LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT

Why is Language Skills Assessment Important?
Not every bilingual person is qualified to be a professional interpreter, especially in areas such as healthcare. Interpreting in health care settings demands a higher level of language skills than those that are required in conducting day-to-day social conversations. Within health care settings, interpreters face a myriad of different interpreting conditions and challenges.  Interpreting assignments may involve a simple conversation at the reception desk, or pre/post surgery instructions that may involve complicated medical terminology, or a fast-paced exchange in the frantic environment of an emergency room.  Often times, health care interpreters are required to receive complicated information and perform accurate language conversion in a matter of seconds.  Competent health care interpreters must possess superior bilingual language proficiency in addition to a strong grasp of medical terminology in English and the target language.

What Skills Does the Evaluation Assess?
PALS for Health utilizes our language skills assessment exam to evaluate a potential interpreter’s proficiency level in English and in the target language(s).  The 2.5-hour bilingual exam is administered both orally and in writing, and employs five segments to evaluate a potential interpreter for interpreter readiness skills and language proficiency. 

Testing Areas:
  • General Knowledge
  • Grammar and Vocabulary
  • Medical terminology
  • Translation (written)
  • Interpretation (oral)

Who Should Take the Evaluation Exam?
PALS for Health’s Language Proficiency Exam is an excellent assessment tool to determine the bilingual fluency of individuals/staff who serve as interpreters at their respective workplace or health care facilities.  PALS for Health recognizes the difficulty in selecting qualified bilingual-staff, and the lack of affordable and verifiable bilingual assessment tools for employers and health care providers. PALS for Health offers to administer the language assessment on behalf of employers and health care providers at highly competitive rates. 

Please contact PALS for Health at 213-553-1818 or by email at [email protected] for a quote or for more information.