Our professional Mandarin interpreters specialize legal, medical, pharmaceutical, business interpretation, and conference interpretation (medicine, nursing, law, regulations, IT, energy, environment, and public policies). Our interpreters are accredited in languages and hold advanced degrees in specialty areas. Below are some tips for clients and the types of events for which we provide interpretation regularly.
Step 1: Decide your target audience
Interpretation refers to the rendition of spoken words. Not all spoken Chinese is the same. The three major Chinese dialects are Mandarin, Cantonese, and Foo-chow. It is essential to retain interpreters for the right dialect. When requesting Chinese interpretation services, you want to first determine who your target audience is, and whether Mandarin interpreters or interpreters for another dialect are needed. For a more detailed comparison of the Chinese dialects, read our blog: Spoken Chinese: Mandarin or Cantonese?
Step 2: Find your Mandarin interpreters: Native speakers of the dialect
The next step is to find interpreters who are native speakers of the specific dialect. If you have more than one interpreter, make sure all the interpreters are native speakers of the dialect.
Step 3: Find your Mandarin interpreters: Domain knowledge
The importance of interpreters’ domain knowledge cannot be overstated. If your conference or litigation is highly technical, try to find interpreters who have background knowledge, work experience, or in-depth training in the specific field.
Step 4: Find your Mandarin interpreters: Interpretation credentials
To achieve premium quality, search for interpreters who are certified by state courts (there is no federal court certification available for Chinese). The court credential exams are very stringent, and the court interpreter certification is one of the best credentials available to attest to interpreter competency.
For Chinese interpretation services, hire interpreters who are certified for that specific dialect if such qualifications are available.
For in-person communications, make sure that you request interpreters, not translators. Compared to translation which allows translators time to consult dictionaries and resources and to deliberate on word choices, interpretation is instantaneous and requires very different skill sets from that of translating. Read more for Skill Comparison: Translators vs. Interpreters.
To learn more about our areas of specialty, please visit:
Conference Interpretation Services
Deposition Interpretation Services
Court Interpretation Services
Business Interpretation Services