased specialist.
2. When there is an emergency situation
This situation can be similar to the hospital setting situation, but could happen anywhere. The fact that an emergency situation is occurring means that everyone involved will most likely be very emotional and not be thinking clearly. Even if an actual interpreter could be brought to the scene, sometimes a bit of distance from a situation makes for better interpretation choices. If the interpreter is witnessing the situation, they may get emotional themselves, thus rendering them less capable of interpreting accurately. If you have the time and means to dial 911, you can probably get a telephone interpreter on the line easily to help with the situation. They will be able to remain calm and provide the best assistance possible as they will be interpreting from another location.
3. Making a call to a call center 
Not speaking English very well in the United States leads to many difficulties, including not understanding how things work in English, like online banking for example. Most customer service call centers only have staff that speak English and one other language, usually Spanish. If they receive a call in some other language, they won’t be able to help the caller using their own staff. Just like in a hospital, it’s not worth it for the company to hire interpreters in other languages if they only get a handful of calls in that language. It’s much easier, and cheaper, for them to just phone a telephone interpretation service and make sure the caller gets the help they need.