Language Access Position: Barton Memorial Hospital (South Lake Tahoe, CA)

We just received this job posting from a friend of ours -- it's a 3/5 position and you'd have a very nice boss (trust us). The job is at Barton Memorial Hospital in gorgeous South Lake Tahoe, CA. To apply, please start here and click on "employment search" and then select the "professional" option. The job title is Language Access Services Assistant.

Read on for more information:

LANGUAGE ACCESS SERVICES ASSISTANT
Department:	LANGUAGE ACCESS SERVICES
Schedule:	Part Time
Shift:	Variable
Hours:	Variable days and schedule, 8-hour shifts

POSITION OVERVIEW

• Assists coordination with Language Access Services (LAS), including in-house Medical Interpreters, Deaf and Hard of Hearing (DHH) interpreters, telephonic interpreting, remote video interpreting, and written translation system-wide.Assists organization with continuing education of LAS staff; coaches, mentors and develops the skills of LAS staff. 
• Provides training to providers and staff, including new employees, on the procedure for requesting interpreters and written translation, as well as on methods for working effectively with an interpreter.
• Follows National Council on Interpreting in HealthCare (NCIHC) Code of Ethics and California Healthcare Interpreting Association (CHIA) standards; ensures services are consistent with the standards of BMH and JCAHO and other regulatory bodies.
• Assists and monitors the interpreter productivity and tracking system.
• Serves as back up for interpreters/translators when necessary.
• Works collaboratively with other Barton University administrative staff and other stakeholders to coordinate the content and scheduling of LAS courses, services and programs; utilizes support services and operates within budget parameters.
• Reports to the Director of Education/LAS Coordinator. 

 MINIMUM REQUIREMENTS

• High School Degree or equivalent. Bachelor’s degree in nursing, business, education, social work, sociology or related field preferred
• Computer literate: Excel, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint.
• Bilingual, bicultural, 40 hour medical interpreting course certificate preferred. National Certification for Medical Interpreter highly recommended or ability to obtain within one year.
• Sufficient computer skills as are required to complete an online application and the pre-employment/annual Net Learning requirements
• In compliance with patient safety standards, must be able to effectively communicate in English; Bilingual abilities preferre

ESSENTIAL FUNCTIONS

• Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable individuals with disabilities to perform essential functions of the position without compromising services.
• Prolonged, extensive or considerable standing/walking/sitting
• Considerable reaching, stooping, bending, kneeling, crouching
• Must be able to lift a minimum of 25 lbs.
• Routine Office/Administrative conditions
• Contact with patients and guests under a wide variety of circumstances
• Potential for exposure to the risk of infections and bloodborne and contagious diseases
• Subject to varying and unpredictable situations, including the handling of emergency or crisis situations
• Subject to pressure due to irregular hours, frequent interruptions and stressful situations due to multiple demands 
• (1) High School Diploma or equivalent
• Minimum 2+ Years Relevant Experience Required

$100 in Google Adwords

We honestly don't know why Google keeps on sending us so many free certificates for $100 in Google AdWords for new users, but we will take them. As usual, we will raffle off the certificate to a colleague (freelancers only, please) who answers one question correctly. We will e-mail the access code to the winning person so he or she can get started with Google AdWords. The certificate expires March 31, 2012.

Here's the question: where was this picture taken? Hint: it was taken in the continental U.S. Give us the state/city/area, and you will win the prize!

Jobs: Review and Translation Coordinator at Kiva

Please read on for a translation job opening in San Francisco, which we received from our friends at Kiva. 

Kiva is currently recruiting for a Review and Translation Coordinator to support our volunteer translation program. We are looking for a Native or near-native English speaker with fluency in French, Russian or Spanish. Knowledge of more than one Kiva language (French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish) is a plus. The ideal candidate would have 2+ years of professional translation experience and/or a certificate or degree in translation. The full job description is below.

Please pass this along to anyone you think might be qualified/interested. Applicants should email their cover letter and resume to jobs@kiva.org with “Review and Translation Coordinator” in the subject line by Feb. 27, 2012.

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Review and Translation Coordinator

Position: Review and Translation Coordinator
Location: San Francisco, CA – SOMA
Job Type: Full time with salary plus benefits.
Contact:  jobs@kiva.org

The Company
Called the "hottest non-profit on the planet" by FORTUNE magazine and a Top 50 Website by TIME, Kiva (www.kiva.org) is the world's first person-to-person lending marketplace for the poor. In just 5 years, Kiva has raised $250 million from 600k lenders to 600k borrowers in 60 countries. Kiva combines the culture and approach of an internet start-up with an intense focus on alleviating global poverty. Kiva is poised to take its initial success to a whole new level - targeting $1 billion in loans by 2015 and expansion into new areas (e.g. student loans, climate change, etc.). Headquartered in San Francisco, Kiva's team has 100 smart, passionate, and fun employees and 500+ volunteers. 

The Job Description

The Review and Translation Coordinator helps manage the preparation of loan content for the Kiva website, working with a large team of skilled volunteers to deliver translated and verified loan profiles for funding by Kiva lenders. The Review and Translation Coordinator is responsible for directly managing the volunteer Team Leaders of several teams of translators; coordinating the screening, testing, and onboarding of new volunteers; supporting established procedures for volunteer recognition and community development; and handling various other tasks to support overall program effectiveness.

Responsibilities

• Loan review and Team Leader management
• Monitor unreviewed loan volume and motivate teams to translate/review required volume
• Manage review for new and special case Kiva Field Partners
• Manage up to 10 Loan Review Team Leaders (corresponds to team of  250+ volunteers)
• Support Team Leader responses to volunteer queries on loan policy, Kiva processes, translation techniques, terminology, and volunteer involvement
• Lead initial Team Leader trainings, along with other Review & Translation Program staff
• Manage format for quarterly conference calls and lead quarterly one-on-one calls with Team Leaders
• Provide technical support for Kiva systems to Team Leaders
• Participate in planning for volunteer and Team Leader coverage for the holiday season

• Translator  recruitment, testing, and onboarding
• Develop recruitment network that can be leveraged to increase flow of volunteers for specific language needs
• Screen translator applications and manage recruitment and screening messages in Kiva systems
• Manage language test evaluation process personally or with external test evaluators
• Manage onboarding process for translation volunteers, including accepted, rejected, and wait listed applicants

• Volunteer support,  linguistic standards, and community engagement
• Develop volunteer resources and provide technical support for Kiva’s review and translation systems

o   Monitor industry practices in linguistic technology, crowdsourcing, and translation and advise on program scaling

• Plan and coordinate volunteer recognition events, work parties, and trainings

Required Skills and Qualifications

• Native or near-native English speaker with fluency in French, Russian, or Spanish
• 2+ years professional translation experience and/or a certificate or degree in translation
• Experience in project management, preferably in the translation or localization industry
• Excellent people skills with friendly and motivational communication style
• Adept with new technologies
• Creative problem-solver who is interested in innovation and enjoys a high-growth environment

Preferred

• Knowledge of more than one Kiva language (Spanish, French, Russian, Portuguese)
• Established network within translation / localization industry
• Experience managing volunteers or remote teams

Compensation & Benefits

·         Generous benefits, including health insurance and 401(k) plan with company match

·         Flexible work environment, but must live in Bay Area and work out of San Francisco office

• Knowing that you're helping to change the world for the better

If interested

• Email cover letter and resume to jobs@kiva.org with “Review and Translation Coordinator” in the subject line by Feb. 27, 2012.
• Please do not contact Kiva directly with any questions or follow-up inquiries. We regret that we can only respond to candidates whom we would like to interview.

Receiving Gifts: Input Needed

A few weeks ago, Judy did an escort interpreting assignment for one of her favorite clients, and we'd love to get our readers' and colleagues' opinion on a small, but important issue. Here's her story.

Our charming clients, the owners of a company that imports building materials from China to Argentina, were in town to attend a large trade show in Vegas. They met with many of their suppliers, all of them Chinese, who were delighted to see them (our client, let's call him Mr. Building, is a very good customer of these Chinese companies). Mr. Building and his very nice wife do not speak much English, which is where I come in as a Spanish<->English escort interpreter. We mainly go to vendors' booths to talk about price, and the conversations can get quite heated. As you might imagine, the Chinese vendors are not fluent in English, so many times, I wish we had a Chinese->English interpreter, but I digress.

Mr.Building and I have developed a solid working relationship throughout the years, and this is the third trade show in a row at which we have worked together. Many of the vendors are the same every year as well. Mr. Building highly values one of his main suppliers, and it's usually one of the first booths we visit. Once I met up with Mr. and Mrs. Building, they made sure to tell me that they'd already visited their favorite vendor, but had agreed to come back with their interpreter (me) so they could start talking business. Ms. Building also told me that the vendor wanted to give me a gift. Insisting that it was not necessary to give the interpreter a gift was met with much resistance -- my clients insisted that their client insisted on giving me a gift.

Now, I am not very familiar with Chinese culture, and I wasn't sure about gift-receiving etiquette in the Chinese culture. Should I open the gift right there and then or take it home and then comment on it the next day? I wasn't sure, and the gift was presented to me as we were leaving the booth, which was full of people. It was evident from both the bag and the box what it was -- a gorgeous, long pearl necklace -- and all I managed to do was an awkward little bow. The vendor also had to rush to the next meeting, so luckily I didn't have to fret about whether or not I should open the gift. However, should I have stayed and opened it in her presence? What would you have done? 

I did end up going back with my clients the next day -- just to say hello to the vendor, as I was hoping we would. My solution: I wore the beautiful necklace, which the vendor noticed immediately. I told her how much I liked it and made sure to thank her again. I could tell she was very happy I was wearing it.

Dear readers: how would you have handled this situation? Is there any particular way the Chinese expect foreigners to behave when receiving gifts? We'd love to learn from anyone who wants to share their input by leaving a comment. 

Temporary Translation Position (German and Dutch) in Seattle: Expedia

Through one of the ATA listservs, we heard about this six-week job with Expedia in Seattle. Read on for more information.

German or Dutch Language Translators Needed

Position:
Support the Paid Search Online Marketing Channel at Expedia! We are looking for localization specialists for German and Dutch that could translate thousands of destination names, landmarks, airports, and train stations. The project impacts multi-million dollars to the bottom line and we want you to be part of this!

Requirements:
- Localization experience
- Microsoft Excel knowledge
- Native Speaker or PhD Graduate in Language Specialty
- Familiarity with destination names worldwide in native language
- Hard working individual
- Specialize in one of the following languages:
o Dutch
o German
Details:
- Competitive pay
- Timeframe: 6 weeks
- Short-term project
- Location: Bellevue, WA


Company:
Expedia delivers consumers everything they need for researching, planning, and purchasing a whole trip. The company provides direct access to one of the broadest selections of travel products and services through its North American Web site, localized versions throughout Europe, and extensive partnerships in Asia. Expedia serves many different consumer segments — from families booking a summer vacation to individuals arranging a quick weekend getaway. www.Expedia.com

To Apply:
Please send your résumé to apply for this position.