Due: December 10, 2012

Directions: You will read the following chapter from "For Hearing People Only" book (written by Matthew S. Moore & Linda Levitan). You will post you "journal." You will write a paragraph putting down your thoughts/ideas/opinions about this chapter. How does it make you feel? What did you already know? What was new to you? Imagine yourself...? This sections needs to be approximately 8 - 10 sentences. After you do this post you will then read your peer students post. You will then reply to their post ... do not just say "nice job," or "I agree;" you can say that but tell me why! These replies to your peers should be between 3 and 5 sentences.

 

For Hearing People Only:  Chapter 94:  “If I take one or two sign-language classes, will that make me a qualified interpreter?”

 

Hardly.  But you you’d be surprised how many people have little – or no – idea of just what it does take to make a qualified interpreter.

After “one or two sign-language classes,” you can expect to know maybe 20 signs – which certainly does not qualify you as an interpreter!  (An analogy:  Is someone qualified to practice neurosurgery after taking one or two pre-med or freshman-biology courses?)

Exactly what constitutes a qualified interpreter?  To backtrack a bit, we can define an interpreter as a facilitator of communication between Deaf/hard-of-hearing and hearing persons.  Common settings are “educational, occupational, legal, medical and mental health, rehabilitation/social services, religious, television and artistic performances, platform interpreting, and business, industry, and government.”  The goal is to give all participants equal access to the same information.  This is a demanding task calling for a professional.  Nobody becomes a professional at anything after taking one or two courses.  Getting to the top of the interpreting profession (or any profession, for that matter) takes skill, dedication, discipline, training, years of hard work, plus a good attitude.

The Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, based in Silver Spring, Maryland, is the national certifying/membership body for interpreters, teachers, and students.  RID provides “a nationally recognized credential that assures quality to “consumers” – the RID certificate of transliteration, interpretation, or both.  These are awarded after the interpreter takes and passes a written test (with ethical-standards and knowledge portions) and a performance test in the area(s) of transliterating spoken English into ASL or signed English, or translating a form of sign language into spoken English.

To become a qualified interpreter, you need to go through a good interpreter-training program (ITP).  According to Bethany L. Stancliff’s RID pamphlet, “Sign Language Interpreting:  A Career Information Packet,” “there are currently 73 interpreter-preparation programs in the US and Canada.  Some programs offer a certificate in interpreting, some offer a 2-year associate’s degree, and few offer a 4-year bachelor’s degree.  To date, only Gallaudet University offers a master’s degree in interpreting.  Programs range in size from 5 – 50 people and practicum hours vary from 0 – 528.  Some programs require only admission to college, while others have a rigorous interview process.  Because of the growing demand for interpreters, new programs are developing, and these statistics continue to change.”

So if you’re just breaking into sign-language studies and are considering becoming an interpreter, you need to choose a college that offers an ITP. Not all ITP’s are equally effective.  There is no universally-accepted standard as to what constitutes an adequate ITP, but RID is working on that.

As Stancliff puts it, “There are several skills or qualities that are advantageous to have as an interpreter:  flexibility, objectivity, self-discipline, punctuality, responsibility, a professional attitude, exemplary spoken / written English, ability in ASL and / or signed English, good interpersonal skills, maturity, and a recognition of persons who are deaf as capable human beings.”  ITP students, she suggests, should “take classes in other related areas” – anthropology, public speaking, and English – to enhance their cultural perspective and communication / performance skill.  “Because interpreters can be asked to provide services in every discipline, from scientific to medical to legal, it would be helpful to build up one’s general knowledge: the greater the ‘knowledge base,’ the better.”

Deaf people can become interpreters with CDI certification.  Incidentally, we have been informed that deaf people have served on RID’s board, committee, and leadership positions “for years and years.”

As we’ve already pointed out, the quality of currently-active interpreters varies in the extreme.  While it does provide some assurance of skill, certification alone doesn’t guarantee a first-rate interpreter.  And then there are interpreters who lack any certification at all.  Some students, after taking a few sign-language classes, emerge, egos puffed up, with the attitude:  “Look at me, I’m an interpreter!”  I want to save deaf people.  I want to help them, because I know some signs!!!”  There are some people out there who think they’re good interpreters (but aren’t) and who lack the necessary qualifications.  Call the “amateurs;” call them “non-professionals;” call them “Brand X Interpreters.”  They are not answerable to the RID or it’s Code of Ethics.  In hiring them and using their services, the client and consumer have not “guarantee,” no “service warranty,” no official recourse.  They won’t get the same quality of service they expect from a certified interpreter. 

Since RID has no real authority to enforce its standards anyone can call her/himself a “qualified interpreter.”  This, by the way, is not illegal.  Quality-assurance testing systems do exist in some state – but not all.  Some stated don’t require or recognize RID certification.  Which means that, if you live in such a state, are involved in courtroom litigation, and need an interpreter, the court district may hire an uncertified interpreter.  If you’re a key witness in a murder trial, would you want your ASL testimony to be rendered into spoken English by someone who’s taken a couple of sign-language classes and then hangs out an “Interpreter” shingle?  If you’re a Deaf member of the jury, would you want to depend on the signing skills of such an interpreter?  A scary though for many of us.