The MENTOR Curriculum for Training Medical Interpreters. Language Allies is a division that was launched as a project on August 4, 2004. It has since evolved into a functional department dedicated to training healthcare interpreters through the MENTOR Curriculum.
The Language Allies Division provides training to bilingual, biliterate, and bicultural individuals to become proficient interpreters in healthcare settings. The division developed the MENTOR Curriculum to achieve this objective.
The MENTOR Curriculum is a 40-hour training program that equips candidates with vocational skills to facilitate communication between patients and healthcare providers who may not speak the same language. In such situations, interpreters serve as intermediaries, bridging the communication gap in the triadic encounter and group sessions. If the candidate possesses the requisite aptitude and background, medical translations may also be included within their scope of practice.
Interpreting involves conveying an oral message from one language to another, while translation entails converting a written message from one language to another.