I've interpreted with Scott for ... about eight years? Now he's off to the wild wild west - Montana oh no no no that's WyOMing! oh heck, someplace where they have horses. :-)
Interpreting: June 2006 Archives
is starting to make sense. I mean, as a language of space and spatial relationships. Who knows if I'll ever actually remember all the rules and how to do various kinds of problems (!), but the logic is finally getting through my thick, thick skull. It may be because I've developed enough depth in the visual/kinesthetic/spatial mode of ASL now for that to provide a cognitive bridge? Or it could be simple repetition. (I won't confess how many times I've taken and/or interpreted algebra, geometry, and other advanced math classes. No, no, I won't!
In Wanda's, mine, the deaf student and non-deaf teacher's on-going discussions about meaningfulness and sign choices, we landed upon the same sign (use of the "B" classifier, moved conceptually in space) for symmetry and reflection. The English definitions use the terms to define each other! I distinguished symmetry as a characteristic of shape (the teacher agreed it's static, not moving) and reflection as an action (the teacher embellished this a more but in general agreed).
In terms of interaction, the deaf student has - on a few occasions - asked us not to sign something as she wants to have a private conversation with us. I feel fine with this except/unless I'm otherwise formally "on" - for instance, standing in the front of the room as the teacher pauses between problems. Norms have developed around the table when the students are working on problems either on their own or in teams in which Wanda and I might chit-chat with non-deaf students or the deaf student depending. I think it's a necessary break from the intensity of the learning process. The teacher commented during one of the first sessions that it must be hard for a deaf student to work (think and learn!) while they're being watched (the interpreter's gaze, eh?).
Another thing I've become more conscious of is really putting myself into the role of the speaker. It's easier to do when the role is one I'm already familiar and comfortable with in other contexts - such as being a teacher. I know how "to do" that. It frees me from the literal, too, and enhances the product of interpretation. :-) The non-deaf students at the table often take on the role of teacher or encourager - or distractor, clown, etc - like normal students. :-) Those interactions are fun and build connection & relationship across the language/culture divide.
Part of fully taking on the teacher role is that it creates more time/space for me to utilize some ASL discourse features such as repetition and emphasis. The linearity of English (any spoken language?) conditions the non-deaf mind to follow thoughts in a linear manner, recognizing when tangents occur - although some folk tend to speak in tangents more than anything else! The simultaneity of ASL, as a visual language, means they perceive information in/on a broader plane - there is no automatic prioritization of 'a line' (theme, subject, topic) that is conditioned by language. The line-of-thinking has to be built, created constantly through direct reference that re-anchors the topic, subject, etc.
Now we're discussing functions. [Note: a positivistic way of knowing (there are other ways to know, smile).] No lexical equivalent here, only a code. :-(
Inverse is not exactly opposite, btw, and a regression - WOW - we were way off on that one! It is not a simple reduction or decrease (such as indicated by a "decline" down the arm).
"regression. A mathematical relationship between two variables (eg, the height and weight of women in Australia). For simplicity, the relationship is often taken to be a linear one (ie, a straight line when plotted), but it can also be a curve. When the regression relationship for the variables is known, we can predict the approximate value of one variable from the value of the other."
"Regression: A form of statistical modelling that attempts to evaluate the relationship between one variable (termed the dependent variable) and one or more other variables (termed the independent variables). It is a form of global analysis as it only produces a single equation for the relationship thus not allowing any variation across the study area. Geographically Weighted Regression is a local analysis form of regression."
This was how the interpreter's role was described by the leader of a group responding to a direct curiousity about the interpreter's experience of interpreting in this particular setting. "Wanda" and I were given the amazing opportunity to, as she said, "discuss with a group that we're not members of how we aren't members of their group."
It was awesome. :-) It's the last day of a training seminar in which one of the themes is the on-going development of the group (yes, I have been in heaven!) As they are checking in, the last person to do so says that she'd be interested in the interpreters' experience. The leader runs with it. She summarizes a range of issues/questions using it as a teaching moment: are members of the group more attentive to individuals or the whole group, where is the boundary of the group, are we "in" or "out" of that boundary, what does it mean to notice/not notice us, etc. [I didn't even pay her to ask these questions!] [I'd have given some kind of bribe, though, to have been able to tape it!!!]
One of the most amazing elements of being an interpreter is the way we get to peek in so many of society's windows. It is a somewhat voyeuristic job. Not that every job is exactly intimate, but one is trying to be "in" other people's internal space - to sense and convey their intentions and desires, their thoughts and their feelings. All without getting drawn in, of course!
I've interpreted in court, college math, mental health, various graduation events, a technology training, and a dance class all in one week. I see the workings of the legal, educational and medical systems as their employees interact with consumers of all ambitions - from those who just want the service to activists for social change. I experience individuals who take to the interpreted situation like they've been doing it their whole life, and others who are discombobulated to the point of dysfunction.
It's thrilling (you can choose whether or not to take this as a commentary on the rest of my life!) when a non-deaf person and a deaf person engage each other deeply around a subject. It's also cool when interpreters collaborate regarding meaning. The 20 minutes we spent coming up with the distinction between "variable" as a general concept, and "a specific variable" was well worth it; as was our revisiting the notion of symmetry repeatedly until we fell upon a sign (perhaps it fell upon us?!) that captures both the reflective, mirror qualities and the reverse parallelism.
[I know there are Deaf mathematicians, ASL scholars, and interpreters who have developed vocabularies for these technical terms. It seems many people revert to a code instead of doing the hard work of discovering an equivalent concept in the target language. Have I written about this already?!]
There's also the question of movement. There is the obvious interactional quality that is evoked when the Deaf person(s) actually have to turn their head (!) to locate the speaker/interpreter but more deeply than this is, I believe, something that happens with the language of the group. This time, when I say "language", I don't mean ASL or English, I mean the particular vocabulary and ways of talking that each group establishes over the course of group development. Do we tease or stay on topic always? Are asides allowed? Can we interrupt? Some folks call these norms. The issue with norms is how rigid or flexible they are; this varies from group to group, and within groups from time to time.
I have an opinion that if the interpreter physically moves to "follow the sound" of the English, the language is less restricted and norms can develop that are more inclusive and egalitarian. When the interpreter "plants" our butt in one spot, we essentially "force" all that moving, flowing interactive linguistic output to channel itself through us. This heightens our power in a nonproductive way - it grants us much more control but not necessarily in a way that generates more accessibility. I also don't think it does much for building relationships among deaf and non-deaf interlocutors because too often the non-deaf person is out of view.
[Note: I just did a google search to define interlocutor and it's a bad word in terms of diction: not the best choice because too many of the definitions emphasize speaking for someone and having no power....it's more of an interpreter's role.] Darn!
Linguistic puzzles in math persist:
