Daniel Greene

Category: Interpreting

Posts about Interpreting/ interpretation, translating/ translation, and transliterating/ transliteration

  • Vague Language workshop at Western Oregon University August 12

    I will be presenting my Vague Language (VL) workshop at a silent weekend at Western Oregon University on Friday, August 12, from 2:30 to 5:30 pm. This event is sponsored by the Western Region Interpreter Education Center (WRIEC) and happens to follow the first two–week colloquium of the first cohort of the Masters in Interpreting Studies / Teaching (MAIS) at Western Oregon University. I am excited about beginning my master’s degree and teaching about vague language (VL) at this silent weekend. Please register by completing the form below and check out the tentative agenda and topic abstracts. Hope to see you there!

    Early Bird registration fees available only until July 1st. Registration, tentative agenda & workshop abstracts also at http://www.wou.edu/education/sped/wriec/silent_weekend.php

    From the Silent Weekend coordinator:

    Greetings!

    On behalf of the ASL/English Interpreting Program at Western Oregon University, the Western Region Interpreter Education Center, the Oregon Department of Education’s Educational Interpreter Subcommittee, the Regional Resource Center on Deafness, and the Oregon Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, we would like to invite you to join us for our third annual Silent Weekend, August 12-14, 2011 in Monmouth, Oregon. This weekend, conducted completely in American Sign Language (ASL), is for Deaf and hearing students, interpreters, mentors, interpreter educators, and ASL instructors.

    Attendees and presenters can choose from two possible tracks – although they may participate in both – with corresponding workshops. The first is interpreter professional development, which is for working and pre-professional interpreters. The second track is for students and community members to develop their ASL skills and further learn linguistic features of the language.

    Interpreters: This is an opportunity to earn up to 1.4 CEUs! If you are looking for some worthwhile workshops and a chance to sharpen your skills, then Silent Weekend is for you!

    Thank you!

    ~CM

    For more information, contact:

    CM Hall, Ed.M., NIC Advanced, EIPA Ed K:12
    Project Coordinator
    Western Region Interpreter Education Center
    Western Oregon University

    W: 503-838-8731

    C: 503-888-7172

    Skype: WesternRegionInterpreterEdCenter

    Facebook: Western Region Interpreter Education Center

    Website: http://www.wou.edu/wriec

    To learn more about interpreting as a career, visit
    http://www.discoverinterpreting.com

    WRIEC is a collaborative endeavor of Western Oregon University and El Camino College and a member of the National Consortium of Interpreter Education Centers (NCIEC).

    UPDATE: Attendance was so good they had to move the workshop into a bigger room. Thanks, everyone!

  • Can’t get enough workshops, Yuma? I’m coming in October!

    Can’t get enough workshops, Yuma? I’m coming in October!

    My esteemed colleague Kirsten Nelson is presenting workshops in Yuma, Arizona this weekend, and I will be presenting workshops there first weekend of October. I’m sure Kirsten’s workshops are knocking their socks off, and I hope mine will blow their minds. By the time we’re done with them they’ll be barefoot and openminded! 😉

    Here’s a little flier I made when Kirsten offered to plug my workshops at the end of hers:

  • Response to Eh? What? Huh? – Please Don’t Use Sarcasm With My Students

    via Eh? What? Huh?: Please Don’t Use Sarcasm With My Students.

    The original poster started a very interesting discussion about using language that might be misunderstood by children, and I am reposting my comment because I would like to share my viewpoint with my readers.

    I wrote:

    I can appreciate your concern for your students, (e, but I agree with MM. Although some ways of communicating may be confusing, I believe they should be taught rather than avoided. Each instance of misunderstood sarcasm can be a teaching moment for a second language learner. Sarcasm and other elements of second language, which English is for most deaf and hard-of-hearing people, have to be explicitly taught.

    I sometimes have to reverse myself when I begin to — forgive the expression — “dumb down” my writing with deaf people. With certain people, things must be greatly simplified, but with many people I think one should be oneself and let the person figure it out. Most deaf people certainly don’t dumb down their ASL for me or slow down their signing for me. I am an interpreter, and they just expect me to understand them and interpret what they are saying. I learn new bits of visual language all the time because of deaf people’s being themselves and signing naturally. Don’t I owe them the same genuineness of myself? Perhaps the more I write English or — with the appropriate person — sign English or fingerspell unusual turns of phrase, the more I express who I am and give them the opportunity to learn how a hearing person speaks and writes.

    It’s not that my place is to teach; it’s just that everyone–hearing and deaf alike–can learn more about each other and each other’s language when we speak naturally. I thank every French-speaking, Spanish-speaking, and ASL-speaking person who has ever spoken to me in their natural way, because that is how I have learned their languages.

  • All the details about my workshops in Phoenix this July

    Here are all the details about the workshops I am offering in July, including date, time, title, and description. I will be teaching Vague Language (VL), Genre Recognition, Oral & Sign Transliteration, and Voice Interpreting / Vocal Technique at the Desert Valley Regional Cooperative, 8055 N 24th Ave, Phoenix AZ 85021. You may register by calling 602-771-5225 or emailing Amerigo.Berdeski@asdb.az.gov. The suggested donation for each workshop is $20. Here are the four workshops in detail:

    July 6 5p-9p Vague Language— Why people use it and how to interpret it
    Participants will study and explore the use of vague language (VL) in both English and ASL, the communicative purposes and social meanings of VL, the importance of retaining ambiguity when conveying vague messages from one language to another, the benefits of leaving language vague instead of interrupting to request clarifications, and specific strategies for conveying VL in both ASL and English. At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

    1. Define VL and name at least five communicative purposes that VL serves.
    2. Distinguish between language that needs to be clarified and language that is better conveyed as uttered.
    3. Have strategies for conveying VL in English and ASL without interrupting for clarification.
    4. Give a dozen examples of words, phrases, signs, classifiers, and mouth morphemes used in VL.
    July 7 5p-9p Genre Recognition
    This workshop introduces attendees to genre theory and teaches the skill of genre recognition. Attendees will be guided in the recognition of generic elements of discourse and will be empowered to enhance their predictive skills, thus increasing their self-confidence and composure while improving the accuracy and effectiveness of their interpretations. At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

    1. Name five narrative genres.
    2. Name at least five elements of genre, including setting, plot, character, conflict, tone, intent, and moral.
    3. Describe the generic characteristics of at least five speech events.
    4. Identify their strengths and weaknesses in their abilities to recognize genres; know resources to strengthen weaknesses.
    July 19 5p-9p Transliteration— Put the English on your mouth and hands
    This workshop provides an overview of transliteration and teaches the skills of spoken English–to–PSE and spoken English–to–Oral transliteration. Attendees will learn the signs and mouth/body movements they need to produce when transliterating in order to convey messages in the language most readily understood by English–oriented deaf consumers. At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

    1. Define transliteration as it pertains to all languages and contrast it with interpretation.
    2. Demonstrate at least three signs that may be used for the word “of” and at least two signs for the word “which.”
    3. Distinguish between active and passive voice and explain how to transliterate each grammatical form.
    4. Identify the strengths and weaknesses in their transliteration skills and where to find resources for improvement.
    July 21 5p-9p Voice Interpreting— Trippingly on the Tongue
    This is a sign–to–voice interpreting workshop with a twist. In addition to learning logistical and processing strategies for voice interpreting, participants will learn the vocal techniques that singers and actors use so that they can enliven their sign-to-voice interpreting, convey affect, and improve audibility. Participants will learn how to enunciate, maintain vocal health, and inflect for affect, and meaning. Participants who take this workshop will leave as better interpreters and speakers. At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:

    1. Outline strategies that can be used before and during an ASL–to–English interpreting assignment.
    2. Demonstrate improved control of the volume and pitch of their voice.
    3. Vocalize the same phrase five different ways for meaning and affect.
    4. Use a microphone effectively, self-monitoring for volume, plosives and sibilants.
    5. Know how to relax their bodies and vocal apparatus for vocal health.

    To learn more about the workshops I offer, see my Interpreting Workshops Page.

  • Workshops I’m presenting in Phoenix in July

    I will be presenting four workshops this July in Phoenix at the Desert Valley Regional Cooperative, 8055 N 24th Ave, Phoenix AZ 85021:

    • July 6 5p-9p Vague Language
    • July 7 5p-9p Genre Recognition
    • July 19 5p-9p Transliteration
    • July 21 5p-9p Voice Interpreting

    Call 602-771-5225 or email Amerigo.Berdeski@asdb.az.gov to RSVP. Donations of $20 and up requested.

    For descriptions of these and other workshops, see my Interpreting Workshops Page.