Terps

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AquaBlue said:
Thanks but the problem is that North Miami Beach is just too far north for me to drive. I did access the website you posted and I signed up. I refused the meeting but left a message for those concerned to help me find local Deaf gatherings. I even said the same thing in my profile description. Let's see what happens...fingers-crossed. :fingersx:
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I'm not an interpreter - and I Know you only wanted interpreter responses regarding learning ASL (??? what about all us hoh/deaf that learned ASL as youth/adults?? we have alot of valuable info as well - but that's a different topic)

The reason I'm posting is to point out something you really need to consider - and I don't mean this to sound harsh but...

IF you really want to be an interpreter AND you are finding all the Deaf gatherings are "too far away" ... you have some choices to make.

A) Is learning ASL and interacting with the Deaf community important enough for you to drive an hour or 2, 1xmonth etc to attend social gathering - at least until you make connections with ASLers nearer to you???

B) IF you go through the whole process of becoming an interpreter ...what are you going to do about jobs that aren't in your backyard ????

I know HH/D that will drive hours to get to a gathering to socialize and catch up ... are you willing /able to do the same.

JMHO
 
Anij said:
I'm not an interpreter - and I Know you only wanted interpreter responses regarding learning ASL (??? what about all us hoh/deaf that learned ASL as youth/adults?? we have alot of valuable info as well - but that's a different topic)

The reason I'm posting is to point out something you really need to consider - and I don't mean this to sound harsh but...

IF you really want to be an interpreter AND you are finding all the Deaf gatherings are "too far away" ... you have some choices to make.

A) Is learning ASL and interacting with the Deaf community important enough for you to drive an hour or 2, 1xmonth etc to attend social gathering - at least until you make connections with ASLers nearer to you???

B) IF you go through the whole process of becoming an interpreter ...what are you going to do about jobs that aren't in your backyard ????

I know HH/D that will drive hours to get to a gathering to socialize and catch up ... are you willing /able to do the same.

JMHO
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Thank you for your words Anij. The reason why I am unable to drive far is a little embarrassing. You see the junk car I drive (and it isn't even mine- I must borrow it) over heats if it stays running for too long. No cash for repairs (not that the car is worth any repairs) so I am stuck. :cool:

I have hope that by the time I become a Terp that my financial situation changes for the better. Then I can travel you see. :fingersx:
 
deafbajagal said:
I'm a Certified Deaf Interpreter (CDI) - I noticed you said "aid to Deaf and Hoh"...Uh oh! That's treading on being pathological - why isn't it being an aide to hearing people as well since they are the ones who need the interpreters, too ;)

Interpreters aren't there to "help" - they're there to bridge two people or groups of people between at least two different languages or two different communication modes... keep that in mind :).
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Question: But isn't a terp (of any language, manual or vocal) facilitating, aiding, the communicative process between a Deaf/HOH person and a hearie? Is that thinking wrong? If so, please explain why it is so. It sounds fine to me...it does not put either side- hearie or Deaf/HOH down does it?? :confused:
 
I speak both English and Spanish. Some of my elderly relatives do not speak English well enough to communicate so they tell me (nine times out of ten), when they have an English-only guest, to please come close and help them in translation.

Now when I say help I do NOT mean it in the sense of aiding a handicap person- as if the Deaf/HOH are unworthy of living. The Deaf/HOH are not at all handicapped in my mind (and heart) so there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for me to express such thinking.

Maybe this misunderstanding rests in phrasing words, semantics, or a totally opposite angle on the word aid/help. May the word assist (assistance) be best in this case? By definition there is an extremely thin line between both pairs of words...they are synonyms practically.
 
AquaBlue said:
I speak both English and Spanish. Some of my elderly relatives do not speak English well enough to communicate so they tell me (nine times out of ten), when they have an English-only guest, to please come close and help them in translation.

Now when I say help I do NOT mean it in the sense of aiding a handicap person- as if the Deaf/HOH are unworthy of living. The Deaf/HOH are not at all handicapped in my mind (and heart) so there is absolutely no reason whatsoever for me to express such thinking.

Maybe this misunderstanding rests in phrasing words, semantics, or a totally opposite angle on the word aid/help. May the word assist (assistance) be best in this case? By definition there is an extremely thin line between both pairs of words...they are synonyms practically.
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Actually Aqua.. The issue isn't the "aid" versus using an other word ...
The issue was one of exclusion
..."If so please share with us your experiences and what you enjoy most about being a communicative aid to the Deaf and HOH.
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see it's about facilitating communication BETWEEN hoh/d AND hearing people - I know that might seem like semantics ... but it's not. Communication has to be equal - I'd hate to think my interpreters feel like they're "aiding (just) ME" ... it's about facilitating communication for BOTH equally.


I hope that makes sense.
 
I have applied to the terp program for fall 2008... I have my screening weekend in april. Hope you dont mind if I join AquaBlue...

a few have said immerse yourself! they are right... I was good before I became friends with a guy who is Deaf... but after I met him and his friends it became easier to sign.. more natural. I currently work as a Teacher Assistant for my old ASL prof... OMG its amazing... I have been signing for about 3 years and am proficient! Almost Fluent lol The Deaf Club near my home has a night once a week that hearing people are welcome, they call it Handtalk... I have gone a few times... Its great to meet people :)

Good luck :)
 
there is a mountain of difference between you interpreting for your grandmother, and being a professional interpreter.

first of...when you interpret for your grandmother, you are "helping". you filter the info and present the important parts to her. you prolly also help her make decisions in the process, such as helping her to understand a concept she may not have understood or possibly interjecting your own thoughts on the subject.

professional interpreters are not helping anyone to communicate, they are allowing communication to happen; a conduit for which communication takes place. same as your mouth and ears.

there is no filter of information, if someone doesn't understand something, it is their responsibility to ask the other person for clarification, not the interpreter. and a professional interpreter stays out of the conversation, period. your thoughts, i deas, feelings...are completely irrevelant.

good example being VRS for nigerian scams. we KNOW its a scam, we hear this all the time....but we can't tell the vp users that its a scam....and they could very well process a large transaction to africa through us.


if we were using a helper model for this above situation, we would certainly tell them that it was a huge scam and not to send thier money. but we are not the Deaf watchdogs, they make decisions for themselves.


your comment, infers that Deaf people need help to communicate with the rest of the world....they dont. Does a spanish interpreter only interpret for the spanish community? what would you need an interpreter for if both parties knew spanish? A spanish interpreter interprets for both the spanish community, and anyone who does not speak spanish.

the second you get it into your head that you are helping someone, you do not see them as equal, but beneath you. Not nessecarily is a "im better than you" kind of way, but as a "you need to be helped, i can help you" kind of way. and the second an interpreter sees things that way, they cease to be an effective interpreter.
 
Understood Ariakkas. I'll adjust my thinking. A question for you Ariakkas: Are Deaf folks excessively sensitive to the assessments of the hearing folks?
 
d/Deaf and ASL and Interpreting appear (I hope I am wrong) to be a game for some - no names mentioned because they may just be new and excited but I am suspicious - d/Deaf and Interpreters/SSP's have a great time in life but usually are not so condescending toward the culture and it's members (d/Deaf or hearing)

Just an observation of many newer threads started lately.
 
AquaBlue said:
That's what I am saying. So what is the problem??
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There is a difference in the implied meaning of "being an aid to" and "facillitating communication between". The first implies that it is only the deaf that need assistance, when in truth, the hearing need the same assistance for comprehension. The first implies a paternalistic attitude that the deaf have fought against for centuries. An interpreter that phrases in the first way simply will not find much acceptance in the deaf community because of the implicit meaning of the wording.

The suggestions were not intended as criticism the way I read them, but simply as a suggestion for an interpreter in training. Part of terp training is learning to be culturally sensitive to the needs of the population that will be employing you for your services.
 
jillio said:
There is a difference in the implied meaning of "being an aid to" and "facillitating communication between". The first implies that it is only the deaf that need assistance, when in truth, the hearing need the same assistance for comprehension. The first implies a paternalistic attitude that the deaf have fought against for centuries. An interpreter that phrases in the first way simply will not find much acceptance in the deaf community because of the implicit meaning of the wording.

The suggestions were not intended as criticism the way I read them, but simply as a suggestion for an interpreter in training. Part of terp training is learning to be culturally sensitive to the needs of the population that will be employing you for your services.
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Thank you jillio. I now understand and have adjusted my thinking. All this is part of learning; also it is best to learn such things prior to entering the Deaf world for the first time. Thanks again!
 
I have an ASL grammar question regarding rules for phrase structure. I extracted these rules from an ASL book I study. Do you, as Terp vets, agree with these rules?

Rule #1.
Topic/Comment.
In a simple sentence/comment, the topic described first followed by the comment.

Rule #2.
Tense with Time Adverbs.
The time adverb is placed at the beginning or near the beginning of the sentence.

Rule #3.
Simple Yes/No Questions.
In short sentences that ask a yes/no question, the order of the signs is variable.

Rule #4.
Long Yes/No Questions.
Long yes/no questions use a topic/question format.

Rule #5.
Information Seeking Questions.
Simple questions that ask for information have variable sentence structures and rely on nonmanual signals to distinguish them from declarative sentences.

Rule #6.
Pronominalization.
Pronouns are indicated by pointing to either (a) a person or thing tha is present or (b) a place in the signing space that is used as a referent point for a person or thing. Pointing is mostly done with the index finger, but eye gazing and other handshapes are sometimes used.

Rule #7.
Rhetorical Questions.
In a rhetorical question, the signer asks a question and then answers it.

Rule #8.
Ordering of Simple Questions.
In simple sentences the verb can be placed before or after the object of the sentence.

Rule #9.
Conditional Sentences.
In a conditional sentences, first the condition is described then the outcome of this condition id described.

Rule #10.
Negation.
You can negate a thought by placing a negative sign before the verb or by first describing a topic and then signing the appropriate negative sign or giving a negative head shake.


Thanks for your input!
 
AquaBlue said:
Thank you jillio. I now understand and have adjusted my thinking. All this is part of learning; also it is best to learn such things prior to entering the Deaf world for the first time. Thanks again!
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You are quite welcome. I don't mind explaining at all.
 
Are Deaf folks excessively sensitive to the assessments of the hearing folks?
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this question made me giggle.....its just like your previous question. You are, without intending to, looking down on Deaf people, by assuming that they are waiting for approval from hearing people. they don't need the approval of the hearing commmunity.

its your job to navigate through their community if you desire, and you'll never do that until you stop seeing them as disabled.

do black people that get offended by the N word do so because they base their worth on what white people think? no, its because its culturally wrong to do that.

if you tell someone they look fat, are they offended because they dont want you to think they are really fat? no...its because its culturally wrong to do so.


one last peice of advice, you'd do well, as we all would....to stop seeing people as a label. labels pigeonhole us into a group or classification that is almost never right.
for every person you terp for that is knowledgable for Deaf culture norms, you will terp for someone who has never been involved with the Deaf community, and you have to be sensitive to both situations to be an effective terp. learning as much as possible is the key, save the judgements for later
 
AquaBlue said:
Understood Ariakkas. I'll adjust my thinking. A question for you Ariakkas: Are Deaf folks excessively sensitive to the assessments of the hearing folks?
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I'm trying to understand your question here. Are you asking if Deaf people are sensitive when hearing people criticize them? Don't you find that question itself insensitive on your part? I must be really confused because I don't get why you would ask this.
 
AquaBlue said:
Five freaking years!!!!!!!!!!!??????????

Wow! I am aiming at three years fluency. I do work hard everyday on my new language.
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Five years is not that long. It's about average for learning any language to fluency. You will be very good within three years, but you will not be fluent. And as others have said, you must socialize with deaf people. There is no "number of words" and "level of grammar" that you need...you just have to start going as soon as possible. Deaf people are used to communicating with non-signers, they've done it all their lives, so don't worry about not knowing a sign or something. And unlike spoken foreign languages, you can always fall back on fingerspelling. You can't depend on people to find things for you to attend...just because the one "interpreter" provided is too far away from you, I'm sure there are PLENTY in Miami you can go to. Just Google for "miami deaf" and you'll find organizations, schools, services, events, etc.

PS for "interpreter": I put your name in quotes because otherwise it looks like I'm just saying the word interpreter, and I didn't want to confuse things. Can I capitalize your name? Using Interpreter looks different enough to have it be a name rather than a word.
 
interpreter said:
I'm an interpreter, too. I went to an ITP, but I got my training through the school of hard knocks. You need to have a thick skin.
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Etoile, do not look at what I said in the negative. interpreter said that a hearie needs to have thick skin. That automatically tells me that the Deaf are easily angered by what seems to be, as you said, insensitive, comments/actions of the hearing people. So are they (Deaf folks) sensitive to what hearies say or do about them?

Understand?

I never meant anything bad by it...unless, of course, this is another one of those needed adjustments on my part (I think not in this case).
 
Etoile said:
Five years is not that long. It's about average for learning any language to fluency. You will be very good within three years, but you will not be fluent. And as others have said, you must socialize with deaf people. There is no "number of words" and "level of grammar" that you need...you just have to start going as soon as possible. Deaf people are used to communicating with non-signers, they've done it all their lives, so don't worry about not knowing a sign or something. And unlike spoken foreign languages, you can always fall back on fingerspelling. You can't depend on people to find things for you to attend...just because the one "interpreter" provided is too far away from you, I'm sure there are PLENTY in Miami you can go to. Just Google for "miami deaf" and you'll find organizations, schools, services, events, etc.
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I will attempt to visit the North Miami Beach gathering if I can. Now as for the online search comment, I can't find a single one near me and I am in the heart of the city...or at least of the burbs. All online searches have come up dry.Thank you. :ty:
 
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