Telephone interpreting: a vital service enabling real-time communication
What is Telephone Interpreting?
Telephone interpreting facilitates communication in real time between people who speak different languages. This service is vital in sectors including healthcare, law, business, finance and social services, to remove communication barriers – often in urgent or sensitive circumstances.
At Language Link UK, we provide a full range of interpreting services, including telephone interpreting. Our interpreters are mother-tongue, and many have professional expertise in specific sectors.
Where is telephone interpreting used?
Telephone interpreting is used in a number of settings and sectors to facilitate clear communication, including:
- Healthcare: telephone interpreting helps patients and healthcare providers to communicate; crucial for accurate diagnosis, treatment, and patient education. Telephone interpreting is especially vital during emergencies, when rapid and accurate communication is necessary.
- Legal: In legal settings, telephone interpreting helps non-native speakers understand court proceedings, legal rights, and consultations.
- Customer Service: Telephone interpreting is useful during international business meetings and negotiations, as well for offering multilingual customer support, enhancing customer satisfaction and expanding reach across diverse markets.
- Government agencies and Social Services: Public sector entities, such as immigration offices and social services, rely on telephone interpreting to assist people who speak different languages, ensuring they can access essential services and information, and understand proceedings.
What are the key benefits of telephone interpreting?
1 – Accessibility and Convenience
Telephone interpreting is accessible from anywhere with a phone connection, making it ideal for emergencies and remote communication.
2 – Cost-Effectiveness
Compared with face-to-face interpreting, telephone interpreting is more cost-effective, saving travel time and expense and allowing efficient use of the interpreter’s time.
3 – Confidentiality
Telephone interpreting provides a higher level of confidentiality, especially in sensitive situations like medical consultations and legal discussions. The interpreter’s physical separation helps protect privacy.
What different types of telephone interpreting are available?
At Language Link UK, we offer two main telephone interpreting services, to ensure that we meet your needs.
On demand interpreting service
Our on-demand telephone interpreting service is available 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. simply contact us and we will provide you with an interpreter, a professional, capable linguist.
This service is designed to provide you with an interpreter at short notice, and is therefore not appropriate for discussions that require both parties to have possession of background material such as case notes or contract details etc It is also not suitable for conversations that rely on in-depth, industry-specific knowledge of a subject.
When the subject under discussion is specialised, more complex, or requires detailed knowledge of background information, you need our Expert Professional service.
Expert professional interpreting service
When you need telephone interpreting services with expert knowledge in a particular area, we can provide a highly skilled linguist who is a professional in the relevant field.
Although not an ‘on demand’ service, depending on the availability of an appropriate expert linguist, we can often arrange a booking for the same day that you contact us. We will arrange a conference call, and ask you to provide your interpreter with any relevant documentation to enable them to prepare for your discussion.
Learn more about Language Link UK’s telephone interpreting services.
Or, if you are interested in telephone interpretation but are unsure which option is best for you, simply contact us and we will be happy to discuss your needs with you.
Interpreting and translation are very closely related, and it’s not uncommon to be unsure about what’s needed. We offer expertise in both translation services and interpreting services, with professional linguists in hundreds of languages and many specialist fields.
Contact us at our offices in Orpington on 01689 283 777, Piccadilly on 0207 484 0999 or City on 0207 830 9330.