Should a hearing signer still sign when an interpreter is present?

Etoile · 09-07-2007, 12:33 AM

I went to an event recently that had a mixture of deaf and hearing speakers. One of the hearing speakers was a little awkward with his signs, but he was perfectly understandable. Very English, not ASL, but I understood him fine. He was also speaking out loud with his signs.

Every time it was his turn to speak, an interpreter came onstage too. She signed nice ASL, she was a lot more expressive than him, and she was easy to understand. But the problem was, I got kind of distracted because I wasn't sure who to look at because they were both signing!

Should a hearing person who can sign, still sign if an interpreter is there? I don't mean choosing to sign INSTEAD of speak, I mean when you are already speaking out loud, and there is an interpreter there, should you sign with your speech too?

How should the hearing person feel? I was thinking if I was him, I would have been embarrassed that they believed I needed an interpreter. Maybe he is not comfortable with his sign skills and wanted a terp there, but then why did he sign while he was speaking?

It just seemed really weird to me to have two people signing on stage. I think if somebody is interpreting your speech into ASL, you should not use Signed English at the same time, because it is too confusing. What do you think?

ismi · 09-07-2007, 01:02 AM

I can think of a couple reasons that one might do that (of course, that's assume there *was* a reason - obviously we don't always behave rationally!). I'm a non-fluent signer, but often poor signing makes the difference between being able to follow speech and being totally lost. If that was the case for some members of the audience, then it might be preferable to watch the speaker (so you catch body language and lips and such) and ignore the interpreter, since poor/broken signing is all you need.

Somewhat along those lines, if his signing was intelligible, then I'd rather watch him than the interpreter, just for the sake of getting the message straight from the horse's mouth. Obviously if the signing was too hard to read, it'd be nice eto have a terp there ... but otherwise, watching the original source could be superior to watching a secondhand version of the same thing.

Interpretrator · 09-07-2007, 01:26 AM

If there were an interpreter available and the audience were mixed hearing and deaf, I would not sign. I would speak English and let it be interpreted into ASL. The reason is as you say -- when you speak English and sign at the same time, you cannot sign in ASL, you sign mostly English. It's nearly impossible to do otherwise. Also, both languages tend to suffer when sim-comming and usually it's sign. I've read studies where deaf signers transcribed a sim-commer's signing and many signs were dropped or used incorrectly. It's almost impossible for me to monitor myself when I'm speaking and signing (no brain space left!) but I know I'm making mistakes in sign when I speak at the same time.

09-07-2007, 12:33 AM	#1 (permalink)
Etoile HOH terp Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Washington DC Posts: 926	Should a hearing signer still sign when an interpreter is present? I went to an event recently that had a mixture of deaf and hearing speakers. One of the hearing speakers was a little awkward with his signs, but he was perfectly understandable. Very English, not ASL, but I understood him fine. He was also speaking out loud with his signs. Every time it was his turn to speak, an interpreter came onstage too. She signed nice ASL, she was a lot more expressive than him, and she was easy to understand. But the problem was, I got kind of distracted because I wasn't sure who to look at because they were both signing! Should a hearing person who can sign, still sign if an interpreter is there? I don't mean choosing to sign INSTEAD of speak, I mean when you are already speaking out loud, and there is an interpreter there, should you sign with your speech too? How should the hearing person feel? I was thinking if I was him, I would have been embarrassed that they believed I needed an interpreter. Maybe he is not comfortable with his sign skills and wanted a terp there, but then why did he sign while he was speaking? It just seemed really weird to me to have two people signing on stage. I think if somebody is interpreting your speech into ASL, you should not use Signed English at the same time, because it is too confusing. What do you think?

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09-07-2007, 01:02 AM	#2 (permalink)
ismi Implanted 7/18/07 Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 749	I can think of a couple reasons that one might do that (of course, that's assume there was a reason - obviously we don't always behave rationally!). I'm a non-fluent signer, but often poor signing makes the difference between being able to follow speech and being totally lost. If that was the case for some members of the audience, then it might be preferable to watch the speaker (so you catch body language and lips and such) and ignore the interpreter, since poor/broken signing is all you need. Somewhat along those lines, if his signing was intelligible, then I'd rather watch him than the interpreter, just for the sake of getting the message straight from the horse's mouth. Obviously if the signing was too hard to read, it'd be nice eto have a terp there ... but otherwise, watching the original source could be superior to watching a secondhand version of the same thing.

09-07-2007, 01:26 AM	#3 (permalink)
Interpretrator Crime fighter Join Date: Dec 2004 Posts: 1,425	If there were an interpreter available and the audience were mixed hearing and deaf, I would not sign. I would speak English and let it be interpreted into ASL. The reason is as you say -- when you speak English and sign at the same time, you cannot sign in ASL, you sign mostly English. It's nearly impossible to do otherwise. Also, both languages tend to suffer when sim-comming and usually it's sign. I've read studies where deaf signers transcribed a sim-commer's signing and many signs were dropped or used incorrectly. It's almost impossible for me to monitor myself when I'm speaking and signing (no brain space left!) but I know I'm making mistakes in sign when I speak at the same time.