What do you think about expansion?

deafbajagal

deafbajagal

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A really good friend of my is an ASL intepreter major. In one of her classes they are discussing the use of expansion during interpreting. For example, they are interpreting a story about the benefits of eating apples. There are medical terms that may need "expanding" during the interpretation. So the professor of this class is telling my friend and her classmates that they as interpreters need to be ready to expand on the vocabulary (meaning, not only sign the word but explain its meaning). I disagree with the professor. I think expansion in intepreting means when additional information is needed to complete the concept...but the professor seems to think that expansion also means explaining vocabulary words.

This bothers me for several reasons.

Number one, how does an interpreter know what needs expanding and what doesn't? How does that person know what I know or don't know. In fact, I might feel offended (though that's unlikely because I'm pretty easy going) if I felt that the interpreter is implying I do not know what that word means since I'm deaf.

Also, it is not the interpreter's job to explain. It is the teacher/lecture/speaker's job so therefore the client needs to speak up and ask questions or at least do his/her homework to learn content knowledge. For example, if the teacher says the word "cell" and I do not know what "cell" means, then I need to ask the teacher. Why is it the interpreter's job to sign "cell" and then expand to explain its meaning?

And the last thing (though I have much more to add but don't want to bore you all) that I thought about is liability. For example, an interpreter is unlikely to have a medical degree. In some situations it can be 'dangerous' if the interpreter is expanding on a term by explaining what it means during interpreting rather than having client ask the doctor do it.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
 
Why expand... you're simply interpreting what is being said?

Expecting the interpreter to expand what is being said... only adds a lot more work and confuses the interpreter because they have to determine what needs to be expanded and it also varies on the intelligence of the student that the interpreter is interpreting for.

If a student doesn't understand what you said, then it's likely for two reasons... the student isn't familiar with your sign language or isn't familiar with the material that the teacher is providing. Either way, the student should ask the teacher to repeat or rephrase... or the student can ask the interpreter during break or at the end of class.

I have a few interpreters who will ask me if I understand them clear, especially during class where huge complex lectures are given. This has happened in one of my graduate level business courses (lots of long words and interpreter asked if it was appropriate to use acronyms instead) and in a medical lab procedure course (lots of unfamiliar medical words). Those interpreters would ask me before class, during break, or after class.
 
well.....we dont interpret words first off...we interpret meaning. in the situation above, i think its appropriate to expand on the meanings of the words...simply because thats what we do anyway. fingerspell the word, then expand on it.


this is the very reason they have specialist certificates for legal and medical settings...not to mention the use of CDI's.
 
Expansion is very much a part of the interpreting (not transliterating) process, and ASL interpreters are not the only ones who do it. Expansion usually happens when interpreting from a low-context language (English) to a high-context language, ASL (and various other spoken languages). Interpreting from English to Spanish...the grammar is different, but by and large there are word equivalencies. Even with medical terminology, there is a Spanish word for even very long medical words (colonoscopy = colonoscopia). But there is not a single sign for the English word colonoscopy. Sure you can fingerspell it, but that isn't interpreting. It's a transliteration of the English word. In order to INTERPRET the phrase in which the word "colonoscopy" is used, you need to unpack the meaning. This is one reason an interpreter needs to UNDERSTAND the message they're interpreting fully. You can't really offer an equivalent ASL interpretation if you can't understand what's being said.
 
where did i get the idea there was a medical certificate? surely there is something for focused medical training, such as mental health etc....
 
Ariakkas said:
where did i get the idea there was a medical certificate? surely there is something for focused medical training, such as mental health etc....
Click to expand...

An interpreter can specialize in mental health or medical interpreting by studying more about it, taking workshops and classes, but there is not a specialty certificate right now for anything other than legal interpreting.
 
There used to be a Performing Arts certificate too, but I've never heard of a Medical certificate. (And SC:PA is long gone.)
 
If anyone is interested in learning about expansion:

Come join us for our Skills Development Lab on "Expansion Techniques"
presented by Trula Baker.

When: Thursday, April 17, 2008
Registration: 5:30 Lab: 6:00 PM - 8:00 PM

Where: *West Asheville Community Center *

* * 970 Haywood Road

Asheville, NC

.2 CEU RID/ACET

Early Bird Registration postmarked by April 7, 2008:

LSRID Members: $10 (at the door $12)

Members of RID/NCRID/Affiliate Chapters/Students: $12.00 ( at the door
$15.00)

Others: $15.00 (at the door $20)

Further information: landoskyrid@aol.com <mailto:landoskyrid@aol.com> or

Tzena Keyes at 828-251-6190

Mail Registration to: LSRID LABS

P.O.Box 1153

Asheville, NC 28802
Click to expand...
 
I will not be able to attend this presentation (and I really would if I could!) - but I will contact them to see if I can purchase the presentation materials. Thanks so much for sharing, Reba. I also will share this information with my friend's professor to see if anyone from the department would be interested in attending. :)
 
HoHGuyOhio said:
Expansion is very much a part of the interpreting (not transliterating) process, and ASL interpreters are not the only ones who do it. Expansion usually happens when interpreting from a low-context language (English) to a high-context language, ASL (and various other spoken languages). Interpreting from English to Spanish...the grammar is different, but by and large there are word equivalencies. Even with medical terminology, there is a Spanish word for even very long medical words (colonoscopy = colonoscopia). But there is not a single sign for the English word colonoscopy. Sure you can fingerspell it, but that isn't interpreting. It's a transliteration of the English word. In order to INTERPRET the phrase in which the word "colonoscopy" is used, you need to unpack the meaning. This is one reason an interpreter needs to UNDERSTAND the message they're interpreting fully. You can't really offer an equivalent ASL interpretation if you can't understand what's being said.
Click to expand...


You brought up some really good points. And you are exactly right about the transliteration vs. interpretation. However, there are many medical terms that the interpreter may think she/he knows its meaning but really doesn't. (I'm playing as a Devil's Advocate here, not necessarily disagreeing). What if she/he expands the meaning but it is incorrect? That's where I think the client needs to say, "Excuse me, Doc. Can you explain to me what a colonoscopy is?" It is the same thing as if a hearing person hears the word "colonoscopy" but doesn't know what it means. It is that person's responsibility to ask the doctor to describe what the procedure is. It is the interpreter's responsiblity to make sure it is fingerspelled correctly and if expansion is needed, to make sure it is correct. Also, how do you really know what that client knows and doesn't know? It is likely I have more medical training than most of the ASL interpreters. Thanks for responding :).
 
Ariakkas said:
where did i get the idea there was a medical certificate? surely there is something for focused medical training, such as mental health etc....
Click to expand...

I know what you mean...I could have swore I heard of that one as well. I'll ask around and see.
 
deafbajagal said:
Also, how do you really know what that client knows and doesn't know?
Click to expand...

It's not a matter of what you know and what you don't, it's a function of the language itself as HoHGuy explained really well. If there is no sign for "colonoscopy" and the interpretation is into pure ASL, expansion is necessary. It has nothing to do with second-guessing what the client knows; it's just how interpreters convey concepts that are not expressed by a simple sign in ASL.

Now, in that situation, here's how I would probably handle it. I would probably fingerspell the word and see if the client nodded or showed any sign of understanding. If not, I would segue into sign-supported fingerspelling and do an expansion on "colonoscopy." If at that point the client clearly doesn't understand, unless it's due to my signing, that is not my responsibility. At that point I agree it's up to the client to ask the doctor what it means. Then I can hopefully interpret the doctor's explanation in more depth.

Remember, interpreters don't get much of a chance normally to know all about your linguistic and other knowledge, unless we've worked with you before. So don't take expansion as an insult; it's something we're trained to do when we run up against things like technical jargon.
 
Interpretrator said:
Now, in that situation, here's how I would probably handle it. I would probably fingerspell the word and see if the client nodded or showed any sign of understanding. If not, I would segue into sign-supported fingerspelling and do an expansion on "colonoscopy." If at that point the client clearly doesn't understand, unless it's due to my signing, that is not my responsibility. At that point I agree it's up to the client to ask the doctor what it means. Then I can hopefully interpret the doctor's explanation in more depth.

Remember, interpreters don't get much of a chance normally to know all about your linguistic and other knowledge, unless we've worked with you before. So don't take expansion as an insult; it's something we're trained to do when we run up against things like technical jargon.
Click to expand...

Good insight; that's how I typically handle those situations.

And expansion should never be looked upon as an insult to the deaf/hoh consumer's intelligence or linguistic competencies. It's a function of interpreting from between English and ASL (not so much English to a signed form of English). The problem is transliterating is usually (incorrectly) called interpreting, so not many people understand the distinction.
 
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