I recently read an article about the new national certification given to medical interpreters of Spanish in the United States. I think this is actually quite important, especially for the people who are receiving medical services. Unfortunately, these people have a very low level of education.
In addition, they are looking to include languages besides Spanish starting in 2010.
Just like interpreters, agencies should provide some type of specialization in the field of medical attention and offer it to their clients. There is a great deal of written information that falls under this heading that also needs to be translated and made understandable for them. This field is going to explode soon, and it is highly necessary.
Today, there are agencies that specialize in certain fields, some focus on one while others incorporate many. For example, we can find some agencies that work only in legal matters.
My thought is that this depends on, or is related to, the type and size of the agency and on the clients that use its services: their needs and their place in the market.
An efficient, focused agency that is looking to get ahead of the rest must be able to offer specialized services in several fields and languages, in order to always give their clients what they need and to attract new clients.
