Need to work in the legal sector? What happens when language barriers get in the way? For clients and counsel, facilitating communication often come in form of telephonic interpretation services.
Phone interpretation, also known as over-the-phone interpreting (OPI), involves a three-way call between two people and a professional interpreter. It is sometimes called phone translation. Translation services, though, deal more with the written word. And interpreting services are about the spoken word. At JR Language, our interpreters are trained to handle the specific needs of various industries. This includes healthcare providers, government agencies, and many other business sectors.
Some Examples of Using Legal Phone Interpretation Services
- Legal Consultations: Professional interpreters are vital to ensuring accurate communication between attorneys and clients who speak another language or have limited English proficiency. Using phone interpretation services (and legal interpretation services in general) helps these clients communicate effectively with their legal counsel.
- Client Intake: When clients speak a different language than their law firms, telephonic interpretation services ensure the legal team gets the necessary information. For client intake sessions or information interviews, using interpreting services allows attorneys to gather the information they need to assess the scope of legal needs.
- Court Proceedings: Phone interpreters are vital during court proceedings where witnesses, clients, and other professionals are non-English speakers. Our professional interpreters provide real-time services during court sessions. This includes hearings, trials, and depositions.
- Immigration Proceedings: Clients in immigration cases often come from diverse linguistic backgrounds and may not speak English well or at all. Phone interpreters facilitate accurate communication for immigration interviews, hearings, and applications.
Benefits of Legal OPI Interpretation
Phone interpreting is a consecutive interpretation service. The interpreter listens to the first party, waits for them to finish, and interprets what was said to the second party. These interpreters can work onsite or remotely with one of the parties. In doing so, phone interpreters empower greater language access and effective legal communication.
- Immediate Access to Communication: Legal matters can move quickly, and time is of the essence for court deadlines. Professional interpreters offer immediate access to professional interpretation services in various languages. This immediately available language expertise helps enable seamless communication between all parties involved, no matter the native language (or languages.)
- Professional Interpreters with Legal Experience: It can be challenging for a layperson to read through legal documents without assistance. Interpretation services allow you to work with professional linguists who speak the necessary languages and have experience in the legal field. This subject matter expertise allows the interpreter to quickly process, understand, and interpret complex legal communications between parties without confusion.
- Confidentiality: Attorney/client privilege is the backbone of a successful legal relationship. Phone interpreters come into this relationship and are equally responsible for the absolute confidentiality of client information. Telephonic interpretation platforms must have a robust confidentiality agreement and a secure platform to protect sensitive calls.
- Cultural Competency: Effective communication is more than linguistic accuracy; much of our communication is nonverbal and cultural, which adds to the language barrier. Phone interpreters must provide fair and impartial communication. To do so, they undergo training to learn the nuances of cultural communication.
- Accessibility and Inclusivity: Interpreting services provide on-demand interpretation services to facilitate communication for people who may otherwise struggle to communicate with lawyers, judges, and other legal stakeholders. Seeking to assist non-English-speaking clients? Communicate a court ruling to a multicultural family? Work with phone interpreters. We promote accessibility and inclusivity throughout the legal system.
JR Language: Specialized Interpretation Services
We offer interpretation services for a range of industries. Our interpreters are trained to provide accurate and culturally sensitive interpretations.
Government Interpreting Services
Our interpreters are familiar with government protocols. We provide accurate interpretations for official documents and communications. This makes government services accessible to all citizens, regardless of their language.
Medical Interpreting Services
Our interpreters are trained to handle sensitive medical information. We deliver accurate interpretations for patients and healthcare professionals. This ensures that medical consultations, diagnoses, and treatments are communicated clearly and accurately.
Business Interpreting Services
Our interpreters have experience working with businesses in various industries, including finance, law, and technology. They provide accurate and culturally sensitive interpretations that facilitate effective business communication.
All our interpreters are thoroughly vetted, trained continuously, and available in multiple languages. Whether you are dealing with sensitive medical information, official government communications, or complex business transactions, our interpreters ensure that your message is conveyed accurately and effectively.
Challenges of Phone Interpreting for the Legal Industry
Phone interpreting services, however, are not without some challenges:
- Technical limitations. OPI is based on technology, and technological glitches such as poor Wi-Fi connections, problems with audio quality, connectivity issues, and dropped calls disrupt the interpretation process and impede effective, timely communication. Reliable, high-quality audio connections and a strong cell phone signal or wired phone connection can overcome this.
- Lack of visual cues. Much of our communication is nonverbal, but phone calls do not provide visual cues. Not being able to see the speaker’s body language, facial expressions, or gestures makes it challenging for the interpreter to grasp the full content of the message and convey it accurately.
- Cultural nuances. Nonverbal communication is culturally dependent, and a lack of visual cues can also lead to confusion about cultural nuances. Interpreting cultural references, specific idioms, or complex legal terminologies requires an in-depth understanding of the culture of the language being interpreted.
- Overlapping speech. In fast-paced conversations or large group settings, multiple people may speak simultaneously, overlapping their words. This makes it difficult for an interpreter to convey a message accurately to a client, particularly when consecutive interpretation is needed.
An Alternate Solution: Video Remote Interpretation
Many of the challenges and limitations of phone interpretation can be overcome by using video remote interpreting. These services are similar, but where OPI uses a traditional phone connection, VRI uses video services like Zoom or a custom platform we provide. VRI facilitates accurate and timely legal communications while allowing parties to have a face-to-face connection, see each other’s body language, and foster a sense of trust between parties.
JR Language: Phone Interpretation Services You Can Rely On
Need phone interpretation services for your legal company? JR Language has been providing high-quality interpreters for the legal industry for nearly two decades, helping companies and people across the world communicate the delicates and nuances of legal proceedings with affordable prices and incredible availability. Reach out for a free quote today.
