The untold stories of medical interpreters: 

As a provider of medical interpretation, Monterey Language Services launched an initiative series to explore emotional and professional challenges that medical interpreters face. Please see our previous introduction to the series here.

How Was Everything Started and Created?

We reached out to quite a lot of CCHI certified medical interpreters who we admire. Even though not surprisingly the dedicated interpreters graciously shared their most heartfelt stories, we were amazed by how insightful and emotional depth issues were brought to us. We are genuinely moved by the stories.

In each video below, we picked some of the most awesome quotes (see description below) that blew us away. We believe this series is something sincere and original that comes straight from the deep down of the dedicated medical interpreters.

These videos are worth sharing. They are designed to raise awareness and appreciation of the essential elements that medical interpreters face every day. Please feel welcome to share them with your circles of networks.

The Series Will Be On-going

We feel that medical interpretation involves so many elements and there is always a heavy emotional toll that stays with us. To vent and to share is something meaningful and powerful to make us a better medical interpreter.

If you have stories to tell, please continue to share them with us and we will write original scripts and create videos to share with everyone!

Why We Created This Series

The idea behind this project was to honor the dedication, emotional strength, and cultural intelligence of medical interpreters. This series is not a textbook style of what a medical interpreter is all about. We wanted to share the professional and emotional stories that most people don’t often hear about.

Imagine standing in a room, listening to a doctor deliver life-altering news – a cancer diagnosis, a difficult prognosis, or the devastating reality of a loved one’s passing. This is the reality for medical interpreters. We are constantly exposed to human suffering, fear, and grief.

The video series dives deep into these less-talked-about challenges. You’ll hear directly from interpreters as we share our most poignant, sometimes frustrating, and even heartwarming experiences. You’ll gain a new appreciation for the incredible skill, empathy, and resilience required to do this vital work as medical interpreters!

The Video Series Includes:

1. Medical Interpreters Are Unsung Heroes
   Interpreters are the fragile bridge between fear and clarity; science and the human heart.
   https://youtu.be/F96UhMM4dxo
2. Vicarious Trauma
   An interpreter needs to explain to their family in their own language that their loved one’s neck CT scan showed a tumor, and the airway’s become compressed, making the need for a tracheostomy immediately necessary.
   https://youtu.be/mtEv8NEShZU
3. Emotional Roles
   A medical appointment isn’t just about tests or results; it’s about emotions.
   https://youtu.be/uwEd-QuWeLU
4. Cultural Bridges
   In the Middle East, never tell a patient bad news directly. They will call you cruel, ruthless, and culturally insensitive!
   https://youtu.be/9vBcyzMpjic
5. Body Language
   It’s not just about translating the words; it’s about reading the room!
   https://youtu.be/CoDmBd9HtRs
6. Palliative Care
   It’s like someone dimmed the harsh fluorescent lights and made space for us to breathe.
   https://youtu.be/IrC6b0WFzEU
7. Mastering Patience
   Everyone has a story and understanding is the key!
   https://youtu.be/GNaUkZc4EKY
8. Subconscious Vicarious Trauma
   Let’s talk about something that most interpreters don’t get trained for!
   https://youtu.be/ItqtznXgNRo
9. Not Knowing
   Peace doesn’t always come from knowing. Sometimes, it comes from letting go.
   https://youtu.be/-1gIPcH1GsQ
10. Interpreting Grief
    The most powerful thing to do is to feel. When you honor your emotions, you are more equipped to serve others.
    Link: https://youtu.be/BoEcPFVeEnY
11. On Interpreting Life and Death
    In knowing death, I honor life as a medical interpreter.
    Link: https://youtu.be/Tgw6bgKtqEg
12. Small Kindness
    If we fully accept that life is short, what can we do differently?
    Link: https://youtu.be/XPBTiwBPOqU

The information of this blog is based on our own research, with which AI then generated a video and voice-over for.

We have had an expert from medical interpretation services to review it.

This is an interesting look at what AI generates when given human input.

For example, it starts the video by asking the question: “Am I the only one who didn’t know the true weight of medical interpreters?”

And then it asks other questions like what it thinks patients will hear: “Can I afford this?” and “Will it hurt?”

These are questions that the AI came up with on its own while the rest of the content after that is what we input into the prompt.

We also included data from various sources such as a 2023 article from Palliative Medicine.

Researching data and having AI help to put it together into an emotional video really helps to show our point about how important interpreters are and what they carry on their shoulders. They are truly so important to our lives!

Transcript

Am I the only one that didn’t know the true weight of medical interpreters? These unsung heroes are more than just translators.

Imagine you’re in a hospital room, a patient gasps for air, the doctor explains three life altering options, and the interpreter, they’re the only one who truly understands both sides. Medical Interpreters face immense challenges. They hear questions like, can we afford this or will it hurt? They must navigate these with precision, staying objective, not swaying decisions.

Studies show even a minor translation slip can impact choices. They’re not just wordsmiths. They’re crucial mediators. Did you know interpreters often experience distress, overwhelm, guilt, loneliness and discomfort?

When facilitating palliative care conversations, “76% of interpreters found end of life conversations more stressful than others” [The emotional effects on professional interpreters of interpreting palliative care conversations for adult patients: A rapid review. Palliat Med. 2023].

They need our support, debriefing, mental health resources, because their role is more vital than we realize.

Next time you’re at a hospital, remember interpreters are the fragile bridge between fear and clarity; science and the human heart. Let’s support them as they support us.

Visual Storytelling

We provided our content to AI and let the AI work its magic. Here’s how the transformation unfolded:

1. Script Adaptation: AI transformed the blog into a script while maintaining the emotional depth of the narrative. AI’s understanding of context ensured key moments, like the patient gasping for air or the interpreter navigating life-or-death translations, were vividly demonstrated.
2. Scene Composition: AI automatically selected visuals that resonated with the content. Sterile hospital rooms, moments of intense decision-making, and the emotional toll of interpreters.
3. Audio Enhancements: Voiceovers and background music were added to match the video’s tone.

After uploading the script into AI, we selected:

• Platform: “YouTube” (serious tone, fitting for healthcare content).
• Voiceover: A professional, empathetic narrator (AI-generated).
• Audience: General public
• Duration: 2 minutes

The AI synced visuals to the script, adding captions and transitions where needed.

The Result

The final video was a blend of visuals and sound, perfectly encapsulating the essence of our blog. Key moments like the explanation of palliative care, tracheostomy, or aggressive treatment options were brought to life in a way that allowed viewers to feel the weight of the decisions.

Monterey Language Services explores the emotional and professional challenges medical interpreters face from navigating complex medical jargon to bearing the weight of traumatic situations.

Stay tuned as we continue exploring the boundaries of technology and storytelling, bringing more interpretation issues into the spotlight.

First, we need to choose a topic because AI couldn’t choose for us without our input. Topics crossing our mind ranging from commercials for Monterey Language Service, trends for the translation and language industry, learning to ride bicycle, birds nesting, etc. The videos generated from these topics were unadorned, so we finally decided to make it easy for AI. We chose a topic that has a lot of materials for AI to go on — what is Genesis: A Creation of the Earth Story.

As predicted, the outcome is enjoyable. This video, showcasing the wonder of creation in seven days, the birth of the universe and the origin of life, is a testament to the union of art, technology, and imagination.

Please see the video here: https://youtu.be/u7zpyToo_Ls

We also are in the process of translating the English transcript to create traditional and simplified Chinese versions of the video.

The Process of Making the Script

The next step is to create a script. We wanted it to be detailed, blending poetic imagery with vivid descriptions, so we wrote a script based off Psalm 104 in the bible. The script emphasized a resonant style of classic religious art and modern fantasy aesthetics.

The voice talent came from the AI’s databases. The narration was not exactly what we fed the AI to, instead the AI used our prompt as a reference and generated the transcript read by the AI.

Creating the script using AI was a process of trial and error. Not specifying exactly what should happen in each scene would leave everything up to AI. At the same time, depending on the program there’s a limit to how much information we can feed the AI, so we can’t be overly detailed either. It’s best to think about the AI as someone you’re trying to explain your vision to.

We made all the explanations specifically so that the AI video generator understood and was able to make the video. All the necessity was to give information through human prompts to AI and let it generate everything from its databases.

Getting a result was quick, but the first version that came out needed some work, so it was tweaked by giving the AI notes on the general style of the video. We can specify a western animation style, eastern animation style, or black and white, etc.

After this, the prompt was further edited by dictating each scene. For most video generative AI, this is how you can make sure that the progression of the video happens the way you imagined it. See our dictation of scenes at the end of the blog.

The Potential of Creating an AI Movie

We think AI has chosen a wonderfully vibrant voice who delivers the excitement of first creation and keeps the audience captive. This voice brings out the soul of the video and it’s touching and not mechanic as we thought what AI creation would be like. AI makes videos that are human like. The AI potential is certainly there.

However, as with everything AI, there’s a lot to consider. Right now, AI can handle short, prompt-based videos with simple concepts, but it’s hard to tell what full-length movies made by AI would turn out to be like. There’s a lot that goes into making full movies, so it’s hard to imagine that AI can replace humans or save a lot of human time during the process.

However, this short video we made certainly shows proof of the concept that AI has the potential in making full movies that we are used to watching.

AI as a Creative Partner

After we put the script into the chat box, AI analyzed the script, prepared the video materials and began generating. The whole process took no longer than ten minutes.

The video of Genesis: A Creation of the Earth Story contains both narration and visuals. It’s amazing to see AI can generate a deep, resonant male voice paraphrasing the script, guiding viewers through the journey. The video is rife with video footage with some illustrations that align closely with the scenes described in the script. From the light breaking the darkness to sun and stars, and to the peaceful creation of humankind, each moment is visually represented.

This video is a celebration of creative collaboration between humans and AI. This project highlights how AI can be an invaluable partner in creating artistic projects. From generating visuals to refining language, AI helped us bring our ideas to life.

Despite the wonderful AI work, we noticed some flaws in the video: lack of a cover page and one unrelated B roll. We tried at first to further edit the prompt, telling AI to add a cover page and a title, however, the feedback was “Please clarify ‘subtitle’”.

Making AI delete the unrelated part was not smooth too, so we had to import the video into our usual video editor Adobe Premier Pro to manually delete it.

The conclusion is: Smooth and understandable conversation between humans and AI still has a long way to go. Yet, AI’s strength will grow with user input and will become better and better as long as it is continued to be used.

“Genesis – A Creation Story

Style: Epic, painterly, awe-inspiring, vibrant, and emotionally resonant. Think classic religious paintings combined with modern fantasy art.

Subject: The creation of the universe and life, in seven distinct scenes, each representing a “day” of creation.

Scene 1: Let There Be Light: Focus on the transition from absolute darkness to the first light. A gentle, almost imperceptible breath of color emerges, pushing back the void. Hues of amethyst and rose paint the darkness. Emphasize the quiet power of this moment.

Scene 2: The Firmament: God’s hand sweeps across the canvas, creating the heavens. Waters are separated, forming a shimmering dome. Celestial mist swirls and coalesces. Angels, depicted as beings of pure light, watch in silent awe.

Scene 3: Earth and Seas: The waters below are gathered, and dry land rises. Focus on the emerging continents, still wet and glistening. The land is bare but expectant.

Scene 4: Vegetation: An explosion of life! Plants, grasses, trees of all kinds burst forth. Focus on vibrant greens, from tender shoots to majestic trees laden with fruit. Each seed holds the promise of more life.

Scene 5: Celestial Lights: The sun, moon, and stars are placed in the firmament. The sun blazes with warmth, the moon glows softly, and the stars twinkle like diamonds on black velvet.

Scene 6: Creatures of Sea and Sky: The waters teem with life, from leviathans to tiny fish. Birds of all shapes and sizes fill the air, their wings carrying them across the sky.

Scene 7: Land Animals and Humankind: Animals roam the land, each unique and wondrous. Finally, God creates humankind, breathing life into them and imbuing them with His image. They are placed in a beautiful garden, a paradise of harmony.

Mood: Reverent, majestic, wondrous, peaceful, and ultimately joyful.

Keywords: Creation, God, light, darkness, heavens, earth, seas, plants, animals, humankind, garden, paradise, breath, whisper, symphony, cosmos.

Additional Notes: Pay attention to the details. The textures, light, and colors should evoke a sense of the divine. The overall impression should be one of awe and wonder at the majesty of creation. Consider using a color palette that evolves throughout the scenes, starting with muted tones and gradually becoming more vibrant as life appears.”