IW 120: InterpreTips: Strategies for the Sick and Tired Sign Language Interpreter

You're sick! No, I'm sick AND tired!

Have you worked when you're sick, when you're exhausted? It's not fun.

In this episode I tell my story of how I cope with a difficult sign language interpreting gig when I'm extremely sick and with no team to support me.

These strategies and tips will help us all recover from the sickness and continue efficiently working as a professional sign language interpreter.

We are worth it!

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Transcript

IW 120: InterpreTips: Strategies for the Sick and Tired Sign Language Interpreter

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[ROCK INTRO MUSIC STARTS]

00:00:02 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 from the US comedy show, Saturday Night Live. And the quote is by the character Stuart Smalley, played by the actor Al Franken.

00:00:47

“I'm good enough. I'm smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.” This affirmation that Stuart Smalley made while looking in a mirror may be funny just a little bit, but it can also remind us as sign language interpreters that we have value, that we have worth…

00:01:09

…that what we are doing, what we can do with the capabilities that we have are important not only to the profession but to the clients that we serve. Many times, we focus on the mistakes that we make, focus on what makes us anxious, the difficult jobs.

00:01:29

But we need to focus and what we can do, what we are capable of doing, the strengths that we have when all around us seems to be falling apart or being thrown at us so quickly that we think we don't know what we're doing.

00:01:46

When in reality we do make it happen, knowing all of that can help us motivate ourselves to improve and develop and get rid of that nasty little imposter syndrome that's lurking in the back of our minds.

00:02:02

So, let's talk a little bit about that today. Let's get started.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:02:11

Let me take you back to your childhood. Were you ever in the Scouts, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, or just scouts? Whatever it's called in your country, that organization that took kids on adventures, learning how to orientate themselves in the world using the stars the plants, the trees making crafts, learning how to cook, learning how to camp.

00:02:38

Learning how to survive with just a few tools and understanding those tools in a way to help you solve the problems that popped up during all of these adventures. Now full honesty here. I was never in the scouts, but I enjoyed as a kid running through the forest…

00:02:58

…exploring the trees, climbing, finding all of the different interesting plants, rocks, animals, the barks of the trees, everything, using my imagination to explore the world in a way that taught me how to use different tools as I was the intrepid explorer, the Indiana Jones of my world. And if I didn't have a special tool, I made it.

00:03:29

I created it out of a tree limb, a special stone, whatever I had at hand. Now keep that picture in your mind.

00:03:37

Recently I went on a gig that was a long term several day gig, a type of conference. And it was a conference where I was within a team of spoken language interpreters as well, who had their own secret private booths in a different room, nowhere around the audience, or the speakers, presenters or me. They had their own little cubbyholes to safely do their job with all the tools, the monitors and audio that they needed. I, on the other hand, was in the other room and I was alone.

00:04:14

I know, doing a job alone over several days is not good, but I won't go into the details. Suffice it to say, because of the situation and how the timing, the breaks the topics, the people involved, I was capable of doing it alone.

00:04:34

And then… something happened after the first day.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:04:43

Yep, I got sick, extremely ill and I could feel it coming on during the first day. But when the first day was over, I decided to start taking it easy, which means eating a light dinner, finding some medication that I didn't already have, taking that medication to get me through the next few days, but resting drinking lots of water and just relaxing. 

00:05:10

When I felt the illness coming on, I realized I needed to make a plan, a coordinated effort to keep myself going through the rest of those several days. So that evening I had a light dinner. I then went to my emergency kit that I take with me everywhere I travel, which has medication for different types of illnesses, for headaches, for sinus, for stomach problems for coughing for sore throat, all of those medications are ready in my bags for every trip I take.

00:05:46

And fortunately, there was also a place where I could buy extra medication that might be a little bit stronger than what I had, or if I needed extra. And so, I used that first night to prepare to get everything ready, just in case my symptoms got worse. So, I purchased extra medication. I purchased some light snacks that were healthy snacks such as fruits and so forth, [and] some tea.

00:06:12

Everything I needed to keep myself in one spot in the room, resting everything at hand. And sure enough, the next day I was worse. So, I took my medication, ate a light breakfast, and I did the job. And every single time I had a break, even if it was 15 minutes, I would leave, go away to a place by myself, even if it was just a chair and close my eyes and rest for 10 minutes and then come back. If it was longer than that, I would go to my room and take a nap for as long as I could.

00:06:50

Now you must have your alarm. Hopefully a smartphone with an alarm on it, to keep you on task.

00:06:58

And while I was working, there were other tips that I had to do things that I had to handle in a way that I normally wouldn't handle them. If you had a speaker who was speaking rapidly, very quickly, I had to quickly use my powers of interpreting to assess what his goals were.

00:07:18

Is he a motivational speaker? Is he trying to convince or persuade them?

00:07:22

Is he trying to get a reaction and emotion out of them? What are those goals, and I focused on that. All the information that he's giving is just supporting that one goal. Therefore, I can summarize. I can paraphrase.

00:07:41

Many times, in English a motivational speaker, or a persuasive speaker, will repeat themselves, saying the same things, but in different words. I therefore can summarize, say two sentences into one. I can also use synonyms to do the same thing that they are doing.

00:08:03

I can also use sign language structure to say what he said and then say the opposite, which will reinforce what he wants.

00:08:13

Those strategies are better than just interpreting every single thing the speaker says, and that's what we always do is try to focus on the meaning and the goal and get rid of the language they're using. This will help us immensely when we are sick, when we're tired, when our cognitive faculties are not working at 100%.

00:08:38

On top of that, in between speakers rest even if it's a minute, even if it's 30 seconds, even if it's 10 seconds. Put your hands down, sit down, have a chair there. Depending on the situation of course. But put your hands down. Give yourself a minute to just listen to the speaker.

00:08:59

What are they saying? Usually when a new speaker comes on, they say something like, “Thank you so much for that wonderful introduction. Isn't he a great speaker? That's wonderful. I really liked what he said. Just, just phenomenal, isn't it? And, and I'm so happy to be here, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.” All of those things can be summarized quite quickly, but you can just rest.

00:09:22

Think about what they're saying and then give that. That is a great time for you to relax and to focus on what this speaker is going to say, what they have as a goal, what their personality is, what their character is and how they're portraying what they're going to say, are they very vibrant, very energetic, or are they monotone? Are they just reading a script?

00:09:52

All of those things you can assess during that first ten to 30 seconds.

00:09:58

Because most of what they've said is probably going to be incidental, that are just getting the audience ready for the new speaker and what they're about to say. They usually say all of that and then they pause, and they go into their speech, they give the audience a second to [breathes in] take a breath and now focus on what next.

00:10:19

This means that the speaker is going to now give their introductory phrase, their sentence, their goal, their story that leads to what they want to tell everyone. That allows you to do even more assessing.

00:10:39

Have you already thought of the correct goal? Have you realized how this person speaks and now you start to, to change that? But while you're doing that, you have your hands down. You have your mind resting and just taking in what they're giving you.

00:10:56

Relax, breathe.

00:10:59

Give your body time to spark some energy to keep going. These are all tools that come with experience, as Marco Nardi said in his interview here on the podcast, sometimes it takes 25 years of training and experience to be ready for this job, so remember that.

00:11:20

Your experience builds on itself over time and helps you prepare these different tools. These different strategies for any new situation that you're interpreting for.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS]

00:11:33

Are you sick? Sick of hearing me say, Buy Me A Coffee. Well, there is a remedy for that. Click on the links in the show notes and Buy Me A Coffee. And I promise I won't say it again until the next episode. Thank you. Now let's go back.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC ENDS]

00:11:50

Good speakers use some of the same strategies of how to motivate, how to keep the attention of the audience, how to get their point across, how to explain different points.

00:12:03

And they use a step-by-step strategy to do that. And those who are not great speakers, they kind of copy that same pattern of speaking. That's how we learn it. We learn from other speakers. And as interpreters we hear such a variety of speakers, such a variety of people's views. And in a conference situation, they all start to sound the same, which is good for us because then we know how to assess the situation and if anything comes up that's different, we're ready for it.

00:12:40

Because we realize that it's different and then we can change and be flexible for that moment. So, think about that the next time you listen to any speaker in a situation while you're interpreting or even not interpreting, think about the patterns, think about how they start their introduction, how they talked to the last speaker or the person who introduced them…

00:13:04

…how they then pause or segue into their speech, their presentation. Because they always want to have that moment where the audience switches gears and stops thinking about the last speaker and starts thinking about this speaker. Why are they different? How are they different?

00:13:25

Why is what they're saying important? What is their goal? How are they interacting with the audience?

00:13:32

All of those things help us paraphrase what they're saying, because they might say exactly the same thing more than once, and exactly the same thing as the last speaker to connect into their speech. All of those things help us use less cognitive abilities, and therefore less energy.

00:13:52

So, when we're tired or we're sick, we can still get through it by using those wonderful strategies, that wonderful information that we already know about, speakers, presenters. And then in between, when there's a break normally as a sign language interpreter, you're there to help with the mingling and talking with the rest of the people in the group, when there's a break, normally.

00:14:21

But in this particular situation, I knew that I needed to rest, so I was transparent with the clients telling them I am sick. I'm doing well here, but I do need to rest. I need a break and that was part of the entire negotiation in the beginning, since I was the only one.

00:14:42

So, we planned those strategic networking opportunities in between. So, I knew, and they knew, and we could plan for them which truly helped since I was sick and tired. So, during those short breaks I would rest. I would leave the environment, take any medication that I needed to take and rest, and then be ready for the next moment. At the end of the day, we did the networking thing a little bit, the important networking that needed to be done and then I was off.

00:15:14

And what was even better was that the coordinator for all the interpreters knew this.

00:15:21

And the coordinator would come and take me away politely and professionally and say we need to wrap up this conversation because I need all the interpreters together for a meeting at the end of the day. So, he would take me away after I finished that moment. The clients there knew that, OK, we need to finish this, this, this.

00:15:41

That was done, and then I left with the coordinator. We did whatever business meeting we needed.

00:15:48

And then I was done for the rest of the evening, which allowed me to go back and completely zone out, take any medication, rest, have any dinner that I could eat and rest and rest and rest.

00:16:04

Doing that strategy throughout the entire conference allowed me to finish it in a professional way and do my job well, but as we said it takes experience to understand how to handle that, how to negotiate that not only with the clients with the coordinator, but with myself, how to understand what my body is telling me, what difficulties I'm having and what tools this wonderful Scout sign language interpreter, well, non-scout sign language interpreter has to use during this gig.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:16:47

So that was a lot to discuss and talk about, but it comes back to the topic of interpreter pay.

00:16:55

Going back to what Marco said about having experience over the many years gives us the tools to be able to handle a new gig, a difficult gig.

00:17:10

Because we know what to do, we know what we need. We know how to handle what the speaker is doing, what the clients are doing. We realize all of that quickly because of our experience, and that means that just because we're working for 30 minutes when we were booked for one hour doesn't mean we should be paid much less because, “Well, you're only there 30 minutes.”

00:17:38

We need to remember that they are not paying for our 30 minutes’ worth of work. They are paying for our 25 years of experience as a good interpreter, as a capable interpreter, a sign language interpreter that has experience, training, education, mentoring, multiple languages, whatever it is, all of it adds up to how much you're worth, how much our work, our time is worth, whether we're working for 30 minutes or eight hours. Our time is valuable and worth it.

00:18:19

Remembering that can help us drive away that imposter syndrome. Looking at it from the point of view that yes, I only have five years of experience as a sign language interpreter, so I'm not as good as the one that has ten years.

00:18:38

Well, maybe not. But you also have some training. You also have some workshops. You also have some education. You also have life skills that the interpreter with 10 years’ experience doesn't have, and you're building your experience as you're doing it, learning from those who have come before us, listening to their stories like on this podcast, meeting them in person, working with them, teaming with them. We learn more and more of what the learned.

00:19:12

The problems they went through teaches us how to avoid those problems in our own experience, teaches us how to handle them when they pop up so we don't have to do it alone.

00:19:25

Even those of us who have been working as a sign language interpreter over 20 years, we can learn from all of our teams, whether it's a one-year experienced interpreter or a ten year experienced interpreter, we can learn from them because each one of us is unique and each one of us has something to learn and something to share and teach each other, supporting one another so that we too have the capabilities and understanding of multiple scenarios, schemata, to help us navigate the strategies and tools that we need to get the job done.

00:20:06

The language itself, what someone’s saying, their story that they need to say and us interpreting that into the story in the new language is only one small piece of it. What experience gives, what training gives, what sharing stories from each other gives, helps us navigate around the skills around the situational environmental problems and dilemmas so that we can do the easy part of interpreting.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

[ROCKE EXIT MUSIC STARTS]

00:20:41

I hope this interpreTips episode has given you something to think about and helped you realize how much you are worth and valuable for the communities we serve, and especially for the colleagues that we have in the profession to teach each other and share and support one another so that we all understand new ways of doing our job.

00:21:06

So, before you get sick and tired, remember what you can do.

00:21:11

So, until next week, keep calm.

00:21:15

Keep resting. Keep relaxing so you can interpret the next gig. I'll see you next week.

00:21:23

Take care now.

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC ENDS AT 00:21:59]