This month we’re honoring Maryem Rah as Interpreter of the month. Maryem is a Qualified Medical and Legal Interpreter at Affordable Language Services, and also takes on Educational and Social interpreting roles. She’s always willing to juggle her schedule to accommodate a heavy load of interpretation jobs. We feel we’re truly sending one of our most capable interpreters when we assign her to highly specialized requests that demand someone with vast experience and knowledge.
Seeing as Maryem is always on top of her game, we wanted to ask her about the job that she’s so passionate about, she’s always willing to take on more.
What does your job entail?
Communication, interaction, and multitasking as several parties can be speaking at the same time.
What languages do you speak?
Arabic, French, Russian, Berber and Hassania.
Are there any concepts/terms that are especially difficult to translate or interpret? Why?
One of the concepts that are difficult to interpret is cultural matter and sentiments. I think that the interpreter needs to be familiar with the culture in order to transfer the message well. Feelings are also very hard to interpret as the interpreter needs to make sure that the provider understands how the patient feels about a certain situation.
What made you decide to become an interpreter?
What made me become an interpreter is first my passion towards languages. I grew up speaking two (Arabic and French) and my further studies allowed me to be fluent in several other language (English and Russian). Another reason why I decided to be a medical interpreter is the fact that I pursued studies in the field of pharmacy. So being able to interpret technical words would not be a problem.
What are the most challenging aspects of interpreting? The most rewarding?
The most challenging aspects about being a medical interpreter is working with little kids and being there when they go through one of the hardest times of their lives for those that have severe health issues. The most rewarding is watching the progress of these kids getting back their health and having a smile on their face again. I think that every interpreter has a big contribution in the making of this joy.