Daniel Greene

Tag: conference

  • Workshops on deaf-blind interpreting, oral transliteration at RID V in Hawaii

    Workshops on deaf-blind interpreting, oral transliteration at RID V in Hawaii

    I am presenting two workshops at the RID Region V conference in Hawaii June 13–17:

    Lend me an ear. And a hand. And a black shirt: What you need to know about deaf-blind interpreting.

    Have you ever had consumers who asked you to “sign small” and “wear a black shirt”? If you have done video interpreting, chances are you have interpreted for deaf-blind “low vision” consumers at least a few times. Less likely is that you have interpreted for low vision consumers in person, and even less likely is that you have ever done tactile interpreting— which technology has not yet made possible over VRS. This workshop will introduce you to various kinds of blindness and teach you how to accommodate your signing space to the resulting kinds of “low vision.” You will also learn the basic techniques of tactile interpreting and informing the consumer about the environment. Come expand your repertoire. No black shirts required.

    Read my lips: Making English visible through oral transliteration

    This workshop provides an overview of oral transliteration: what it is, who uses it, and how to do it right. Come and learn: Why some deaf people want to read your lips; How you can be pro-Deaf culture and still respect and serve oral deaf people; How you can transfer what you’ve learned in ASL interpreting to oral transliteration. Have you ever been sent to a job where the person didn’t know sign language but wanted to read your lips, and you didn’t know what to do? Here’s a good place to start. Unlearn some of the “good habits” in sign interpretation that are “bad habits” in oral transliteration. Increase the number of consumers you can serve. People of all knowledge levels are welcome.

  • 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…)

  • Register for the “United We Stand” Hawaii state conference today!

    Register for the “United We Stand” Hawaii state conference today!

    I am excited to be presenting my Vague Language (VL) workshop at the “United We Stand” Hawaii state conference co-hosted by the Aloha State Association of the Deaf (ASAD), Hawaii Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (HRID), and Miss Deaf Hawai`i Ambassador Program (MDHAP). The conference takes place August 19-21, 2011, in Honolulu, HI at the Pacific Beach Hotel in beautiful Waikiki. For those of you in Hawaii, or who would like to make the trip to the tropical island, follow this link to register: ASAD STATE CONFERENCE 2011 REGISTRATION FORM

     

  • 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!