IW 130: InterpreTips: Grateful Moments - Never Edit this Out

"Wow, I'm good! ... Oh, oops, keep working!"

There are moments we realize we were given something good. Today we talk about remembering those wonderful people who have taught us so much, have supported us in ways that may even be surprising.

Let's talk about gratitude. Nives Gotovac from Croatia and Joni Bice from the U.S. share some moments in their lives that helped them grow. Stories like this remind us to reflect on our own lives so we too can show gratitude, thankfulness to those who have influenced us.

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Transcript

IW 130: InterpreTips: Grateful Moments - Never Edit this Out

Support the Podcast!

[ROCK INTRO MUSIC STARTS]

00:00:02 Tim

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 Tim

Let's start talking... interpreting.

[ROCK INTRO MUSIC ENDS]

00:00:34 Tim

And now the quotes of the day. The first one is by A. A Milne author of Winnie the Pooh.

00:00:43 Tim

“Piglet noticed that even though he had a very small heart, it could hold a rather large amount of gratitude.”

00:00:52 Tim

And the second by William Faulkner, American writer.

00:00:56 Tim

“Gratitude is a quality similar to electricity. It must be produced and discharged and used up in order to exist at all.”

00:01:08 Tim

The month of November in the US, American culture is known for remembering what we're thankful for, having gratitude for what we have and having gratitude for those around us.

00:01:22 Tim

Those that have influenced our lives or impacted us in many different ways, and I would say that as interpreters, we need to think about who has influenced our lives, who has influenced our work and helped us in our development as a professional sign language interpreter.

00:01:42 Tim

Today I take two excerpts from interviews in the past where two interpreters talk about their gratitude, their thankfulness for something in their work in their lives that help them develop who they are.

00:01:58 Tim

As interpreters, we should remember how far we've come and be grateful for where we are. What we know now, what skills we have, because at one time we were only hoping that we could get to the point where we are now. So, let's think about that as we listen to these two outtakes from the interviews with Nives from Croatia and Joni from the US, let's get started.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:02:29 Tim

Let's listen to Nives Gotovac's from Croatia, a good friend and good interpreter to team with. Definitely. I interviewed Nives in January of 2024, this year, and a few outtakes from that interview I have put in Buy Me A Coffee for those supporting members to listen to as well as in the IW Community. Here, she talks a little bit about how amazed she is at her own work with a twist.

[HARP MUSIC FOR MEMORY RECALL]

00:03:02 Tim

Can you tell us one moment that you remember all the time, or you tell stories about when you really felt good about that interpreting moment.

00:03:17 Nives

Ooo. I now have to think about how to say that without breaching ethics.

00:03:22 Tim

Mm-hmm. Definitely.

00:03:23 Nives

Yeah. Well, as I had embarrassing decade, [both chuckling] I would say I've had the proudest a few years with the client I was interpreting more often.

00:03:34 Tim

Mm-hmm.

00:03:35 Nives

Uhh.. In educational setting.

00:03:36 Nives

And whenever I understood that the reply from the student was in line with what the teacher, professor was asking, I was like, “Wow, this is what I did.” [both laughing] I mean, it's not only me, but you know, the question was understood. [Tim: right] And since I was there more often, I thought that well…

00:04:02 Nives

Maybe it's not… It's not that shocking to say that I did contribute a bit to the understanding, yes.

00:04:08 Tim

Yeah, yeah, that's a good thing when you feel like, “Ohh [Nives: “We understand each other well.”] I actually did my job well.” [both chuckling] That's, that's, that's a good thing. Wow. Yeah.

00:04:19 Nives

That's the first thing that comes to my mind, but I know that there, there were, or there are always situations like that when I feel that I did a job good. [Tim: mm-hmm]

00:04:27 Nives

Even today, I was interpreting main news and I was like I interpreted something and I was like, “whoa, that was really good. I think it's clear.” And then [both laughing] [Tim: Then you forgot to work.] …you know, going to the dreamland. “I’m a good interpreter. No, no, go back. Go back to do your work. You still have 20 minutes to go.”

00:04:47 Tim

“The camera is still on. The camera still on.” [both laughing]

00:04:50 Nives

“Red light, red light.” [both laughing]

[HARP MUSIC FOR MEMORY RECALL]

00:04:55 Tim

In the beginning of that, if you didn't understand, Nives talks about a whole decade where she had embarrassing moments.

00:05:03 Tim

But out of that time period, she also had those moments of realization of how good she actually is, how good she can be in an interpretation.

00:05:14 Tim

In those moments are when we feel grateful that we have such skills, we're grateful to ourselves, we're thankful for ourselves. And feeling good about yourself is something we should do often. We should remember. Not only should we be grateful for those around us who have contributed to our success, to our growth and development…

00:05:39 Tim

But we should also be thankful for ourselves and remember that we have taken the steps. We are the ones who have decided and made the choices to bring us to where we are. Being grateful for others to others, for helping us along the way, for guiding us and giving us those examples even.

00:05:57 Tim

But when we see what we can do…

00:06:01 Tim

And we feel good about that. We feel proud of ourselves. That helps us become more confident as an interpreter, but we must not let it get in the way of actually doing our job [chuckles slightly] like Nives described. I think all of us have been there. It was like, “Wow, that was really good. That was clear. That was. Ohh. Yeah. I'm still working now.”

00:06:20 Tim

But those moments help us realize that the effort we have put into our work into our practice has paid off.

00:06:29 Tim

When we see and realize, oh, that was really nice. It helps us understand that we have moved forward. We have grown, we no longer have to take as much effort to do that type of interpretation. It came out naturally. Those moments we should be grateful for.

00:06:50 Tim

And give ourselves that congratulations. Feel good about it. Find someone that you can tell without breaking the confidentiality.

00:07:00 Tim

I'm grateful for Nives to say in the beginning I have to think of a way to tell this story without breaking confidentiality for my clients. We should all have that in our minds. How can I express this gratitude, this thankfulness or this dilemma that I have without breaking confidentiality without disrespecting those with whom I work?

00:07:23 Tim

So, take a few moments when you're working, when you're debriefing. This is one of the moments you have debriefing with yourself, with the team, with the clients. Think about what you're grateful for, for those moments that worked well for the interpretation, think about what impacted you or prepared you for that wonderful moment and realize I am good. I have the skills now. I've developed this skill. See those moments. Write them down even and tell a friend to discharge it. Otherwise, it doesn't exist. Don't hold it in.

00:08:02 Tim

Show that gratefulness.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS]

00:08:04 Tim

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]

00:08:21 Tim

Throughout our lives, there are people that influence us. They impact how we develop, how we grow.

00:08:29 Tim

And they give us a different lens with which to see the world. Everyone that influences us could be doing it through a negative way or a positive way. We might see someone else's mistake and realize, Oh, maybe I make that same mistake. And they corrected it this way. Will that work for me?

00:08:50 Tim

Learning from each other, learning from our own mistakes, that is what experience is. Seeing it, knowing it and accepting it, learning from it…

00:09:02 Tim

Brings us that experience that we need to develop and grow as sign language interpreters. The more experience we have, the better developed we are. And there are certain people that might influence us in ways that we had not realized would be an impact in who we are.

00:09:22 Tim

Sometimes they just surprise us.

00:09:24 Tim

And it may not be directly connected to interpreting, to sign language interpreting, to the deaf community or the hearing community. It may be something indirect, as we hear from Joni, Vice, who I interviewed early in this podcast.

00:09:44 Tim

And this outtake not only shows a wonderful realization moment of how we should behave, but…

00:09:52 Tim

It also details a wonderful person in our profession, Lillian Beard, who sadly has passed away now, but who was a pioneer in our profession in the US. Here's a little insight in the story of Joni Bice telling us in her own words what it felt like to be there at that moment and how that influenced her and I say how that should influence all of us. Let's take a listen.

[HARP MUSIC FOR MEMORY RECALL]

00:10:26 Joni

I'll tell you something. Lillian taught me. You probably want to edit this out, [Tim laughing] but one of the things that she taught me that I thought was so fun.

00:10:34 Joni

I was at her house one day and she, her little niece was there, and her niece came in and said, “That Lucky, … (which is the, the dog, it was Lillian's husband's dog, Louie's dog)

00:10:49 Tim

Mm-hmm.

00:10:51 Joni

She said, “…He just stinks so bad.”

00:10:54 Joni

And, Lillian said, “We don't ever say anything bad about that dog because Louie loves him so much. We don't ever talk badly about the dog, OK?” And I thought, “Ohh, that's so sweet. How many things do I talk badly about that Danny likes?” [both laughing] [Tim: yeah]

00:11:16 Joni

“He loves his car so much. I really should be nice about it.” [both laughing loudly] “Don't talk badly about that car.”

00:11:28 Tim

Wow, that's sweet. That's sweet.

00:11:29 Joni

Yeah, yeah.

00:11:33 Joni

Nothing to do with interpreting but...

00:11:36 Tim

Oh, well… It’s…

00:11:38 Tim

Respecting others, it's nice. 

00:11:40 Joni

That’s right. People skills.

00:11:42 Tim

People skills. Exactly. [Joni: Yeah]

[HARP MUSIC FOR MEMORY RECALL]

00:11:47 Tim

We talk about people skills.

00:11:50 Tim

Or soft skills, quite a bit, or maybe not enough. As an interpreter, we work with people, mmm, of course. So, we need to learn those skills. We need to know how to professionally behave as a professional in that situation, not just as an interpreter, but as a professional.

00:12:14 Tim

Someone who respects all of the clients involved and works without bias, but in a way that works efficiently and with civility.

00:12:25 Tim

Respecting their time, respecting their thoughts, respecting their viewpoints, listening, getting to know them in a way that helps us dig through all of the cultural details, all of the discourse disparities through the illusions that people are putting up that sometimes hide the meanings behind their words.

00:12:49 Tim

We need to be able to get down to the root of it and know those people, but as we do that, we must be civil. We must be nice, kind…

00:13:00 Tim

…and be able to see the good in everyone. When we are kind to someone else rather than making fun of what they like or who they are or what they wear, or even thinking those things, we need to realize it can hurt their feelings. And that's the lesson that Lillian Beard was trying to teach. And Joni being there in that moment was impacted by that.

00:13:24 Tim

Many years later, she still remembers that. I don't know if Lillian knew how much she impacted Joni in that moment, but the lesson learned is, ohh we should be nice. We should be kind and respect what other people value, what other people hold dear to themselves.

00:13:44 Tim

It's a wonderful thought, a wonderful sentiment to help us learn how to behave professionally and in our own lives.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC STARTS]

00:13:58 Tim

I hope this episode has given you some thought, some ideas, and made you think of moments in your career in your life where you learned a skill or a way to behave a little bit better. What are you thankful for? What are you grateful for?

00:14:14 Tim

Who are the people around you that are impacting your work, your professionalism, your people skills, your soft skills? What do you know now today that you didn't know yesterday or five years ago, or 10 years ago, or 30 years ago?

00:14:33 Tim

All of those moments in our lives that we realize something, and we learn how to change or how to be better. Those moments stay with us.

00:14:45 Tim

And those people, those memories stick to us, but we have an obligation as well to share that to the next generation. We need to not hold it in, but we need to produce that gratitude within ourselves, remembering those times and those moments that we did something well.

00:15:05 Tim

We did something for someone else. They did something for us. They taught us this lesson. And we need to discharge that gratefulness, that gratitude. We need to discharge it. Give it to someone else. Share the story. Share the wisdom, share the tips and tricks that we've learned along the way.

00:15:25 Tim

Because that's how behavior develops. That's how good attitude develops, and we need that type of grateful attitude, the contentment to spread, because when we really love what we do, that passion grows.

00:15:42 Tim

And it shows, not only in our work but in our friends.

00:15:48 Tim

So, until next time, keep calm. Keep interpreting the gratitude, gratefully, thankfully. I'll see you next week. Take care now.

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC ENDS AT 00:16:33]