15 Tips for Communicating with Your Client ; Through an Interpreter

  1. Allow enough time. It may take longer to complete an interpreted interview.
  2. Allow time for introductions. Briefly explain your role and the purpose of the interview. Allow the interpreter to explain his/her role.
  3. Arrange seating so that you have eye contact with your client.
  4. Speak directly to your client, not to the interpreter.
  5. Your client will appreciate it if you take time to get the correct pronunciation of the client’s name.
  6. Maintain control of the interview. The interpreter’s role is to accurately and completely convey the messages of both speakers, not to direct the interview.
  7. In general, speak at normal speed, in a normal tone of voice. The interpreter will let you know if you are speaking too quickly.
  8. You may find that speaking in shorter sentences and pausing from time to time will assist the interpreter.
  9. Be supportive if the interpreter interrupts for clarification or to ensure accuracy.
  10. Avoid relying on double negatives, idioms, slang, and jokes.
  11. The interpreter may interrupt to alert you to communication breakdown because of cultural differences, so that you and your non-English speaking client can resolve them.
  12. In general, do not have “sidebar” discussions with the interpreter. Neither should the non-English speaker. If you wish to clarify anything with the interpreter, explain to your client what you are doing. Equally, the interpreter should explain the nature and content of any discussion with your client and should interpret what your client has said.
  13. Give your client opportunity to ask for clarification of anything he/she may not have understood.
  14. When checking for understanding, ask your client to repeat back what he/she has heard. Ask “What do you understand?” rather than “Do you understand?”
  15. If appropriate, summarize decisions that have been made.

Thank you to Nathan Garber of Nathan Garber & Associates and  Across Languages Translation and Interpretation for permission to reprint this article.

Founded in 1989, Across Languages is dedicated to ensuring equal access for non-English speakers in the fields of health, law, education, community and government services. Our goal is that professionals and others working with non-English speaking clients will be able to communicate effectively through qualified, well-trained, ethical and impartial interpreters.

 

Other Diversity Websites

Walk A Mile: The Immigrant Experience in Canada
www.nfb.ca
Walk A Mile is the web site supporting a four-part television series produced in BC. The shows are available for purchase in video format (English and French). The final video focuses on employment. They also provide a facilitator’s manual and participant workbooks. The site also features a video clip from each show. There are articles, resource suggestions and links in the three sections of the site: Immigration and Settlement, Language Challenges and Employment Issues.

Settlement.Org: Information and Resources for Immigrants to Ontario, Canada
www.settlement.org 
This site which is managed by OCASI – (Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants) offers information on a variety of topics, including employment. They cover :

  • Employment Standards, (Basic Working Conditions, Health and Safety at Work, Human Rights at Work)
  • Financial Assistance (Employment Insurance, Ontario Works)
  • Finding a Job (the usual topics, including some resume samples for downloading)
  • Foreign-Trained Professionals and Tradespeople (Employment Credentials Assessment, Working in Your Trade, Educational Documents Evaluation)
  • Job Listings (Online Job Listings, Applying for Jobs Online)
  • Labour Market Information (LMI)
  • Self-employment
  • Social Insurance Number & Other Official Documents
  • Volunteering

Canadian Information Centre for International Credentials
http://www.cicic.ca
Contact Point often receives requests for information on the requirements for specific trades and professions. This site has a comprehensive list of more than 100 of these very popular fact sheets at www.cicic.ca/professions/indexe.stm. They also have information for students educated abroad applying for admission to Canadian universities and colleges, and a list of provincially-mandated Evaluation Services and their contact information.

 

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Other Diversity Articles and Websites

The Invisible Wall
Winter 2001-2002
Say What?: Effectively Communicating with Clients with Speech Disabilities
Winter 2001-2002
Career Counselling in a Culturally Diverse Setting
Winter 2001-2002
Employment Action For HIV Positive Clients
Winter 2001-2002
The Young and The Enterprising
Spring 2000
A Call to Counsel Foreign-Trained Professionals and Tradespeople
Fall 1999
Counselling the Released Young Offender
Summer 1999
Academic and Career Choice For Lesbian and Gay Young Adults
Spring 1999 
Counselling Deaf and Hard of Hearing Clients – Part 1: Perspectives on Deafness
Fall 1998
Counselling Deaf and Hard of Hearing Clients – Part 2: Communication Issues
Winter 1998
Orientation to Trades and Technology Curriculum and Resource Book: A way in for women
Winter 1997/8

 

Other Diversity Articles
available through
The NATCON Papers/
Les Actes du CONAT

 

What’s so Great About Being an Experienced Worker?
Abstract and article
Counselling interculturel et pratiques innovatrices en régions
Abstract and article
Muddling Through: What Do Teens Want from Career Counsellors?
Abstract and article
Le counselling auprès des Premières Nations
Abstract and article
The Young and The Enterprising: A Study of Youth Self-employment in Ontario
Abstract and article
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Counselling Generation Xers

By Lise Simard

What impact will the massive layoffs in many economic sectors have on the integration of “Generation Xers” in the workplace? With this question, André Filion, launched his presentation at the conference hosted by the IACMP Montreal Chapter, on December 4th. An industrial psychologist, André Filion is founder and President of André Filion & Associates (www.filion.ca), a prominent consulting group specializing in industrial psychology and career management. His firm a founding member of a pan-Canadian group, Verity Filion Inc. (www.verityfilion.com) and a global partner of Lee Hecht Harrison.

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A.C.A. @ N’Awlins

By Marc Verhoeve, Cybertraining Consultant

A stern-wheeler announces its arrival at the Riverwalk dock. A street jazz-trio performs on Bourbon Street as the exquisite aroma of Cajun cuisine wafts through the French Quarter. This is New Orleans [pronounced N’Awlins], the host city for the 2002 American Counseling Association Annual Conference.

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Mentoring Connections – Mentorat Canada

By Kamla Ramnanuth, Women in Motion Career Education

Mentoring Connections – Mentorat Canada National conference surpassed attendance targets and expectations! This high-profile, exciting event was held on January 17,18,19, 2002 at Toronto Colony Hotel and over 300 delegates attended from all provinces across Canada. The event was co-sponsored by Human Resources Development Canada and The Counselling Foundation of Canada and was organized by Women in Motion Career Education.

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Publications + Products

Rewired, Rehired or Retired? A Global Guide for the Experienced Worker
Robert. K. Critchley, Jossey Bass, 2002
ISBN: 0 -7879-6219-8

The Career Adventurers Fieldbook: A Holistic Approach to Organizing Your Life and Career
Des Dearlove and Stuart Crainer, Wiley, 2002
ISBN: 1-84112-044-8

Guide To Internet Job Searching 2002-2003
Margaret Dikel and Frances Roehm, McGraw Hill, 2002
ISBN: 0071383107

Your 24/7 Online Job Search Guide
Lamont Wood, Jossey Bass, 2002
ISBN: 0-471-12899-6

A Quick Guide To the 16 Types in Organizations: Understanding Personality Differences in the Workplace
Linda V. Berens, et al, Telos Publications; 2002
ISBN: 0971214417

Employers’ Guide to Canadian Campuses 2002 Edition
CACEE, 2002
Product Number: E1520

Immigrant Settlement Counselling: Training Guide 2002 Edition
Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI)
www.ocasi.org/index.php?qid=751&catid=146

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Upcoming Events

Providing Culturally Competent Disability Services to Persons Born in other Countries , The Center for International Rehabilitation Research Information and Exchange (CIRRIE) , Washington, D.C., USA, May 6 – 8, 2002

4th Opportunities Conference, The Ontario Network of Employment Skills Training Projects (ONESTEP) and The Ontario Alliance of Career Development Practitioners (OACDP), Hamilton, ON. May 8 – 10, 2002

Addressing Skills Shortage in Trades & Technology:Finding Solutions, Business Council of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC., May 9 – 10, 2002

Getting Our Heads Together, Ontario School Counsellors Association and Ontario Guidance Leadership Association, Kitchener, ON. May 15, 2002

New Century – New Models, The International Council for Open and Distance Education Conference, Calgary, AB, May 26 – 29, 2002

AMTEC 2002, Association for Media and Technology in Education in Canada, Regina, SK. May 29 – June 1, 2002

IACMP International Conference, The International Association of Career Management Professionals, Toronto, ON. June 18-23, 2002

CACUSS 2002, Canadian Association of College & University Student Services, Fredericton, NB, June 23-26, 2002

 

 

Monthly Job Developers Online Network Group @ Contact Point C-SPACE

Join fellow practitioners for our monthly Job Developers’ Networking and Chat sessions at C-SPACE. These sessions are facilitated by Contact Point Volunteer Lisa Hoekstra. Discuss strategies and tips; broaden your networks!

Tuesday, May 21, 2002 at 2:00pm – 3:00pm (EST)

Monday, June 17 at 2:00pm – 3:00pm (EST)

Monday, July 15 at 2:00pm – 3:00pm (EST)

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Book Club

Beyond the Basics: Real World Skills for Career Practitioner 
By Roberta Neault, Ph.D., CCC, RRP
Life Strategies Ltd., 2001
available online from www.lifestrategies.ca
or by phone (toll-free) at 1-866-681-2211.

Review by Victoria Morris-Ott, BA, MEd, RRP

The word guide has three specific meanings: to guide(v), as to direct; a guide(n) as a leader; or, the guide (n), as in a handbook. In “Beyond the Basics,” Dr. Roberta Neault invites us to “use the following information as a guide to your practice and a prompt for further exploration and conversations with your clients.” Drawing together knowledge gleaned, the guidebook includes gems of practical knowledge, mined from years of experience in the field, and hundreds of conferences, courses and conversations with colleagues

Everyday career development tends to boil down to these very basic questions: it’s what our clients need to know, AND it’s what we need to know if we are going to understand, motivate and guide our clients.

“Who are you?”
“Where are you going?”
“What do you need to get there?”
“What is your plan to make this happen?”

The book highlights specific issues which may be presented by an individual client with diverse and complex needs: age, cognitive limitations, criminal records, addictions, emotional/physical disabilities, ethnicity, gender, location, language and socio-economic status are some the specific career issues presented. Far from prescriptive, “Beyond the Basics” presents a tidy summary or relevant background or underlying theory, before listing ways that career practitioners can help individuals address their personal and professional development.

Ever want to know you have been doing a good job? Read through the listings, and pat yourself on the back for using best practices. Feeling a little stale, isolated or stumped? Check again for ideas to incorporate into your next session.

“Beyond the Basics: Real World Skills for Career Practitioners” is like having coffee (or tea) with a good friend and colleague, someone who cares about you and the work you do, and who will brainstorm with you about your next steps, with your client, or with your own career development. This is a guide to help you be a guide as you guide that individual sitting beside you every day at work. I’ll have a Cappuccino. What about you?

 

 

Victoria Morris-Ott is a career practitioner and instructor from British Columbia’s Lower Mainland. She has worked with very diverse populations including youth-at-risk, federal parolees, WCB referrals, abused women and community clients in career planning and job finding programs. Victoria is currently teaching in Douglas College’s Continuing Education programs and has recently started taking course to teach English internationally. She has 5 children and 5 1/2 grandchildren.

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Career-LifeSkills Resources Inc.

Make the Right Choice…

Did you know that our 5-day MBTI qualifying program is the most content rich, experientially based workshop in North America? You will leave this course well prepared to immediately put type theory into practice with:

  • multiple outlines for conducting introductory workshops
  • reproducible masters for handouts and overheads
  • more than 50 exercises to use when working with type theory

Can’t come to us for training? We would be delighted to come to you for an in-house program for groups of 10 or more. Browse our site or call for details on our high quality training prgrams, including: You and the Career Development Process, True Colors, FIRO-B, Strong Interest Inventory, and the COPSystem.

 

116 Viceroy Road, Unit B1 – Concord, Ontario, L4K2M2

Tel. (905)760-0111 or toll-free in Canada 1-877-680-0200 Fax. (905)760-0113

www.career-lifeskills.com

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Collaborative Career Development Practitioner Program Bursary

Collaborative Career Development Practitioner Program
Bursary Application


Next Deadline:
August 15, 2002

 

Other Deadlines:

The deadline for proposals for
E-Learn 2002
World Conference on E-Learning in Corporate, Government, Healthcare, & Higher Education
has been extended to May 7, 2002.

For conference and RFP details, visit www.aace.org/conf/eLearn/default.htm

Student Affairs & Services Association (SASA) Awards

Conference / New Professionals Award
Student Leadership Award
Deadline: May 10, 2002

Student Affairs Recognition Award
Program/Service of the Year
Program Grants
Regional Professional Develop Grants
Deadline: May 24, 2002

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