The MiTio Blog

McDonough, GA , August 2021 -- The National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters (NBCMI) has announced a joint initiative with the Medical Interpreting and Translation Institute Online (MITIO), an international educational institution based in the United States, to provide 25 scholarships for the 60 hours Medical Interpreting Certificate Course.

We live in a multilingual world. From Russian to Mandarin, to French and Spanish, language barriers are crossed daily, and the U.S. is no exception. 

In an increasingly globalized world, we encounter and interact with different languages and cultures all the time. 

The Medical Interpreting and Translating Institute Online (MiTio), today announced the close of $20mm in growth financing to drive the expansion of their Income Share Agreement program. MiTio is the nation’s oldest medical interpreter training program, and the first in the country to offer Income Share Agreements. The capital will allow MiTio to increase access to its training program and provide bilingual students the training necessary to secure a role in the certified medical interpreter industry, projected to grow 20% by 2029 - five times faster than average. Income Share Agreements demonstrate MiTio’s dedication to student success by providing outcomes-aligned financing while simultaneously opening its high-quality education and upward career mobility opportunity to low-income bilingual individuals across the United States.

If you’re interested in working as a medical interpreter, preparing for certification is a crucial part of landing a job. Here, we’ll explain the tests, explore more about the two certification bodies in the United States, and provide a list of resources to help you study and prepare.

As a medical interpreter, you’ll have a direct impact on patient care for people who do not speak English as their native language. You could work in various environments, ranging from a hospital setting to doctor’s offices, long-term care facilities, and more. You may work directly for the health care facility, or you may be hired by a third-party who will dispatch you to the facility where you are needed. 

If you are bilingual with fluency in English and Spanish, you may find fulfilling work as a Spanish medical interpreter. You may be working in a medical center or doctor's office to help medical assistants and doctors work with patients who do not speak English. Your involvement in medical interpretation helps to improve patient care and medical record keeping.

If you’re fluent in English and one or more other foreign languages, you could use your skills to improve patient care at a hospital. While many healthcare professionals may take a Spanish course, it's often not enough to get past the basics, negatively affecting patient care.

Being bilingual opens up many job opportunities for language services in a variety of fields. There is a global demand from businesses and healthcare services alike for people who are fluent in English and another language to work in a variety of positions, including at bilingual call centers, translation jobs, interpretation, localization, online teaching, and more.