Do you translate for your friends?

L

Lissa

Active Member
Premium Member
Joined
Dec 29, 2007
Messages
4,354
Reaction score
0
I translate for my friends if they need to talk to somebody for them e.g to a hearing person, most of my friends have no speech or unintelligible and totally sign dependent, if they need me to order for them e.g in Maccy D's

But I hate it when I have to act as translator when I do not have to. I remember back in year 10 and 11 we had this new escort on the bus(used to get taken to school by SEN transport services) she couldnt sign, there was me and 2 others, 1 was sign dependent and 1 wasnt. This 2 guys started signing away and signing to the escort so of course she turned to me and I told her that they are just winding you up! But I had to translate everything even though they was just making fun of her
 
I have in the past been asked to do so. I do it only if my friend does not mind. Usually they don't in simple situations, such as interpreting in a store, or short conversations.
 
my boyfriend would translate for me when i visit in England
 
Only for my family when they are having a hard time understanding accents that I can lip-read, but they can't pick up through their ears. Like my mom cannot pick up on Pakistani or Indian accents, but I can lip-read their English.

For my friends? No. My family can fill in the gaps of what I didn't translate for them properly; my hard-of-hearing and Deaf friends take my words as if they are 100% correct.
 
I acted like a translator several times last night between two hearing people...my hubby and my neighbor. The bar music was so loud and they were trying to sign to each other but their receptive skills weren't on par with their expressive skills so I, THE DEAF PERSON, understood what they were signing and used my voice to translate. It was a funny picture but it was all good. Too funny for words. LOL!
 
Not as often as I used to. I used to translate for my deaf and hearing friends.
 
I don't sign and interpret for friends cuz I just don't have the capabilities to do that yet. Maybe one day, but then again I havent' taken in ASL study lately so I cant learn more.
 
hohDougRN said:
I don't sign and interpret for friends cuz I just don't have the capabilities to do that yet. Maybe one day, but then again I havent' taken in ASL study lately so I cant learn more.
Click to expand...
You don't have to be a certified interpreter to translate/interpret for your friends. If your friends understand you enough to interpret some things, then that's fine.

I'm not 100% fluent in ASL and if there's a word I can't sign, I can always fingerspell it. If my friend asks me to interpret (they know about my skill level), then they trust me enough to interpret for them the best I can. If it doesn't work out, then they can always use the usual pen & paper method. :)
 
Yeah, Sure - I've helped my friends by translating some stuffs for them but I normally don't do that unless they ask for help.

Sometime it becomes a nuisance when it gets into an habitual manner. By that, I mean when a friend keeps asking for this "help" over and over again. At most, I would not mind helping them out but when they get in the habit of asking repetitively, that is where I draw the line.
 
I grew up with the burden of translating for my brother and my family. My brother's oral skills are so terrible so I am the only one who was able to understand them growing up. He was fluent in ASL since 5 years old but I didnt learn ASL until I was 25 years old. My brother went to a Deaf school while I was mainstreamed alll the way. So, whenever he was home, there was no ASL as nobody else, including me, knew it but I could understand the little oral skills he had so I translated for him between my parents, my hearing friends, and extended family members. Everyone would come to me and tell me "Tell ****** this or that* and I would tell my brother what they said and he would respond and then I would tell them what he said. Looking back, I should have never been put in this position in the first place.
 
Jolie77 said:
Yeah, Sure - I've helped my friends by translating some stuffs for them but I normally don't do that unless they ask for help.

Sometime it becomes a nuisance when it gets into an habitual manner. By that, I mean when a friend keeps asking for this "help" over and over again. At most, I would not mind helping them out but when they get in the habit of asking repetitively, that is where I draw the line.
Click to expand...


I agree. That is why I said short conversations or meets. I will not sit and translate all day long for my Deaf and hearing friends. Especially when I am out at a social gathering. I want time for myself to socialize as well than sit and help a person all day.

I usually translate to introduce and break the ice between people. Then leave it at that.
 
I remember when I had to translate a short conversation between my sister and my friend who is totally sign dependent. He told me that he fancied my sister and I had to translate to her what he said and I had to tell him what she said!
:giggle:
 
Babyblue said:
I agree. That is why I said short conversations or meets. I will not sit and translate all day long for my Deaf and hearing friends. Especially when I am out at a social gathering. I want time for myself to socialize as well than sit and help a person all day.

I usually translate to introduce and break the ice between people. Then leave it at that.
Click to expand...

I need to learn to break that habit. I grew up as a translator for my brother and our family so old habits die hard for me but I do agree with this.
 
I don't translate because I would prefer not to do so if a professional can do it better than me.

I still get angry when I think of the time a deaf woman and me got hired for a temporary job and we had no terp.

Due to the nature of the job, it was nearly impossible to get a terp because the terp has to be notified several days before the first day of the job and we had no way of knowing when we would get back to work. This applied to the hearing workers as well.

We had worked with the boss before and she wanted me to terp for her and the boss was in a hurry and wanted to get the job done. That place was noisy and I felt like I was damned if I terped for her and I was damned if I refused. I tried to play the terp but I was unable to do so she laid us off again. I was furious. I still consider it discrimination. :pissed:
 
I interpret for my friends if they ask me to :)
 
Babyblue said:
I agree. That is why I said short conversations or meets. I will not sit and translate all day long for my Deaf and hearing friends. Especially when I am out at a social gathering. I want time for myself to socialize as well than sit and help a person all day.

I usually translate to introduce and break the ice between people. Then leave it at that.
Click to expand...

Yeah, if it is at a medium, that's fine or rather in moderation but I'd just leave it as it is. If they want to keep conversing, there are many other ways to adapt to it by using paper/pen, pagers, so and on. It also could be a start to encourage others to learn sign language.
 
Back
Top