HELP! question about becoming an ASL interpreter

isa

isa

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Hi everybody! :wave:

I'm an Italian student, I've been studying in the US for a year and I am currently majoring in interpretation and translation in Italy.
I'm approaching the italian sign language (LIS) after getting close to the ASL a couple years ago and subsequently fell in love with it. My biggest aim for the future would be to become an English and ASL interpreter but I have some doubts concerning what would be the best way to do so.
Would it be good for me to get a 'certificate' -or something like that- here in Italy and then moving abroad? Do you think that switching from one sign language to the other would be too difficult? Is it possible for a non-native English speaker to become an ASL interpreter or would it be too hard to find a job?

thank you in advance for your precious help :ty:
 
Depends how long you want to stay in Italy or USA. Classes in USA may not count for certificate in Italy and vice versa. Better to check on that first before taking classes.
 
dereksbicycles said:
Depends how long you want to stay in Italy or USA. Classes in USA may not count for certificate in Italy and vice versa. Better to check on that first before taking classes.
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I supposte I'll stay here for 2 more years until graduation but I'd like to go to grad school in the US afterwards and get a job there. But the main problem isn't quite the certificate but mostly trying to undersand how different the two sign languages are and if it's worth it to study LIS here and then switching to ASL then. :dunno:
 
You can watch ASL videos and compare them to LIS. They will be different but that doesn't mean you can't learn both. Even though they are different, learning one sign language gives you the basic tools of thinking conceptually and expressing yourself visually. Those abilities will carry over into other sign languages.

You're already bilingual in spoken language, so you could just as well be bilingual in sign language.

If you're looking towards interpreting as a career, the more languages you are fluent in, the better. It opens up more opportunities.
 
Thank you for your support!

I'm actually studying way more than just two languages at the same time:giggle:, so believe me when I tell you that I know perfectly what it means to compare different idioms and try to find the right approach. I also know, though, how confusing it gets to switch from one language to the other, especially when expressing yourself orally. As a matter of fact, my English got WAY worse- as you can see, I'm afraid :Oops:- in the past two years since I had to start focusing on other languages that needed to be improved. It's not like I can't think in English anymore, I can! But I keep forgetting terms or I try so hard to find the right one that I end up slowing down my thinking or making grammar mistakes...! But getting back on topic (!) I don't think I can consider the sign language as a 'regular' foreign language, neither can I compare it with the other languages I'm studying at the moment. I think signing means to learn an even more complex structure one needs to make 'his own'. I'm not saying it's impossible to learn more than one sign language at the time, but do you know anyone who experienced something like that before? Or at least a foreigner that learnt ASL?
 
I know plenty of people who know more than one Signed Language.
In Canada we use predominantly ASL but we also use LSQ and there are a lot of people in Quebec etc. who are fluent in both.

what do you mean by "his own" ?
 
Anij said:
I know plenty of people who know more than one Signed Language.
In Canada we use predominantly ASL but we also use LSQ and there are a lot of people in Quebec etc. who are fluent in both.

what do you mean by "his own" ?
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oh, that's interesting :ty:
but how different ALS and LSQ are? Are any of these people from other countries?

[By the way, I meant that you need to make yours a whole new set of rules, so to speak.]
 
isa said:
[By the way, I meant that you need to make yours a whole new set of rules, so to speak.]
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I think I know what you mean. It's about internalizing the language's structure and building the expressions of your thoughts directly from that structure. As opposed to thinking in your first language and constantly trying to translate.
 
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