Daniel Greene

Tag: ASL

American Sign Language

  • Do you have to advocate for consecutive interpreting?

    https://twitter.com/#!/danielgreene/status/161961292209471488

  • Spoke to Deaf interpreters about ethical business practices today

    https://twitter.com/#!/danielgreene/status/160980607948689409

  • Are most ASL interpreters working in their C language?

    TerpTrans logoI began writing this as a comment to C is for… – The Interpreter’s Languages (Part II), a follow-up to Learning your ABCs – The Interpreter’s Languages (Part I)— both posts from the blog The Interpreter Diaries. The comment got so long, though, I decided to make it a post on my own interpreting blog. So, here we go.

    The American Sign Language interpreting profession has a lot of catching up to do to bring it on par with foreign language interpreting international conference interpreting. I would venture to say that most ASL interpreters are working not only from but also to their “C language.” You have to understand that until the ’60s and ’70s, there was no ASL interpreting profession, and those who interpreted for the deaf were usually family, friends, or neighbors. Deaf people counted themselves lucky to get anyone to interpret for them— free of charge, no less! Unfortunately, here we are in the 2010s and deaf people still find themselves lucky to get an interpreter to provide the service even for pay.

    There is a shortage of interpreters to fulfill the demand for “qualified interpreters” required by the Americans with Disabilities Act. There are very few native hearing signers. Even those with deaf parents do not all learn the language fluently; in fact, it has been seen that one child may learn ASL fluently and the other siblings will rely on that child to interpret between them and their parents. And then, even the CODAs (children of deaf adults) who are fluent in ASL are not always as fluent in all registers of the language that they would need to be to call ASL their A language. What’s more, CODAs often have English as a B language because it is their second language. (Babies are developmentally able to learn signed languages at a younger age than spoken languages, so for many CODAs, sign language is their native language.)

    To make matters worse, (more…)

  • Why shouldn’t I let my consumers do my work for me sometimes?

    Some interpreters just hate it when they’re trying to interpret from ASL to English and someone in the audience who knows sign language blurts out a word the interpreter missed or is trying to think of. I had such an interpreting experience recently, and it made me think about my willingness to let my consumers help me with my interpretation. Looking at it now, I think it is a question of humility, not laziness, but that is the wisdom of hindsight talking. Let me bring you back to the not-so-wise moment when I had a conflict with my audience.

    The deaf speaker, presenting to an audience of people who knew ASL pretty well but not fluently, fingerspelled a number I wasn’t entirely sure of. I thought I got it, but wasn’t 100% confident in my perception. I didn’t have a team interpreter to support me in voicing. Someone in the audience said the thing I wasn’t sure of, and it turned out I was right. Yet, after they did that bit of work for me, I asked the presenter to reiterate the lexical item. I was doing consecutive interpreting, and while I was watching the deaf signer, yet another audience member said the thing I wasn’t sure of. I said, “Just a moment. I’m getting this.” And then I said the thing we all thought the deaf person said, only this time I was sure of my interpretation. The dialogue between me and the audience members was quiet, and it didn’t seem to be a big deal for anyone, but I couldn’t stop thinking about it after the assignment.

    Why did I do what I did? Was it the most appropriate and effective behavior? What could I have done differently? Why didn’t I just let it go when the audience member guessed rightly? And, even if they had guessed wrongly, would it have mattered? These are the questions that nagged me this morning.

    I think I did what I did for several reasons I’m not necessarily proud of: (more…)

  • Workshops in Yuma cancelled due to low registration

    Unfortunately, not enough people registered for the workshops I was going to present in Yuma, Arizona in October, so the workshops had to be cancelled. I hope whatever led to the low registration this time is remedied in the future, and I look forward to presenting to those who registered as well as those who wanted to but were unable to do so at this time.

    Keep watching here for details about future workshops!

    Upcoming workshops:

    • September 24, 2011, Virginia Beach, VA: Vague Language
    • October 15, 2011, Milwaukee, WI: Vague Language

    Recent workshops:

    • August 20, 2011, Honolulu, HI: Vague Language
    • August 12, 2011, Monmouth, OR: Vague Language

    For more information about the workshops I offer, take a gander at my Interpreting Workshops page.

    Have you ever had a speaking engagement cancelled or have you ever had to cancel one as a planner? Or perhaps a college class? Do you have any ideas about getting sufficient registration to avoid cancellation?