Medical Language Interpreters: Career Trajectory & Salary

Medical language interpreters are bilingual adults who provide language interpreting services to hospitals, so that patients can communicate with their doctors. Maybe there is a patient in San Diego who only speaks Spanish, or maybe someone had a heart attack on vacation in Cancun but they can only speak English. Whatever the situation is, medical language interpreters have an essential role to play when it comes to ensuring quality medical care and language accessibility to every patient. Language accessibility refers to the notion that everyone deserves to understand and be understood, while also encompassing the measures taken to ensure that all communication and content is accessible to everyone- regardless of age, ability, literacy and language(s) spoken. For bilingual people who want to work as a language professional in a medical setting, interpreter school is essential, because you must understand the medical terminology, concepts, anatomy and physiology concepts in both languages to be effective while also having the specific skills- like consecutive interpreting and simultaneous interpreting that are essential for the job. But what is the career trajectory for a medical interpreter? What can they earn as a language professional?

What is the job outlook for medical language interpreters?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, employment rate for medical language interpreters is projected to grow 20% through 2031; which is a significantly faster pace than the average of all other occupations. During this time, it is estimated that 14,000 jobs should open up, especially for those who speak Chinese, Russian, Portuguese and Spanish. For interpreters who are trained to use VRI (Video Remote Interpreting) and OPI (Over the Phone Interpreting) technology, the prospects of finding a job and even making your own business as a freelance interpreter are far better.

What is the career trajectory for medical language interpreters?

Everyone is different, and 2 people can take their careers in totally different directions- it just depends on how dedicated you are. For instance, some bilingual adults enroll in our online medical interpreting training course and find meaningful work as a medical language interpreter. For others who decide to take their career further, aspiring to work at an interpreting agency or at a hospital requires additional and advanced medical interpreting training, because with a higher paying jobs comes a higher standard of training and more responsibility. Covering advanced subjects like the endocrine system, cancer, radiology, STDs, AIDS/HIV and more, continuing education with advanced medical interpreting training helps to open more doors in your career as a medical language interpreter.

What can medical language interpreters expect as a salary?

In the United States, the earning potential for medical language interpreters falls between $47,822 and $85, 569 with the median annual wage at $52,330. As you can see, this is quite the range in earning potential and it truly all depends on skill level, experience and training. Online medical interpreter school can be a comprehensive experience that includes the national medical interpreting exam prep course which leads to a successful, full time career as a certified medical interpreter. A medical translator certification is not the end-all, be-all as many students find success without the additional training. It just depends how dedicated you are, and where you want to go after class is done!

Our online translator classes are taught by expert instructors ✅ who have real-world experience in their interpreting specialty. They have worked hard to make fully remote online courses that are unique and engaging ✅ and use a hands-on approach that is unparalleled by the competition. If you or someone you know is interested in our online Medical Interpreter Training Programs with live instructors✅, our fully remote yet real time classes ✅ are offered in Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, Russian, Chinese, Haitian Creole, Vietnamese, Farsi, French, Hindi, Korean, Somali, Urdu, Ukrainian languages online and onsite.