Interpreter blunders

K

kuifje75

Guest
Have you had an interpreter misunderstand you and voiced something out totally different, but had hilarious or tragic results?

Yesterday, I was at a new job orientation, and they were lecturing about sexual harrassment. I raised my hand and...

Kuifje75 said: "May I add something?"
Interpreter voiced: "May I kiss somebody?"

Both the interpreter and I did not realise what happened, until I noticed that everyone were laughing so hard and the presenter was replying "No, you can't." So I said "huh?" to interpreter and eventually we both realised and laughed so hard. The interpreter was totally red and embarrassed and told the class that it was her fault she misunderstood me, and what I actually said. It was soooooo hilarious.
 
No one is perfect.

No one is perfect.
Interpreteres do make mistakes.
We learn from the mistakes so, next time she'll be fine.
I know, being an interpreter myself, it can happen to the best of us.
I 've known sign language(ASL) for 30 yrs, and I even make mistakes,so don't worry be happy!
Margie
Dir. of Commuination Services
OCDAC
 
wow interesting... You are very open mind over misunderstand.

Here in Germany is different. Germans require certifed-interpreters and must understand 100% prefect because of terp. cost when there're conference lectures, court, notary, bank, lawyer, etc. "Misunderstand" is not acceptance to Germans because it could go to wrong way and worst.

We have some of interpreters with no quafity-certifcate but they use for parent's evenings, teacher's speech hours etc only. It doesn't bother us if they misunderstand or not but it's good for them have their practise before get their terp. pass (quafity-certifcate).
 
I had some trouble with intrepters in past. For instance last Feb I went to see my dr for follow up, and my husband decided to joined with me to be with me. I requested an interpter then found out she misunderstood me so my husband had to jump in and do whole thing. From now on I will bring him with me, not trust them yet.
 
Liebling:))) Of course this interpreter was certified by a reputable company here in SLC. It is hilarious because the both sentences are signed almost exactly alike, except "kiss" and "add" has a different direction (same handshape, same location). That is why it was sooooooo hilarious because these two sentences were somewhat similar in sign language...

This thread is not about addressing grievances against interpreter but rather to bring up humourous results from interpreting misunderstandings.

Sometimes I revert to my lazy East Coast signing style and I see the interpreter looking at me like :ugh: So, it is not always interpreter's fault that misunderstandings can occur. Sometimes deaf people themselves do not sign as clear as they should, like me for example. But in this job orientation, I knew I signed very clear, cos the other interpreter was lauging and explained to the first interpreter.
 
Sometime during the last few weeks of school my girlfriend's interpreter was plowing right along (damn that woman was fast - maybe a second behind what the teacher was saying) and she misinterpreted 'acid' as 'ass'. My gf wasn't paying attention, so she didn't see it, but I almost cracked up laughing in the middle of class, and the interpreter hid her face for a few seconds after she realized what she'd done. Man did I get a good laugh from that!
 
Liebling:-))) said:
Germans require certifed-interpreters and must understand 100% prefect
Click to expand...

So you employ robots and not human interpreters?

No one ever understand 100% of any language, even their first and best-known language. Does anyone go through a week, or even a day, without having to say at least once "What?" or "Pardon?" or "could you repeat that?" (or the German or signed equivalents)
 
When i was at a highschool near my school for a class. My friend with was with me at the time was getting angry at a teacher and well she was acting like a bitch to the teacher, so the teacher confronted her, well somehow she said bolony to teacher, but interpreter says bullshit. Man the teacher was mad, but lucky i caught interpreter mistake and pointed it out, then teacher was oh ok.
 
Im thinking of a name bunder between interpeter and teacher for my ASL class, jane and elizabeth i have no clue how those to can be interchanged but thay were i so messed up on my midterm because of that.

btw were were discusing the protest GSD a few years back.
 
kuifje75

:lol: I can't imagine, if you were in President Bush at the time of his presentation. Raise your hand, May I kiss somebody? Dang... We
did not see your picture in our media newspaper and magazine.

Pres Bush may shocked and perplexed for who are you. :D
 
Ha Ha Ha, Sabrina..

If suppose... *whistle*

:hitit:

Everyone will :jaw: shock and witness...

They thinks Bush is half-brother Clinton?
 
Wow I'm a four and a half month learner and even I know the different between add and kiss. Totally different orientation add your signing hand moves up to me the other and kiss they meet horizontally. However different states have different requirements for interpreting. I guess in some states I would pass off as an interpreter, more and more people both hearing and deaf are asking me to do this. It's fine but people here have a point if you are paying for the service than you would want it accurate. I guess in that sense I'm kind of glad I'm not an interpreter.
 
At one time, there was a interpreter here for a church who was taught sign from associating with deaf people. Not sure if she ever took any classes at a college; I do know she was not certified. But she was fairly good, but did do a few mistakes.

Once during the sermon, she was to interpret "Jesus feeds His sheep". I could see she had a bit of a confused look on her face and she went ahead and signed "Jesus eats His sheep".

Later, I showed her the difference between "eat" and "feed".

And as for making mistakes while interpreting, nobody is perfect. Once an interpreter realises he has made a mistake, he will correct himself. And those mistakes are rare. I have a deep respect for our interpreters.
 
Now I really want to be sure I got the differences between kiss and add, eat and feed down pat. :giggle:
 
Once a fellow interpreter told me a great story about meeting a deaf couple for the first time. At the end of the conversation the deaf couple signed "nice to meet you". At the same time the terp was thinking "nice to see you" but signed "nice to meet you" using the two finger hand shape for "see" instead of one finger for "meet"... Her hands were in a more horizozntal position as well... You can figure out the rest!!!
 
chip said:
Once a fellow interpreter told me a great story about meeting a deaf couple for the first time. At the end of the conversation the deaf couple signed "nice to meet you". At the same time the terp was thinking "nice to see you" but signed "nice to meet you" using the two finger hand shape for "see" instead of one finger for "meet"... Her hands were in a more horizozntal position as well... You can figure out the rest!!!
Click to expand...

lol! :laugh2:

I accidentally used the D handshape to sign meet when talking to a girl once. She was also a beginner, so I don't know if she caught my mistake. I think it was more of a Freudian slip though, because I really did want to date her. LOL!
 
My personal favorite interpreter mistake was during a meeting with some hospital executives to discuss the importance of interpreters for appointments in order to have effective access. It is law but they still need it explained...anyway...

I signed "SOON-HAVE-#GYNOCOLOGY#-APPOINTMENT". The interpreter was doing her thing and interrupted me for the fingerspelled word again. So, #GYNOCOLOGY# again but bit slower. Then she said something and interruped me again and asked for the last name again. I gave a look like she was nuts and once again slowly fingerspelled #GYNOCOLOGY#. She still looked lost so I fingerspelled it a few more times. After speechreading her to see what the heck she was doing and catching her saying "Dr. Gino Calauhy" I finally just spoke "Gynocology" myself. The interpreter (who has been working for something like 25 years) was super embarrased and I still make fun of her for it to this day. It was really funny.
 
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