Moved to http://messagesandmeans.wordpress.com/2006/08/31/is-canadian-diamond-traders-a-scam/
Monthly Archives: August 2006
Poetic License in Interpreting
In my search for blog posts about ASL interpreting, I found this interesting post regarding poetry, interpretation in general, and the poetic license visible in ASL interpreting:
Reading Finnish Rhapsody in particular reminded me of watching a live sign-language interpreter while listening to a live speech. I experienced this while at a convention when one of the ASL interpreters was often more dynamic than the speaker in her communication. I do not know ASL and I was listening to the speaker, however I found that the way in which the interpreter communicated was much clearer on an emotional level. And even though she was obviously quite skilled, I was pretty certain she didn’t interpret the speech word-for-word.
Even though interpreters are charged with “render[ing] the message faithfully by conveying the content and spirit of what is being communicated,” (RID Code of Professional Conduct Section 2.3), sometimes an ASL interpretation is just more poetic and expressive than the English source message. Sometimes this is because there is an inherent passion in the words that is missing from the speaker’s facial expression and body language.
LiveJournal Communities re: Interpreters
Here are some of the LiveJournal communities I found last night:
- aslterps: started 5 October 2003; c. 240 entries; last entry 18 August 2006.
- anti_bad_terps: started 5 March 2004; c. 40 entries; last entry 23 April 2006.
- certified_terps: started 2 February 2006; 14 entries, last entry 15 August 2006.
- itp_students: started 1 February 2006; 14 entries; last entry 23 July 2006.
- vrs_411: started 21 June 2006; four (4) entries; last entry 28 June 2006.
(By the way, it took me an ungodly amount of time to compile those data. Does no one know of an easy way for a LiveJournal Community visitor to see when the community was started and how many entries it has without having to page back through all the entries?)
I guess these really are more journaling “communities” rather than “blogs.” Online interpreter communities have been around for a long time, especially in the form of ListServ’s, Yahoo! groups, etc. These communities differ from ListServ’s in that they are out in the open for all the world to see. They each have their group originators and moderators, but no one person seems to be the main blogger of any of them. Some of the posts and comment discussions are interesting. For the most part, they don’t seem to “log the web” in the sense of providing links and commentary about other Web documents, as discussed in Journal vs. Blog. They are more a collection of discussions about either real or hypothetical interpreting situations, or bad experiences they had with other interpreters.
I Found Some Other ASL Interpreter Blogs
It wouldn’t be the first time I was the first one on the Internet to do something (see my Style Sheets Demo Page and HyperHaiku), but thankfully, I am not the first ASL interpreter to have a blog. I did some more searching this morning on DeafBlogs and found some other interpreter blogs. Here they are:
- certified_terps, a LiveJournal community
- anti_bad_terps, a LiveJournal community
- OakHomey– I don’t see much there about interpreting, except that he feels he can’t blog about his personal life because it would damage his relationship with his clients. Hm…
- Shanni’s Blog– I don’t see much about interpreting there, but there are some posts that mention her experiences as an interpreter, and there are lots of beautiful photos.
What I Love about VRS
In a recent post, I bemoaned the lack of interpreter-client relationship that comes of the anonymity imposed upon video interpreters. When I first wrote that, about a month before I published it on my blog, my morale about video relay interpreting was in a bit of a slump. Getting out and doing more interpreting in the community, i.e. face-to-face, has revitalized me, I guess. Lately, I really enjoy going in to work, and I’d like to share here some of what I think is great about VRS (in no particular order).
- I love going to the call center and working 4–6 hours in one place without having to drive all over the county to several shorter jobs.
- I love using technology to improve the lives of deaf people and their hearing family members, friends, and co-workers.
- I love being on TV in homes all over the country. It’s what I always wanted!
- I love it when I interpret a call and the hearing and/or deaf people say to their interlocutor, “Wow! I finally understand you!
- I love meeting deaf people from all different regions of the U.S. and learning all their different regional signs.
- I love the “cross-pollenation” that is happening with deaf people and interpreters in various regions talking to each other in ASL, and I believe this might help to standardize ASL a bit more and make it easier for people to understand each other wherever they’re from.
- I love how my voice interpreting (ASL-to-English interpreting) has improved since I began doing VRS interpreting!
- I love exploring the unique challenges that come with VRS interpreting such as: register variation (from intimate to frozen, sometimes in the same call), unfamiliarity with topic, personnel, and specialized vocabulary.
- I love the fact that, since I got a regular job doing VRS interpreting, I’ve been able to buy a home and begin saving for my retirement!
- Oh! And I love seeing people’s adorable pets on camera! Brightens my day!
There are others things I love, but that’s all I can think of for now. 
