Just as your body is the instrument you use to interpret from English to American Sign Language, your voice is the instrument you use to interpret from American Sign Language to English. This article is about learning to tune that instrument so that you may play it like a virtuoso when giving voice to a deaf person’s signed communication.
Although many people speak throughout their lives without ever giving a second thought to their language or their voices, there is a rich tradition of vocal training and oratory discipline that traces humankind’s history through the millennia. It is said that the great orator Demosthenes, of ancient Greece, overcame his habit of mumbling inaudibly by going to the seashore, filling his mouth full of pebbles, and forcing himself to articulate his words through the pebbles, projecting his voice out beyond the crashing waves. Certainly we interpreters, whose charge it is to render inaudible signed messages into audible spoken messages, could benefit those for whom we interpret by applying some of Demosthenes’ diligence toward developing our own voices.
Here are some of the resources that you may find invaluable in your vocal development:
Daniel Greene 