The NBCMI needs candidates for pilot testing 5 new languages!

The National Board of Certification for Medical Interpreters is very pleased to announce that the pilot testing for Russian, Cantonese, Mandarin, Korean and Vietnamese has gone very well to date.  We also have a second version of the test in each language, so we need a few more candidates to help us reach our pilot testing goal.

The pilot tests are offered free of charge to candidates who are medical interpreters in these languages. Candidates taking the test will acquire a very good preview of what to expect on the final version of the test and be well-prepared to achieve medical interpreter certification.

Pilot tests are needed to help the test development experts ensure that the tests are valid and credible for candidates in these languages and that the tests in all languages are comparable in design, difficulty and approach. Following the pilot testing phase, the test development experts will finalize the tests and the Board will then announce the availability of national certification in these languages, to be added to our existing national certification in Spanish.

To take the pilot test, candidates will be required to present themselves at a Testing Center. There they will be asked to complete two sight translation exercises and respond via telephone to 15 mini-scenario consecutive role-play exercises during which they will interpret from English into the Second Language and the Second Language into English.

Interested candidates who are willing to take the pilot test in Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Florida, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oregon, Maine, Massachusetts, Tennessee, Georgia and Washington State are asked to reach out to Gwyndolyn Allison at gallison [at] languageline [dot] com with their names, language to be tested and proposed dates and times when they could make themselves available to sit for this test. Ms. Allison will then reach out to the Examiners and coordinate the scheduling of the tests.

Thank you for your assistance in this valuable effort to expand the certification process into these five languages.

Please note: if you are also willing to host the pilot exams in your facility, let us know that as well.