Interpreting: March 2006 Archives

My interpreting teammate, "Wanda," kinda upset me today. There are object lessons all the way around! First, I should've spoken up but was in some kinda 'mood', so I didn't. Second, I could have trusted that the universe would 'get even' with or without my assistance, but by then I was fuming . Third, none of it mattered anyway - at least not in the grand scheme of things.

What happened? (Sounds kinda dramatic, doesn't it?!) I was waylaid en route to the job by one of the leaders (not deaf) telling me about a videotape to be shown that my team interpreter had suggested we could take turns viewing in advance (during the job). I inquired about some of the particulars. Audio challenges, of various sorts. Yeah, a preview would help, but was it necessary? Of course, she was just trying to be responsive to previous feedback that it is really helpful for interpreters to be able to preview uncaptioned videos.

Then I entered the room and Wanda told me the same thing. There was a video and we should take turns previewing it.

I was annoyed.

Here's another item I'm sure I've posted before but obviously didn't catalog or code correctly for later retrieval. At any rate, I saw this short video on the powers of ten when I interpreted a science class some years back for upper elementary school students (possibly fifth-graders). I find it a useful metaphor for this notion of social metonymy that I keep trying to articulate as a means of linking the microsocial with the macrosocial and vice-versa.

When my team, "Wanda" glanced at me uncertainly and signed what she thought she heard, I immediately cast my attention into short-term memory: what had I just heard? I thought I'd heard, "making the visible invisible" but what I saw signed was the other way around, making the invisible visible. Shoot! Did it matter? Was it a crucial concept? Could I ask to clarify? The speaker went on, so did Wanda. I perseverated. When and how could I ask? Should I ask or let it go?

Last week we'd had a moment where we had both misheard a term in the same way. "Kenyan" did not seem to fit the situation, but then again - this group regularly (several times a day) refered to a wide range of ethnicities and nationalities; it could have been a new example that interpreters weren't familiar with but members of the group knew. We'd let it go until after the meeting....and then the speaker couldn't remember the context (and neither could we, fixated only on what the single word might have sounded like instead of the context in which it was said).

I was asked (!) to write a summary of my ongoing interpreting research for a sign language interpreter's journal in the United Kingdom in which I would discuss similarities and differences between spoken and sign language interpreter's experiences. I've hammered out a first draft but am lost for a conclusion. I need help! I've written to an audience of "insiders" - but I hope it is understandable to non-interpreters as well. I would love any and all feedback regarding clarity. What will help the most, right now, is if you would share with me your thoughts and reactions to what I've written. Do you agree/disagree? Does it lead you to certain questions or help bring a particular dilemma into view? I'm honestly curious about whatever comes to your mind while considering about what I've written.

The framework I'm writing from - my research lens - is critical discourse analysis. I don't explain that here at all (that's for the dissertation).

Thanks. :-)