Daniel Greene

Tag: sign language

  • Why would Deaf people think interpreting is easy?

    I pose the question respectfully. I understand that not all Deaf people think interpreting is easy, but I know several Deaf people who never realized how hard interpreting was until they tried to do it themselves. Case in point, a Deaf colleague of mine recently wrote:

    I remember attending a CDI [Certified Deaf Interpreter] workshop with several Deaf participants. After several interpreting exercises, most Deaf participants arrived at a realization – that interpreting is not easy…

    I have heard this time and again, and for this reason, I wish all Deaf consumers of interpreting services took a Deaf interpreter workshop! (Unrealistic as that wish might be.) I thought about saying “all consumers” (Deaf and Hearing), but I’ll tell you why I didn’t. (more…)

  • You can now adjust the closed-captions on my YouTube vlogs

    Announced today: YouTube’s enhancements to closed-captioning. I’m glad to hear this! I am a longtime supporter of closed-captioning. I posted my first closed-captioned video on Google Video just after they implemented closed-captioning in 2006. Now YouTube has implemented CC settings that allow viewers to adjust the font, size, color, and background of captions. Even better, YouTube is now supporting older captioning formats so that videos captioned decades ago can now be uploaded along with their original caption files. This means millions more closed-captioned videos will now be viewable on YouTube!

    Here’s that first closed-captioned video I posted on Google Video— now on YouTube. I’m glad people watching the videos I caption can now adjust the look of the subtitles to their preference. Feel free to fiddle with the CC settings to make the captions look just the way you like.

  • Participated in an ASL Hangout on Air on Google+

    I just realized I never blogged this! Did this last month on Google+ to help them test their Hangout On Air technology with other people using sign language.

  • Where are the sign language interpreter blogs today?

    I began writing this website in 1996, and when I turned it into a blog in 2006 I searched the blogosphere and I found some other ASL interpreter blogs. Back then, two of the four blogs I found were inactive, and since then, the other two have become inactive.

    Today, things are different. While I have continued to publish my posts about interpreting for the deaf and various topics, other blogs have emerged and thrived. Here are four that I am aware of: (more…)

  • Update on my thesis on VL in ASL

    I am working on my master’s thesis on vague language (VL) in American Sign Language (ASL). As far as I know, not much has been published about vagueness in ASL and nothing has been published about “VL” in ASL aside from my article in the RID Views. For my thesis, I’m doing a literature review of what has been written about VL in world languages and vagueness in ASL— even if the topic of the publication wasn’t “vagueness” per se. After a review of the literature, I will contribute a description of at least one aspect VL in ASL. My goal is to help ASL-English interpreters recognize VL and interpret it faithfully to serve the communication goals of deaf and hearing consumers.

    If you know of any literature about VL in ASL—or any type of vagueness in ASL—please leave a comment. Thanks!