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Originally Posted by vrsterp
It's hard to voice something for someone when they say "Um..S-P..a;skldfasdf I don't know the rest." Or when they completely misspell it to where the interpreter can't figure it out or even guess. Interpreters aren't mind readers. We need at least a close semblance of the word. Sometimes we can figure it out by context, if you're CLOSE to the spelling.
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Ah, this reminds me of a story...and I was just telling ayala920 this story yesterday!
I was interpreting in a psychiatric hospital setting. The deaf client was being prepped to leave the next morning, so she was asking for the items that had been taken away when she had entered the facility. Nail clippers...Sidekick...that kind of thing. And then she asked for her P-R-E-M. I had
no idea what she meant and asked her to repeat. Again, P-R-E-M. We went back and forth, and she got more frustrated while I got more confused. The nurse she was talking to had no idea what she was asking for, either. I finally asked the client "could you
describe it for me?" She said "you know, for your hair!" Ummm...that was no help, I still didn't know! Again she spelled it P-R-E-M. And then she said:
It makes your hair curly. I almost jumped for joy and asked the nurse for the PERM. The client wanted her home permanent kit! I finally explained to the client, "you were spelling it wrong!" We all had a good laugh about it. I don't think I will ever forget the P-R-E-M story.