Alejandra Castaños Garay is a professional translator and interpreter based in Lima, Peru, who has worked across medical, legal, academic, and government sectors since 2020. Her language journey began in 2013 when she first studied English in high school—an experience that sparked a lasting passion. She later earned her degree in Translation and Interpreting from UNIFE and continues to grow her expertise through certifications in English and French and a Certification Commission for Healthcare Interpreters (CCHI) in the United States.
Understanding Interpretation: Types and Contexts
While I’ll share insights from my own experience, this article is really about the essential role that professional interpreters play—especially Spanish interpreters—in our globalized world. Through real-world examples, I hope to highlight the challenges, responsibilities, and value that skilled interpreters bring to communication across cultures and languages.
Interpreting comes in different forms, each shaped by where and how it’s delivered. Remote, in-person, and simultaneous interpreting all require distinct approaches, tools, and training. Understanding these differences is key to appreciating the depth and demands of the profession.
Remote Interpreting: Flexibility Meets Focus
Remote interpreting offers the ability to work from anywhere in the world, and many interpreters begin their careers here—especially during times like the pandemic. I started interpreting medical calls by phone, which taught me how to stay calm, focused, and professional even when I wasn’t physically in the room. While the flexibility is great, it also demands excellent listening and quick-thinking skills since you lose many of the visual and emotional cues that guide communication.
In-Person Interpreting: Reading More Than Words
In-person interpreting allows access to the full range of human expression. Facial expressions, hand gestures, body posture, and tone often carry just as much meaning as the words themselves. This kind of work is especially valuable in high-emotion or high-stakes contexts like courtrooms, medical consultations, or political events. These non-verbal elements are part of what we train for—and what people often underestimate when imagining what an interpreter does.
Simultaneous Interpreting: Fast, Focused, and Demanding
Simultaneous interpreting is among the most challenging forms. It requires the interpreter to listen, process, and speak almost simultaneously. This is especially common at large events like international conferences. At APEC 2024 in Arequipa, I interpreted for global ministers from a booth in the back of the room. I couldn’t see their faces or who was speaking, which made it much harder to adjust to different tones and speaking styles. That’s why visibility and speaker access are not luxuries—they’re necessities for accuracy and connection in live interpreting contexts.
Tools and Techniques
Interpreting between English and Spanish means working with two languages that operate very differently. Spanish often uses longer, more descriptive phrasing, while English tends to be more direct. This means interpreters have to make quick decisions—condensing, restructuring, or rephrasing—to preserve the speaker’s intent and tone in real time.
To manage this, we rely on various strategies:
- Note-taking and summarization
- Contextual adaptation
- Teamwork, especially during simultaneous interpretation, where working with a partner improves accuracy and endurance
These techniques help convey not just words but meaning, tone, and cultural nuances.
Working in High-Stakes Environments
Before interpreters can step into high-pressure settings like hospitals, courtrooms, or international institutions, there’s a lot of groundwork to cover. Each domain has its own language, tone, and expectations.
Whether it’s mastering legal terminology, understanding clinical procedures, or learning the protocol of government events, interpreters must adapt their techniques to suit the environment. Continuous learning and specialized training are essential—this isn’t just about speaking two languages, it’s about navigating the specific demands of each field with accuracy and professionalism.
Medical Interpretation
Medical interpretation demands precision and emotional resilience. Interpreters are often responsible for conveying life-changing news—a diagnosis, a loss, or treatment details. I’ve had to deliver devastating information, including informing a patient about the death of their baby. These moments stay with you.
Preparation involves extensive training, learning medical terminology, and maintaining composure. I always verify unclear information, even if it means pausing to clarify. It’s better to be accurate than fast, especially when the emotional stakes are so high.
Mental fatigue is real. Even from behind a screen, the emotional toll of medical sessions requires breaks and self-care to stay focused and professional. Interpreters aren’t just processing language—we’re carrying the weight of people’s most vulnerable moments.
Legal Interpretation
In legal settings, neutrality and precision are paramount. Interpreters must remain unbiased while faithfully transmitting every word, even when content is shocking or emotional. It’s a discipline where tone, formality, and understanding of legal procedures matter deeply.
Misunderstandings often arise because many clients don’t know the difference between translators and interpreters. Part of our job is educating them on how we work and how they can help us provide the best service.
Academic and Government Work
Academic texts are often neutral but linguistically complex. Working with institutions like Johns Hopkins exposed me to advanced grammar and unfamiliar terminology. But that’s part of the joy—learning new structures and expanding my vocabulary.
Government interpretation, especially in countries like Peru, presents logistical challenges. Sometimes officials request translators when they actually need interpreters, or lack the necessary equipment. Still, the public sector is recognizing the importance of trained professionals in cross-cultural communication.
These on-the-ground challenges reflect a broader reality interpreters face across all sectors: words are only part of the picture. Cultural context, subject-specific terminology, and regional variation all shape the way meaning is created—and that means interpreters need a deep toolkit to adapt as they go.
Terminology Gaps and Cultural Workarounds
Sometimes there simply isn’t a perfect equivalent for a term in the target language. This happens frequently in academic and technical interpretation, where specialized vocabulary might exist in one language but not the other. In those cases, interpreters need to apply techniques like paraphrasing, providing a quick explanation, or using the original term and contextualizing it. I’ve often encountered linkers and connectors in academic texts that I’ve never seen before—even in Spanish. These moments require research, intuition, and adaptability.
Regional Spanish Variants
Spanish is spoken across more than 20 countries, and each has its own regional expressions, slang, and pronunciation. Even as a native speaker with a neutral Peruvian accent, I sometimes find it difficult to understand fast-paced speech or idioms from other regions. For example, in the U.S., Spanish speakers sometimes say “grapas” for grapes or “troca” for truck—terms borrowed and reshaped from English. The correct words in Spanish would be “uvas” and “camión.” These variations mean that interpreters often need to ask for clarification or adapt quickly to regional usage to ensure clarity and precision.
These regional and linguistic differences don’t just shape vocabulary—they also influence the ethical landscape interpreters navigate. Accuracy, neutrality, and confidentiality are not just professional standards; they become personal decisions in the moment. This is where cultural awareness intersects with ethical judgment.
Ethics and Cultural Awareness
Interpreters often face ethical dilemmas. For example, if a doctor leaves the room and a patient discloses something critical, should I report it? The answer is yes. Confidentiality and transparency are key, even if it puts me in an uncomfortable position.
Language itself varies widely. Spanish isn’t uniform across countries. A neutral tone is essential. I’ve encountered Spanglish variants from U.S. Spanish speakers, where English words are modified to sound Spanish. Clarification becomes vital in those moments to avoid miscommunication.
The Role of Technology
Technology has made remote interpreting possible, but it can’t replace human interpreters. Machines lack empathy, cultural understanding, and the ability to handle nuance. These non-verbal cues—facial expressions, tone, body language—are essential parts of communication and form a core part of professional interpreter training. Many people overlook how crucial these elements are, especially in high-stakes legal or medical contexts where human judgment is irreplaceable.
Remote platforms, however, have opened important doors. They’ve allowed interpreters like me to work internationally from places like Peru, connecting with institutions and clients across the world. While technology supports our work, it can’t replace the presence, sensitivity, and decision-making that a trained human interpreter brings.
Advice for Future Interpreters
If you’re drawn to language, culture, and helping people, this field offers more than a job—it offers purpose. There are opportunities not just in interpreting and translation, but also in quality assurance, education, and project management.
It requires dedication, continuous learning, and emotional resilience. But for those who love communication and connection, there is nothing more rewarding than being the bridge that helps people truly understand one another.