Sophia Burke

INTR 1000

Connie Spanton-Jex

Interpreter Observation

I had the opportunity to observe two interpreters on Wednesday, October 11 at 9:00 am

while they interpreted for a deaf student with cochlear implants during a math class. The

assignment was originally scheduled for a separate class at 8:00, but that student did not show up

and the interpreters asked if I wanted to wait with them until 9:00 and observe that session. Of

course, I agreed, and during the hour wait, I was able to interview them both.

The first question I asked was something that I always worry about personally when it

comes to a career in interpreting. How do you keep up with process time? They said it takes

practice, and it doesnt come easily. They explained how I will become better at it as I go, but to

never beat myself up over not being able to catch up at first because you are always learning as

an interpreter. There exists no expert, know-it-all level person who can interpret everything with

ease in a split of a second. Allow myself to grow, and Ill improve with time.

Another question I asked was, Is there anything that intimidates you? To which both

immediately rolled their eyes and nodded. The first interpreter said she is terrified to interpret

science, even though it is something she recently picked up a job for. The other interpreter said

she doesnt like interpreting advanced level math for the same reason the other didnt like

science. Theyre intimidated by not knowing signs to vocabulary, needing to fingerspell words,

then not being able to catch up- therefore missing important information. However, they both

then explained that even the most skilled interpreter, whoever they are, fear something. No one

can be proficient at every single subject in the world, you can only master a list of specific
subjects. However, it doesnt hurt to try and challenge yourself, as they both were currently

working jobs in the subject they just explained scared them the most. They have used what we

learned in class to be called a pre-assignment control to make the assignment easier. They

executed this by making signs up with their students for vocabulary words such as force.

The interpreter who has another assignment interpreting physics gave an example of the

word force. She said for every force she would fingerspell F, then move her hand down and

sign the first letter of the type. Such as for gravitational force, she would fingerspell F then

slightly move her hand down and fingerspell G. As well as the pre-assignment controls, she also

learned to do a little studying at home with her post-assignment controls and touch up her

knowledge of what the vocabulary means, as well as briefly understand the subject to be better

able to explain.

After my interview with the interpreters, we went to the next students class, a math class.

One of the interpreters and I sat against the wall on a couple of chairs, while the other interpreter

sat her chair in the front close to the teacher. The room was well lit, and the student was sitting in

the front so she was clearly able to watch the interpretation. One of the first things I noticed right

off the bat was that the interpreter would sign everything the teacher was saying, and the student

wouldnt watch any of it. The interpreter disregarded that and signed anyway, which allowed me

to think about the duties of an interpreter. Even if the student wasnt watching, it was her job to

interpret, which she did. It is part of the interpreters interpersonal demand because even if the

deaf person doesnt want to pay attention, she should still be allowed an opportunity if she

changed her mind. The entire assignment was voice-to-sign as the teacher talked and the

interpreter signed for the student. The class itself was quiet, so it was an easy environment for

them to interpret in overall.

 I noticed that because it was a math class, there were a lot of words that dont translate

into exact signs, so the interpreter had to get creative and use classifiers for vocabulary words

such as perpendicular, an exact point of (x,y), or a slope. For example, for the sign

perpendicular, she crossed her hands perpendicularly and then used one hand to emphasize the

shape. Another example would be for a point (x,y), she would show parenthesis with both her

hands at the beginning, sign a number, sign a comma, sign the next number, then show the

parenthesis with her hands again to indicate she was done. Even if the student was not watching,

she continued to do this.

Another thing I noticed was that she would look over her shoulder every minute or so at

the board to make sure she was understanding the concept of what the teacher was saying. This is

an example of an assignment control, where she makes sure to acknowledge that the

interpretation would be correct. As well as that, I noticed her use facial expression to convey

tone. A specific example of her doing that was when the teacher said, its your tuition money,

the interpreter raised her eyebrows and giggled a little to emphasize it was a joke and translate it

correctly between cultures.

It was about half way through the class when the students were in partners working on a

minute long-quick practice assignment that the interpreters switched places. The interpreter

didnt move at all when it was silent, she just sat still without fidgeting or pulling out her phone.

That also made me think about the duties of an interpreter because one of the demands is

intrapersonal, which can include being bored or having physical pain. I know the interpreter

probably had to work on her intrapersonal demand because she was sick. However, she stuck

through strong and did her job which I was proud of her for.

One thing that I also noticed was that the deaf student did have cochlear implants, and she
would talk with her math partner orally. The interpreters explained that she had grown up in a

hearing family who gave her implants very young, and learned English based sign language

growing up. Because of this, the interpreters accommodated that using paralinguistic demands

and signed a lot of SEE (Signing Exact English). They would almost sign exactly what the

teacher was saying into SEE, and that was the way the student wanted it.

Their processing time to interpret was fast to me, I counted it to be three seconds. I feel

that if it were me interpreting, I would be taking a lot longer. They also accommodated English

phrases into something a deaf person would understand better such as signing understand easy

rather than on the ball. As well as that, they would also point to whoever was talking, such as

if a student had a question way in the back, the interpreter would point to that person while

raising their eyebrows, then interpret the question. Which also made me think because it had not

occurred to me that this could be a job of an interpreter, but it is our responsibility to make sure

that the deaf person has the opportunity to know everything going on.

Some ways that the interpreter demonstrated professionalism through the Code of

Professional Conduct was dressing appropriately and having respect for their consumer. They

dressed in nice work clothes while still wearing solid colors which allows the student to see what

they were signing more clearly. Another way they adhered to the CPC was having a respect for

the consumer, who had very English-based sign. They took this knowledge and manipulated

their sign to render the message according to the way she would like to receive it. They couldve

easily just signed ASL which they knew better and were more fluent in, but they accommodated

to the needs of the consumer and signed in her preference.

Im extremely thankful to have had this opportunity to interview and observe these

amazing interpreters, and I hope to have another opportunity similar to this one again in the
future. It was such a fun and enjoyable experience. I learned a lot more than I anticipated to, and

I know it will help me in my future career.