IW 95: InterpreTips: Your Friendly Neighborhood Designated Interpreter

I don't make webs, but I do have a special "interpreter sense" that warns me of what people really mean!

This InterpreTip discusses what it means to be a designated interpreter. We can learn a lot about our decision-making, empowerment, ethics, communication management, and more from the responsible designated interpreter and the deaf professional they support.

Next week we will compare the responsibilities of a designated interpreter with that of the community interpreter who works in a variety of places and situations every week.

Give me your thoughts, send a voicemail with the link below. Or email me at tim.curry @ interpretersworkshop.com

Transcript

IW 95: InterpreTips: Your Friendly Neighborhood Designated Interpreter

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[ROCK INTRO MUSIC STARTS] 

00:00:02 Tim (Only Tim is speaking in this episode.)

Good morning, good evening, good afternoon. Wherever you are, this is the Interpreter's Workshop podcast. I'm Tim Curry, your host. Here we talk everything sign language interpreting the ins, the outs, the ups, the downs, the sideways of interpreting. If you're a student, a new interpreter, experienced interpreter, this is the place for you. If you want to know more, go to interpretersworkshop.com

00:00:28

Let's start talking... interpreting.

[ROCK INTRO MUSIC ENDS]

00:00:34

And now the quote of the day by American author, educator, and icon Helen Keller. “Alone we can do so little. Together we can do so much.”

00:00:48

This quote is about working together, and today we discuss the designated sign language interpreter, what it means, what it looks like, and how working together with a deaf professional on an ongoing basis looks like.

00:01:06

Hmm. Is it different? Have you experienced it? Let me know. Contact me and send me a voicemail or an e-mail. Until then, let's get started.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:01:22

It was a beautiful, sunny day. The glass back doors were open wide to the beautiful, clean, pristine beach that lay beyond between the doors and the beach there were tables with umbrellas, chairs for people to sit around.

00:01:40

And there was food of every variety you can imagine. People were mingling, drinking, eating, and talking about the conference. I was interpreting for the deaf professional who was attending this conference and who had presented their research for all of these people.

00:02:00

As we were mingling, someone asked, “So how did you get started in this and how do you handle it being, being deaf?”

00:02:09

And she gave me that look, and I gave the look right back at her, acknowledging that I understood.

00:02:16

And she signed DEAF CAN.

00:02:20

And I proceeded to give a 5-minute monologue of her journey through her research and her work.

00:02:29

And she proceeded to sign to me about all the different types of food that she enjoyed on the buffet table. That's right. I was interpreting from memory her journey, her work.

00:02:42

We did that on many occasions because she already knew, and I already knew how to handle that situation because we had developed that over the many months we had been working together.

00:02:55

And as I finished my monologue, this same man turned to me and said, “Wow, what you do is fascinating. How did you start doing this? How did you become an interpreter?” And I interpreted for her INTERPRETER CAN. And she gave me the knowing look and kept eating while I gave the 2nd monologue about the interpreter.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:03:25

When you work with people, your colleagues, your coworkers, your boss, you develop a relationship. You know about their families, their personal life, the universities that they went to, the degrees they have, the hobbies they like. You have a lot of inside jokes between coworkers or even in meetings. There are inside jokes about the last meeting or about a project that you had together. You get to create your own vocabulary around this work group, and on top of that you have your own vocabulary and terminology for the profession that you're in, just like we do with interpreting.

00:04:11

We have old terms. We have new terms, and it changes, it evolves overtime. The more you work with people, the more it changes. When you have that wonderful colleague that you work with, that you team with, that you see often, you have those inside jokes. And over the years it evolves. And sometimes you even forget why it's funny, but it still is.

00:04:36

Over the last several years, the interpreting profession has changed. The dynamics have changed. Our responsibilities have changed, progressed, adapted to meet the needs of the communities that we serve. As the world has more and more deaf professionals in many different industries and career paths.

00:05:03

We find ourselves relearning, adjusting, adapting the responsibilities that we have as a sign language interpreter. And this new interpreter, this new space that we find ourselves in, is not a new role. Let me make that clear.

00:05:23

I do not believe we have several different roles. I believe we have one role and that is sign language interpreter. That is our role. However, each situation, each space that we are in changes the responsibilities that we have. In fact, our decision-making process changes. We have to think about the power that we have as it changes.

00:05:50

Our influence on the situation on the communication changes. Our management of the interpreting process and the communication changes, the ethical decision-making changes.

00:06:06

Compared to the Community interpreting that we do when we're coming in for one doctor's appointment and never seeing that client again, the responsibilities change for a designated interpreter. So today, let's talk about… designated interpreter.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS]

00:06:25

Thank you to all the hundreds of people following this podcast. If you want to hear from interpreters around the world and get the latest episodes, follow the podcast in your app. Just check out some of the links in the show notes to help you with that. Thank you. Now let's go back.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC ENDS]

00:06:41

So, a designated interpreter, we usually define it as someone who has been working with a deaf professional over a long-extended period of time, several months, a few years, but over enough time to where many aspects of the schema of the interpreting situation... changes.

00:07:04

Our responsibility and management of the situation is different than a one-time interpreting job.

00:07:13

And it takes a certain personality of interpreter to work as a designated sign language interpreter. A deaf professional sometimes works with several designated interpreters, and sometimes those interpreters have different personalities, which is, huh, odd, [chuckles] but each interpreter brings something different to the situation.

00:07:34

Although each of these interpreters should understand and know the workplace environment, the terminology, the politics going on between each of the different members, something about the personal lives of each of these colleagues.

00:07:52

As well as the projects involved, the work that's been involved, the customers that they work with, the register that should be used in the office, in the meetings, in the hallway and with individuals that the Deaf professional works with.

00:08:09

There are many challenges that a designated sign language interpreter must face.

00:08:15

I think the overall difference between a one-time interpreting job and this environment as a designated interpreter is that there are several aspects of the situation that are just as critical as the message that should be interpreted, because in a workplace environment it's not just the interpretation.

00:08:36

It's the relationships, the dynamics between those who are working together that are just as important because that is information that the deaf professional can use to boost their career, to get the job done faster, to make a connection, a relationship with a colleague.

00:08:57

Otherwise, it's just interpreted isolation.

00:09:02

Take, for example, the story at the beginning of this episode.

00:09:06

The Deaf professional was at a conference reception, and we all know what happens at a reception for a conference or even a workshop. People mingle. They meet with people, they have small talk, they get to know one another. They ask questions about a presentation that was given or about something that's happening in the industry right now and they're trying to find out how other people view it.

00:09:32

The first question most people ask a deaf professional when they're meeting for the first time is how do you handle the work as a deaf person? Or it's fascinating that you can give a presentation in sign language. So yes, the questions come back to the deaf community, sign language, and interpreter.

00:09:54

Those questions are asked because a hearing person with no knowledge wants to somehow connect and understand these things better. And this particular deaf professional and the interpreter understood that this is one way that these hearing people use small talk.

00:10:13

To get to know another colleague through one little curiosity, and then after that small talk is done, then networking can begin, and that's one way the deaf professional felt as though they were connecting with the hearing culture that mingling, and small talk at the beginning to make everyone comfortable, and then you can really network.

00:10:40

But to make that seamless, to make that smooth interaction, we had the look. We knew that it was a game being played and we knew what we would say because we say the same thing every time. So, we both expressed [lightly chuckles] the interest and connection to make it go faster rather than through a disjointed, boring sounding interpretation.

00:11:06

In fact, the conversation continued after I went through my monologues and the two professionals connected and networked about the presentations and about the industry topics of that day. It worked. Everyone was comfortable, and the deaf professional, and interpreting, coworking team worked well for the goals of that situation.

00:11:32

If I had been a freelance interpreter and had just come there for that one moment and I had not, the experience that I have now or then the deaf professional would have had to express all of those things and wait for the interpretation. Make sure the interpretation was exactly what they were trying to say and….

00:11:52

…then awkwardly tell the interpreter to go ahead and explain what the interpreting process is, or they would have had to try to explain it for the interpreter, whereas the way it was done, it was quick, it was smooth, and it was small talk, and the goal was reached.

00:12:10

It wasn't a time to preach. It wasn't a time to advocate for the deaf community. It was actually a time to reach the goal of that deaf professional, for that moment. Now, as a designated sign language interpreter, there are those challenges like turn-taking, thinking about register. Whether it's in the hallway, whether it's in an office cubicle, or whether it's in a meeting, or a workshop, or a presentation for new standards, or what have you, the register changes.

00:12:42

And it changes depending on whether it's with peers or the boss or the President of the company. And the interpreters need to know how to manage that situation. Learning the look, learning the body language and the cues helps us handle that in a way that is quick, easy, understood, and clear to each other, but it takes a different personality and an understanding of that personality to be able to handle it between the deaf professional and the sign language interpreter.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS]

00:13:19

A big thank you to everyone who shares this podcast with a colleague and friend. If you want to support the show even more, check out the show notes for links to Buy Me A Coffee because it's very embarrassing to fall asleep during an interview. Thank you. Let's go back.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC ENDS]

00:13:37

Inside an industrial complex, I sat in a cubicle in my chair and opposite me was a desk where the deaf professional was typing on their computer, doing their work. Surrounding us were about seven other cubicles with the coworkers sitting at their desks and a few of them were down the hall in the break room having some coffee.

00:14:01

I got up to go get me some coffee, but I didn't ask the professional if they wanted coffee because they usually did not like to be interrupted. But because I was getting up to get coffee and the deaf knew what time it was, they knew I was probably getting coffee.

00:14:18

So, I left, got my coffee and as I was getting coffee, I was hearing a conversation between a few of the coworkers there. I heard that the deadline for Project 10A had been extended another month and they were excited. As I was walking past them they actually said, “Hey, Tim, did you hear that it was extended, the deadline was extended.” I'm like, “Ohh really. Ohh that's great.” And as I walked back, I could feel the tension in the room was changed.

00:14:50

In the morning when we first arrived, everyone was tense. Everyone was feeling the deadline. It was this week, but now I realized the tension was different. People were relaxed. Sitting back in their chairs, typing slower.

00:15:09

So, they knew that it had been extended, but when I sat down in my designated seat, the professional had not changed their mood.

00:15:19

Because they didn't know. So, I proceeded to tell them, “Hey, I just heard in the break room that they've extended the deadline for Project 10A for one month. … No, I don't know the exact date. They just said it was for one month.”

00:15:34

To see the relief… It was the same reaction that everyone else had, and I conveyed that as well that the, the mood in the room is less tense. Everybody's kind of relaxed. They're doing their work a little bit slower.

00:15:48

And that…

00:15:50

Is the kind of information a designated interpreter can give to the deaf professional, that they should have. If I hadn't been a designated interpreter, and even if I am the designated interpreter, shouldn't I keep that confidential because I was not there with… I did not hear this when I was with the deaf professional?

00:16:11

Hmm.

00:16:12

I heard it from hearing coworkers, but obviously they weren't talking loud enough to be heard in the other room down the hall. So why did I tell them?

00:16:22

Because of just what I said.

00:16:25

It's not necessarily about the message, it's about all of the information that a professional needs to use, needs to have in the workplace.

00:16:37

That's what I'm there for, not just to interpret conversations, direct conversations with someone, but also to give the incidental information that they might not get. Even if they had walked into the break room to get something to drink, they may not have overheard. They may not have been asked or told about the deadline.

00:17:00

And the hearing coworkers look at the interpreter in a different way than someone who just comes in once and leaves. They look at the interpreter as part of the deaf professional’s team. They assume, just like in every office…

00:17:20

When someone gives you a bit of gossip or a little bit of information in the break room, they assume you're going to tell someone else.

00:17:30

Because it's good news, right? That's what we do. Hearing culture does that. We either give the good news, we share it, we pass along the good news, or surprising gossip, or a good joke. Those things get passed around in the office, and that's why I would pass along that information.

00:17:49

I'm making different decisions. I am still the interpreter.

00:17:54

But the dynamics have changed, the turn taking has changed. I need to know when the deaf professional feels like they want to interject something. So, I prepare myself and everyone else in the room. I get ready from a hearing standpoint to know when is the best time for an interjection.

00:18:15

And I just give them the, the cue the look now and I start interpreting. So, I take that moment according to the power dynamics according to the rules of this work.

00:18:29

It also takes an interpreter with a personality that people can get along with, people say things to, make small talk with. We need to have those social skills, those quote, soft skills. They're very important to allow the deaf professional to connect with their colleagues.

00:18:49

Whether it's in academia, business world, or the nonprofit arena.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC STARTS]

00:19:02

Hmmpf. So that's the designated sign language interpreter. Someone who works for an extended period of time with a deaf professional. They know how to read each other's minds in this team between the deaf and the interpreter.

00:19:20

They create their own cues and phrases that mean something to them. The interpreter has to handle register in a way that matches the situations throughout the day.

00:19:35

Our responsibility changes.

00:19:38

We sometimes take on more responsibility in the situation or less, depending on the power dynamics, and depending on the deaf professional and how they see the world of their career. Now, …next episode we're going to extend this and apply this to the “default” sign language interpreter. Every day working as an interpreter, how can we learn from the aspects, the features of a designated sign language interpreter?

00:20:12

Are there differences that cannot be changed?

00:20:16

Is there a way to combine the two and why? Will it make it better for us or worse? Hmmm.

00:20:26

Well, if anybody can, DEAF CAN. And… INTERPRETER CAN.

00:20:33

So, while you're waiting for the answers…

00:20:36

Keep calm. Keep interpreting. I'll see you next week. Take care now.

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC ENDS AT 00:21:21]