Companion Interpreter for Appointments & Errands

Why do some foreign residents need a companion interpreter?

There are official and medical situations a person attends in person, requiring precise understanding and being understood at that exact moment, with no margin for error: seeing a doctor or visiting a hospital, dealing with a government office, attending a notary appointment, or completing an administrative transaction. In these situations, a general grasp of the language is not enough — misunderstanding medical instructions can affect a patient's health, and an error in conveying information while filling out an official transaction can lead to its rejection or incorrect registration.

A companion interpreter is a person who attends these appointments in person alongside you and relays the conversation between both sides moment by moment — which is different from written translation of documents, which is done separately and afterward.

Important points to know

• Relying on a bilingual friend or relative without dedicated training in sensitive medical or legal situations carries real risks, most notably the possible inaccurate rendering of specialized medical or legal terminology
• An untrained person may interject their own opinion, or shorten and summarize instead of relaying speech exactly as said, which can change the intended meaning
• On sensitive topics related to health or legal status, confidentiality becomes an important consideration, and an untrained person is not necessarily bound by any professional standard requiring them to maintain it
• Companion (spoken) interpreting is a different service from certifying or notarizing written documents: the first concerns live communication during the appointment, the second concerns the official documents themselves

Frequently asked questions

What's the difference between a companion interpreter and a sworn translator? A sworn translator handles written documents and provides an official translation that can later be certified by a notary, while a companion interpreter attends the appointment itself in person (such as a doctor's visit or a government office) and relays the spoken conversation between both sides in real time. The two services are different in nature, and a person may need one or both depending on their situation.

Can you skip the companion interpreter and rely on a close bilingual person instead? In practice, some people do this, but in sensitive medical or legal situations it's worth keeping in mind that an untrained person may lack the terminological precision, neutrality, or commitment to confidentiality that these situations require — which can affect the quality of the decision or action taken based on that communication.

Last updated: 2026-09-07