A half-terped event?

KimS. · 06-10-2009, 07:29 PM

Hello all:
My city is about to have its GLBT Pride celebration, complete with an Interfaith church service which is divvied up among various community groups. One of those groups is a chorus which I belong to. We will be performing two songs, which I will interpret into ASL. However, the organizers are having no luck locating somebody to interpret the rest of this service (everybody in town is WAY booked up), and I am in no way qualified to 'terp the whole service myself.
Would it be really, really weird for me to step up and do these two songs anyways, even if they end up being the only ASL there? I really want our group to be visible as a group that signs all its events, even these little run-out gigs!
Some background here.
I have always been hard-of-hearing, grew up mainstreamed, without any Sign except for a bit of Signed English they tried to teach me in High School which made very little sense to my visually-oriented brain. I do have enough hearing to sing in choruses, which I have done since the age of 8 and up until now. Then 5 years ago, my brilliant spouse dragged me to an ASL class, the light bulb flashed over my head, and I have been wanting to sign, rather than sing, ever since. And have been having a great time making Deaf friends and getting to local Signed events. Only now am I beginning to get proficient enough to grab up some of my chorus' songs away from the professional terps (but they still get the spoken-word stuff, hehe).

MoonDrifter · 06-10-2009, 07:55 PM

Wow, that's a lot on your shoulders. Based on my experiences, dual interpreters work best in events like this. Going solo is a lot of work for one person. Despite the qualifications, it really comes down to how confident you feel about interpreting the entire service. I'd like to caution you that it does get tiring after signing at a constant rate for a long period of time. I've seen this happen to professionals at my sibs previous graduations. I felt bad for the interpreters cause the speeches were hours long. Where songs are considered, I'd bet that the interpretation would be fast-paced. Are you comfortable with that?

In the end, it is your choice. I wish you the best.

Etoile · 06-11-2009, 12:18 AM

Being able to sign and being able to interpret are not the same thing. Tell the organizers that you are a performer, not an interpreter, and if they want an interpreter for the rest of the show, they should contact one.

ASLGAL · 06-11-2009, 05:30 AM

Quote:

Being able to sign and being able to interpret are not the same thing. Tell the organizers that you are a performer, not an interpreter, and if they want an interpreter for the rest of the show, they should contact one.

Absolutely!!
Interpreters are certified and licensed, if you have the qualifications then you can present yourself as an interpreter, if not then you cannot and are not.
Being a signer is not being an interpreter.

Good Luck!! I think you should sign the songs your group is doing but do not let anyone make you feel you should try to sign the whole service.

KimS. · 06-11-2009, 07:56 AM

Thank you all! Not to worry, I'll NOT be attempting to interpret the whole event -- I know when I'm in over my head.
To their credit, the event organizers ARE trying to locate a fully-qualified terp, and if they don't succeed, then I'll be sitting there with my hearing aids cranked up and one of the church's shiny new assistive-listening doohickeys in hand. (Not while I'm sign-singing of course!)
So, I'll be doing my part to keep my chorus visible as a Sign-friendly group. And paving the way for the future Interfaith services to all be terped.

06-10-2009, 07:29 PM	#1 (permalink)
KimS. Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 6	A half-terped event? Hello all: My city is about to have its GLBT Pride celebration, complete with an Interfaith church service which is divvied up among various community groups. One of those groups is a chorus which I belong to. We will be performing two songs, which I will interpret into ASL. However, the organizers are having no luck locating somebody to interpret the rest of this service (everybody in town is WAY booked up), and I am in no way qualified to 'terp the whole service myself. Would it be really, really weird for me to step up and do these two songs anyways, even if they end up being the only ASL there? I really want our group to be visible as a group that signs all its events, even these little run-out gigs! Some background here. I have always been hard-of-hearing, grew up mainstreamed, without any Sign except for a bit of Signed English they tried to teach me in High School which made very little sense to my visually-oriented brain. I do have enough hearing to sing in choruses, which I have done since the age of 8 and up until now. Then 5 years ago, my brilliant spouse dragged me to an ASL class, the light bulb flashed over my head, and I have been wanting to sign, rather than sing, ever since. And have been having a great time making Deaf friends and getting to local Signed events. Only now am I beginning to get proficient enough to grab up some of my chorus' songs away from the professional terps (but they still get the spoken-word stuff, hehe).

06-11-2009, 12:18 AM	#3 (permalink)
Etoile legally married :) Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Washington DC Posts: 1,091	Being able to sign and being able to interpret are not the same thing. Tell the organizers that you are a performer, not an interpreter, and if they want an interpreter for the rest of the show, they should contact one. __________________ "You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty." -Gandhi

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06-10-2009, 07:55 PM	#2 (permalink)
MoonDrifter Registered User Join Date: May 2009 Location: Hillsboro Posts: 1,140 Blog Entries: 1	Wow, that's a lot on your shoulders. Based on my experiences, dual interpreters work best in events like this. Going solo is a lot of work for one person. Despite the qualifications, it really comes down to how confident you feel about interpreting the entire service. I'd like to caution you that it does get tiring after signing at a constant rate for a long period of time. I've seen this happen to professionals at my sibs previous graduations. I felt bad for the interpreters cause the speeches were hours long. Where songs are considered, I'd bet that the interpretation would be fast-paced. Are you comfortable with that? In the end, it is your choice. I wish you the best.

06-11-2009, 07:56 AM	#5 (permalink)
KimS. Registered User Join Date: Mar 2007 Posts: 6	Thank you all! Not to worry, I'll NOT be attempting to interpret the whole event -- I know when I'm in over my head. To their credit, the event organizers ARE trying to locate a fully-qualified terp, and if they don't succeed, then I'll be sitting there with my hearing aids cranked up and one of the church's shiny new assistive-listening doohickeys in hand. (Not while I'm sign-singing of course!) So, I'll be doing my part to keep my chorus visible as a Sign-friendly group. And paving the way for the future Interfaith services to all be terped.