Special service – interpreters and troubleshooters

If you come for medical care, business or another urgent reason...

you expect difficulties to come from language. But the problems come as much from logistics, unexpected customs, faulty information obtained from a distance – and human error. Such snags can compromise a mission that must be be accomplished quickly.

The true stories below reveal the perils of overlooking the realities just described.

Please tells us the concrete details of your mission, so that we can check out each element in advance.

Troubleshooters: how things went wrong – and then went right

• "A woman who had come from Bahrein for an appointment with a specialist had to begin with medical tests at the Georges Pompidou European Hospital...

where the Information Desk is at the end of an enormous hall. She had trouble walking, and fell down as we went over there. Then the overworked person at the desk gave the wrong directions. There was more walking and more falling down. We finally got to the right place when a doctor took us there personally. But the tests were made late. The office of the specialist whom the visitor had come so far to see was an hour's taxi-ride away. I called several times, to say where we were and beg him to wait for us, which he did. Staying on would have been extremely difficult for this patient, yet she could have been obliged to do so."

: An interpreter must know how to navigate this hospital, where the information desk is overwhelmed.

•"An insurance broker from Cairo had a request for a $50-million life insurance policy from a Saudi billionnaire, who lived in Paris...

To make sure that the medical tests the insurance company required went smoothly, he made the personal investment of coming to Paris for 36 hours. The arrangements, which had been made from Cairo, were with a doctor who had not been told that special equipment was needed. He did not have it. Then a lab demanded 2500€ for tests ('It's an insurance company and it can pay.') It was then about 4 pm on a Friday afternoon. Because I was familiar with the American Hospital, I was able, with an urgent call, to arrange that everything take place there. Later, a paperwork snag and then the need to clarify examination results led me to return to the hospital twice."

These difficulties, which you take in stride if you live on the spot, become dramatic if you cannot extend your stay.

Please tell us before you come, so we can do the groundwork!

: The interpreter had to return to another hospital twice, to obtain records essential for a 50-million-euro life-insurance policy.

•Costs:

º Missions that need no preparation (as for a business meeting, you remain in a single place and require no special equipment or sending of paperwork): our usual fee.

º Missions that require checking in advance or after the mission is over: 600€ per day, plus annual dues (20€ if you are coming for a personal emergency, 80 or 250€ – depending on company size – if for business..