Imagine you’re working the front desk of a hospital or law firm when a client who doesn’t speak the same language arrives. At that moment, you need a quick, effective way to arrange for an interpreter. In language services, an interpretation requestor is your go-to person responsible for setting up, coordinating, and overseeing live interpreting sessions. They could be a hired language access specialist or any member of your team assigned to take charge in these scenarios. By understanding the requestor’s role, you can make the language service process easier and ensure your clients or patients receive the support they need.
In this article, we’ll walk you through the responsibilities of a requestor, the typical process for requesting interpreting services on language service platforms, and best practices for achieving successful communication.
The Role of a Requestor
Unlike translation, which involves converting written content from one language to another, interpreting is the real-time language support for spoken conversion between speakers of different languages. While translation allows for careful review, interpreting happens on the spot, requiring interpreters to interpret the speaker’s words and intent instantly.
Read our article: Translator vs. Interpreter: What’s the Difference?
This is where the interpretation requestor comes in. They’re in charge of setting up these time-sensitive sessions by specifying details like the pair of spoken languages, industry context, and other relevant information your organization might be concerned with. This ensures that the right interpreter is matched to each session, helping to deliver accurate, meaningful communication in high-stakes environments such as healthcare, legal, and social services.
Requesting On-Demand Interpreting
A patient walks in without an appointment, speaking another language. They need to be treated or seen by a doctor now. What do you do? On-demand interpreting allows you to quickly connect with a remote interpreter to communicate with the patient. Requests are typically processed promptly by language service companies.
Contracting interpreting services from a language service provider and setting up access to their interpreters is your first step. Once that’s set up, here’s a step-by-step overview of how it works:
- Submit Your Request: Select your interpreting mode (phone or video), specify the target language, and mention any preferences you may have, such as the interpreter’s gender or your relevant experience.
- Fast Matching: Requesting systems connect you with an interpreter within seconds (an average of 13 seconds for Boostlingo). This ensures that language support is available right when you need it.
- Session Management: During the session, you have complete control over call management with options to monitor call duration, adjust the interpreting format, and track session details.
Requesting Pre-Scheduled Interpreting
For requests that don’t need immediate fulfillment, Boostlingo offers pre-scheduled interpreting, allowing organizations to plan sessions and ensure interpreter availability. Here’s a streamlined breakdown of how it works:
- Initial Request Submission: Submit your pre-scheduled request through the provided online form, specifying details like preferred date and time, interpreting mode (phone or video), language pair, and any specialized requirements like industry context.
- Review and Confirmation: Boostlingo’s team reviews the details, confirms interpreter availability, and sends a preliminary confirmation with a booking reference. This step aligns your session requirements with the requestor’s specifications.
- Interpreter Assignment: When your session is confirmed, Boostlingo assigns an interpreter from the Boostlingo Hub (BHub), our network of language professionals. We’ll factor in language, experience, and any requestor specifications, such as gender or experience.
- Session Preparation and Reminder: Before the scheduled time, Boostlingo will send session reminders to both you (the requestor) and the interpreter. This ensures everyone is prepared and available for the session.
- Session Execution: At the appointed time, the interpreter joins via the designated phone or video platform, ensuring a smooth, uninterrupted interpreting experience.
- Post-Session Review: After the session, you can get tracking and reporting on session details, allowing requestors to review and manage their service usage effectively.
Integrating pre-scheduled interpreting into your language support workflow can help with planning, flexibility, and assurance of interpreter availability. This is especially useful for planned events like medical appointments, legal hearings, and educational meetings.
Best Practices for Requesting Interpretation Services
Specify Language and Dialect: Be specific about your preferences to get culturally appropriate support. If you need interpreting for Spanish, specifying between varieties (e.g., Latin American Spanish vs. European Spanish) and regional variants (e.g., Mexican Spanish vs. Castilian Spanish) will help you get the right interpreter.
Provide Context: Share essential background details with interpreters, such as medical conditions or legal terms, to enable accurate, context-aware interpreting.
Define Your Preferences: Include any specific requests for interpreter experience or skills, such as familiarity with medical terminology or experience in social services.
Avoiding Common Requestor Mistakes
To maximize accuracy, avoid these pitfalls when requesting interpreting services:
Incorrect Language Variant: Confirm the exact language variant. For example, selecting Brazilian Portuguese when you need European Portuguese can lead to confusion.
Insufficient Details: Detailed requests help interpreters prepare, especially in fields with technical terms like legal or healthcare.
Interpreting Made Easy
Boostlingo’s platform takes the guesswork out of interpreting requests. With on-demand and pre-scheduled interpreting options, you can focus on delivering high-quality services without worrying about complex back-end processes. You’ll get access to the requestor dashboard, letting you track active, pending, and completed interpreting requests. This gives you full oversight of your language service needs.
Explore our on-demand interpreting services and see how Boostlingo makes requesting interpretation support seamless and efficient.
