Monthly Archives: June 1998
Voicing with Valor
In what I hope will become an ongoing column, I would like to use this space to address ways in which we can advance our mastery of the spoken word in our sign-to-voice interpretations/transliterations. This column is dedicated to assisting the SDCRID interpreting community in better facilitating communication for both the Deaf and hearing consumers we serve. In mastering spoken communication, we better serve our Deaf clients by matching the eloquence of their signed messages, and we better serve our hearing clients by delivering spoken messages that flow effortlessly through their ears and into their minds.
Article 2 of the RID Code of Ethics admonishes interpreters/transliterators to, “render the message faithfully, always conveying the content and spirit of the speaker using language most readily understood by the person(s) whom they serve” (emphasis mine). If, in the case of sign-to-voiceinterpretation/transliteration, the “speaker” is Deaf, and the “person(s) whom [we] serve” hear and speak English, then it is our duty to render the message in clearly enunciated, well-projected English, unfettered with linguistic errors that might offend people’s ears and detract from the message.
