IW 131: InterpreTips: Grateful Moments - Never Edit this Out
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00:00:02 Tim [ONLY TIM SPEAKS 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.
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Let's start talking... interpreting.
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And now the quote of the day by Fred Rogers, American Television host, creator of the preschool television series Mr. Rogers’ neighborhood.
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“If only you can sense how important you are to the lives of those you meet, how important you can be to the people you may never even dream of. There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person.”
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It is very hard to know how we influence people. I think that's why I was taught not to say anything unless I have something nice to say. Good advice, sometimes hard to take, hard to remember.
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In today's episode, we talk about that awkward moment when people compliment us or thank us for our interpreting during our job. That moment when we are finished, everything's wrapping up. We're leaving. And people say something to us about how beautiful, how wonderful it was. What do we say then? I know it sounds easy to acknowledge. Well, thank you. But is it really? Today I go a little more in depth and analyze this awkward moment, this one moment we should be able to handle easily.
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Let's get started.
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Last episode I talked about being grateful, thankful for what we have and who we have in our teams. This week I had a conversation with a member in the IW Community and we were discussing how there are those awkward moments when people thank us for interpreting thank us for the beautiful job we do.
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And he took note that as early inexperienced interpreters…
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We were ready to jump in there to explain about how it's not about a beautiful language, it's a real full language and we're there for accessibility. And it got me thinking when we first start working, in fact, not even then, even after years of experience, we still have that moment when we think…
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This is a teachable moment. I can help spread the awareness of deaf culture, of sign language, of the interpreting profession, and what we really do. And we're not really translators, we're interpreters…blblbla, bla, blah.
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Why do we do that? Sometimes it might be fitting. It might be a moment when someone is truly asking us a moment when they are curious and truly wanting to make their services better by using us in a better way, and therefore we do have a right to help them to serve them by giving them the knowledge that we have. But why would someone even say something to us like that?
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Probably because they've never seen or used an interpreter before, and in those instances, we have to be aware that they're trying to connect. They're trying to communicate. They're trying to show their appreciation. They're giving us a compliment, and sometimes it's hard for any of us to take a compliment… gracefully.
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Their only intention is to show their appreciation and perhaps to start a conversation which can lead to them learning more.
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But if we immediately bombard them with a plethora of Deaf awareness topics, sign language interpreting topics many people were like. Whoa, I just want to say it was good. Thanks. Thanks. It was great having you here and we've all been there. If we have done that,…
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We can see sometimes people are appreciative and like ohh really because they really were curious and at other times, they look at you with glossy eyes and you know immediately they don't want to be here. They don't want to have this conversation. They were just being polite.
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This has happened to me more often in situations where people have never used an interpreter before and so they are nervous. They're anxious and after it is over and everything went smoothly, they have that feeling of relief and it's like, oh, thank you. Thank you. That was so good.
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Because now they feel as though they accomplished something without it being awkward, without having all of the problems that because they don't know how to do it. But we were there to smooth those bumps, those worries over so that they no longer felt anxious, and they felt more confident to be able to do this again the next time. So, we should just say thank you.
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I can't always say that many times I have changed from being very open and throwing out little snippets of Deaf awareness, or rather sign language interpreting awareness. What we do, how we work, how it works, how we make more decisions than people think we do.
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How difficult it can be, how the intricacies of variations between different languages, how they influence the meaning and the discourse. And not everyone is excited about that. It's kind of like talking to a linguist.
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And asking them to give you a review of a dictionary.
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I'm waiting to see if any of my friends are listening and sending me text messages. How dare you insult me. I'm a linguist …anyway.
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I know you're just the listener, but I want to thank you. Thank you for being my support, sharing the podcast and occasionally Buying Me A Coffee. Every little bit helps. Truly, thank you. Now let's go back.
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00:06:40
Sometimes they are thinking us or telling us how beautiful and so forth, and I am trying to give a little lesson, a little seed of knowledge that might grow into awareness of different aspects of sign language interpreting so that it might help this hearing person to understand the profession better and improve our working conditions by having another person who knows, who understands.
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But in my zeal to be less preachy, I became a little more sarcastic or silly, I guess. Over the last few years…
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When people say to me that was amazing, that was beautiful. What you did or that was really good interpreting. That's the one I love the best.
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Because then I always say ohh so you understand sign language?
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Ohh no, not at all.
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Ohh, well then, you're right. It was amazing what I did. Absolutely no mistakes whatsoever. That was great. Yes.
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And that sarcasm, that remark that I probably said here before I do it for different reasons, not just for laughs, which I actually get sometimes. I know. Surprising, but I do it because I think it's a way for them to quickly realize what they've said to quickly realize that they cannot assess what I've done.
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They cannot assess my interpretations were good, were on the mark because they don't know the language.
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And they don't know what interpreting is. And I also put out there that I did make mistakes. You know, I said I didn't. It's implied that yes, there were mistakes. So, I've taught many things in that one statement. One, they don't know what they're talking about, which is part of the sarcasm, I guess.
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Two, that I make mistakes, even though I may look professional and look as though I do it wonderfully.
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Three, it's much deeper than what they thought.
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And four, I'm just a normal person with mistakes.
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There is also an occasion where, after an interpreting gig at an event, a workshop, a conference, an online meeting where the hosts, the presenter, the coordinators, they give thanks to different people who have made that event possible.
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And they include in that the interpreters. How do you feel about that?
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The first time it happened to me was outside the US. Inside the US, it was rare when that occurred, maybe because I was in the wrong place. For whatever the reason, I was not thanked as often, that I can remember in the US. And I believe it was because of the same reasons that I had been taught is that we are more impartial. We are neutral. We're not a part of what's going on. We are just a tool in the room and so we should not expect compliments or thank yous.
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And that's why initially I would say no, I'm just doing my job or I'm just the interpreter or I would just smile and nod because I was trying to be as invisible as possible. Try not to take credit, not be in the limelight, not be in the spotlight.
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Because it wasn't all about me as the interpreter.
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But when I was first outside the US, and I did some interpreting jobs here and there. Many times, the clients or the organizers of an event would acknowledge the interpreters in the room.
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And it's that awkward moment as an interpreter. Like, I'm interpreting someone complimenting or thanking me.
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It almost feels like a self-acknowledgment rather than someone else giving me a compliment or a thank you.
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It didn't feel right to me in the beginning.
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And I had to analyze. Why does? Why am I having this feeling? Why do I think it's not right? Why do I think I shouldn't be a part of this? Because even now, most of the research is telling us we are a part of what's happening, we actually influence what's happening and how people are talking to each other.
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How the meanings are a little skewed because of the interpretation, misunderstandings or understandings are influenced by us. Our presence influences how people behave and interact.
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So, if we are there, everyone knows we're doing this job. Everyone sees us. Half of the people may know that we're doing a good job, and the other half are using our service and are satisfied.
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I've come to realize it's OK to accept the thank you, the gratitude, the acknowledgement. I'm not a martyr. I am not invisible. But I'm not wishing for compliments either.
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So, the next time someone compliments you, the next time someone says thank you. Thank you for what you're doing. Appreciate that. Accept it. We need to acknowledge what we're doing is good. We need to acknowledge that we have supported others. It's not just the job.
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It's an interaction. It's a communication with others, influencing others’ lives, leaving something of yourself behind.
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And we never know where that goes. We never know how that will help them. We never know how many others that one touch will influence. So, until next time…
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Keep calm.
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Keep leaving a little of yourself when interpreting. I'll see you next week. Take care now.
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