interpreter training

In order to be an interpreter at Erlanger, I need to take a course called “Briding the Gap,” which covers tips and techniques of interpreting, medical vocabulary, and the ethics of medical interpreting. I have been told by the current interpreters’ boss that I don’t need to have taken the course before I am hired (if I am hired), but would only need to take the course within a year of being hired. So, in a sense, there is no hurry to get this training until I know whether or not I will be hired, but it seems to me that to go ahead and get this training would both make me more immediately attractive to Erlanger as a potential employee, but also to other hospitals (if Erlanger doesn’t hire me).

I have been trying since last summer to take this course, but it always gets cancled on me. The Tennessee Foreign Language Institute (TFLI; in Nashville) is finally offering this course every saturday between Feb. 4 and Mar. 11. Now the problem is the cost which would range between $600-$900 more than I will have by the time the course starts. The TFLI does offer a “volunteer” work scholarship where I would have to work 100 hours to cover the cost of the “Bridging the Gap” course (which is 40 hours long). Since the TFLI is in Nashville, volunteer work would be impracticle. However, I did email them and asked whether there is any volunteer work I can do at a distance (i.e. here in Chattanooga) – I just sent the email, so I haven’t heard their response yet.

I would appreciate prayer for wisdom to know whether I should try to take the course now or wait till I am hired; and, if I should take it now, that I would be able to do the volunteer work (which would cover the whole cost of the training) from here in Chattanooga