IW 144: Spotlight Bruce Cameron Part 2: NO Feeding Unprepared BBC Interpreters

SPOTLIGHT! LOOK AT THAT!

We continue to Spotlight the special work that Scottish sign language interpreter, Bruce Cameron has experienced since 2024 when he started serving the communities through a new medium, the BBC media in the News and UK Parliament broadcasts.

He shares his stories and experience in this specific setting. He details the daily commute, the operations that the interpreters must learn, the teaming skills, the new interpreting skills, and much more. This is part 2 in this 3-part Spotlight on Bruce and his experience.

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Transcript

IW 144: Spotlight Bruce Cameron Part 2: NO Feeding Unprepared BBC Interpreters

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[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 by Billy Connolly, Scottish actor and comedian,

00:00:43 Tim

“The desire to be a politician should bar you for life from ever being one.”

00:00:49 Tim

And the second by Terry Pratchett, English humorist and author,

00:00:56 Tim

“That's what being alive is, Thing. It's being badly prepared for everything because you only get one chance, Thing.”

00:01:06 Tim

I picked these quotes well for the humor because we're also talking about interpreting in politics.

00:01:14 Tim

And we can't always prepare like we want to.

00:01:18 Bruce

Because we don't know what's going to happen.

00:01:20 Tim

We don't know who might be there, what they might say.

00:01:25 Tim

How do we do it?

00:01:26 Tim

Well, today, Bruce is going to continue telling us about his work with the BBC, how it affects him in real life, his daily commute, his work with the teams and how they handle it practically, logistically.

00:01:43 Tim

And we might talk a little bit about preparation or no preparation.

00:01:47 Tim

So let's get started.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:01:53 Tim

Do you have a tech person or a director, as it were, telling you when to start? What’s going to happen today, anything like that?

00:02:02 Bruce

Not in the room, but upstairs yeah, up in the, the fancy sci-fi room. [Tim chuckling]

00:02:06 Bruce

Nah, there's some-, there's a name for it, and it'll come back to me.

00:02:10 Bruce

It will come back… in the… there's something… the Deaf…

00:02:12 Bruce

I don’t know.

00:02:13 Bruce

I can't remember what it’s called. [Tim chuckling]

00:02:13 Bruce

But yes, and you see them…

00:02:16 Bruce

In fact, that's another monitor...

00:02:17 Bruce

So that's a monitor that sits above the camera and it's a, it's a composite and it’s got the live clock.

00:02:24 Bruce

So, you know exactly what time it is. And it's got a video webcam link to the room.

00:02:29 Bruce

So, you can actually see them. And it's good because you can sign to them. But we have just to the right underneath the monitors you can see it's a small tally light. And it's basically a… your international viewers might not know this, but back in the olden days, olden days…

00:02:46 Bruce

Harry Wogan, when he presented Blankety Blank, had a microphone. It was basically a microphone on a long stick and that is a long stick with a light on top, and that light flashes.

00:02:56 Bruce

And when that flashes green, you’re on. Get ready, 'cause, you're on air. [Tim: yeah]

00:03:00 Bruce

And then it flashes again, that’s you off.

00:03:03 Bruce

There's a signal there that tells you when you're on and off, but looking on the right-hand side, you see yourself on the, on the screen. If you're on there. You're on.

00:03:13 Tim

Yeah, OK.

00:03:14 Tim

So, how long are you on for?

00:03:17 Bruce

So, … Parliament or news?

00:03:18 Tim

Yes.

00:03:21 Bruce

[chuckles] Parliament varies. Parliament. We… and this is an interesting thing. I’m flexible with co-working and I will go with whatever my, my coworker wants to do.

00:03:30 Bruce

It’s interesting because we will sometimes do 15 minutes slots.

00:03:33 Bruce

We’ll do 15 minutes and we’ll switch.

00:03:35 Bruce

What we find with Parliament especially is that a lot of the statements or the, the questions that come out are probably longer, especially statements and will be longer than 15 minutes.

00:03:46 Bruce

So, you, if you swap over and you start, it's easier just to keep going until the end of that statement's done, and then you can then swap. Some, some of my colleagues the, the especially deaf colleagues want to do 20, 25, half an hour.

00:04:03 Bruce

Because 15 minutes you don't feel like you've got your teeth into the subject. By 20 minutes, it's still quite short… half an hour. For me, I feel the limit hits about 25, 25, 26 minutes roughly, and it's quite specific, but you can feel yourself going, right? [Tim: yeah]

00:04:21 Bruce

And then you know in a couple minutes… The half hour makes it easier for timing because on the hour, half past, on and off.

00:04:28 Bruce

So, I'm quite happy being that flexible and just working. [Tim: yeah]

00:04:33 Bruce

News-wise, news-wise, it's just recently changed. So, we do half hours in the morning so it's on the hour for half an hour. Twice.

00:04:46 Bruce

And then we do some prerecorded programs, as in programs that for the BBC Signed Zone. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:04:52 Bruce

So, on the BBC iPlayer there's a signed section and all the programs, not all, but I think a lot.

00:04:59 Bruce

In fact it might be, most of the programs do have BSL on them. [Tim: hmm]

00:05:04 Bruce

And then they lunchtime news is… starts at 10 clock.

00:05:08 Bruce

It runs to 1:36 pm. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:05:12 Bruce

You come off for about 9-10 minutes and you go back on for the last 15.

00:05:17 Bruce

However, [Tim chuckles] on Tuesday at 5 to 1:00 pm, we were told that the hour…

00:05:24 Bruce

Sorry, on Friday we were told that 5 to 1:00 pm that we will be on for the full hour. [Tim: Mmm] Purely because news at 1:00 pm for 10 minutes and we were going to cover the funeral of Denis Law, the footballer who died recently who played for Manchester United.

00:05:41 Bruce

He was born in Aberdeen where I'm from, so it was quite nice to be able to do that.

00:05:45 Bruce

And I was asked would I be OK with just doing that, that 50 minutes?

00:05:49 Bruce

And I've interpreted so many funerals, and information, it's, it's not going to be fast-paced. It's going to be, [Tim: Mm-hmm] you know, it's going to be quite repetitive.

00:05:58 Bruce

It’s going to be talking about his experience, his life growing up and that was fine.

00:06:02 Bruce

So, I thought, yeah, no, not a problem.

00:06:03 Bruce

So, I was on, on Tuesday there for the- was it Monday? Tuesday? Can’t remember. The days roll into one. [Tim chuckling]

00:06:10 Bruce

I was, yeah, on for the full hour. So, it was fine.

00:06:13 Bruce

Absolutely fine.

00:06:14 Tim

Yeah. So, you mentioned about Deaf and hearing, working with a deaf team. [Bruce: yes]

00:06:19 Tim

So, you're not actually feeding the Deaf, you're just swapping. [Bruce: yes]

00:06:24 Tim

And you have a deaf interpreter, then a hearing interpreter.

00:06:27 Bruce

Yes. Yep.

00:06:27 Tim

Back and forth are you… Do you feed each other once in a while?

00:06:31 Bruce

No, actually. No.

00:06:33 Bruce

I'm just trying to think if we have done. No. We- my experience so far, no, because there's the captions that are…

00:06:40 Bruce

I initially thought (if I’m being honest) during COVID [Tim: Mm-hmm] when we watched the deaf interpreters, I thought that they were being fed. Not realizing that they were taking the, a live feed from captions and not just…

00:06:54 Bruce

Don’t think, don’t think they are the actual captions that appear on TV. They might be. Actually, they probably will be, but these are done in a different format, so it's…

00:07:02 Bruce

They're not just two lines you're probably seeing about 10 lines of big text, constantly scrolling up screen. [Tim: yeah]

00:07:09 Bruce

So, there's no feeding whatsoever. However, especially for other live events that, there will be. I think sometimes. I didn't do them.

00:07:18 Bruce

I didn't do Glastonbury.

00:07:20 Bruce

But you do have deaf performers.

00:07:24 Bruce

Deaf interpreters doing the songs for Glastonbury and there's some…

00:07:28 Bruce

I think sometimes you would feed, even the hearing interpreters were getting fed bits and pieces because the environment was completely different. [Tim: right]

00:07:36 Bruce

But for Parliament and the news, no. It's just either audio or scripted or from the, from the actual autocue. [Tim: Mm-hmm, yeah]

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS]

00:07:46 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.

00:07:56 Tim

Because it's very embarrassing to fall asleep during an interview.

00:08:00 Tim

Thank you.

00:08:01 Tim

Let's go back.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC ENDS]

00:08:02 Tim

Let's take a break from the work itself for a moment and look at the practicalities of you working in London but living in Glasgow.

00:08:11 Bruce

Mm-hmm.

00:08:12 Tim

How does your normal commute to work look?

00:08:16 Bruce

I've not had an issue.

00:08:18 Bruce

I have actually, I have had an issue. It's not…

00:08:20 Bruce

It's not an issue that really has bothered me, but the… I would say the issues that I've had are purely, purely “Bruce issues”. [Tim chuckling]

00:08:31 Bruce

Now, they, they are, they are issues that I caused by myself by being completely unprepared. [Tim: ahh]

00:08:38 Bruce

And I think if anybody knows me, I think a lot of your listeners don't, which is a good thing actually, [Tim laughing] but I'm probably the least prepared person ever. [Tim: yeah]

00:08:47 Bruce

And you know… [Tim: yeah, yeah]

00:08:48 Bruce

I, I, you know… [sighs]

00:08:50 Bruce

“Failure to prepare is…” uhh… whatever that is, I, I,… [Tim laughing]

00:08:55 Bruce

So… [slightly chuckles]

00:08:57 Bruce

I leave everything to the last minute.

00:08:59 Bruce

I, I, for example, I've never had an issue getting to London until Sunday just passed, [Tim: yeah] which I didn't realise.

00:09:08 Bruce

Well, I did realise it. And I thought, “OK, it'll be fine. It'll be fine.” I, I read on the Saturday that the trains were on strike from Glasgow. [Tim: Mmm]

00:09:18 Bruce

I thought, “That's OK, I'll still manage to get down. It’s not a problem.”

00:09:22 Tim

But you didn't actually prepare for it, you just thought that.

00:09:25 Bruce

No.

00:09:26 Bruce

Yeah, yeah, I thought, “I'll sort out tomorrow.” [Tim: OK]

00:09:28 Bruce

So, I need to get down on Sunday.

00:09:30 Bruce

As long as I'm in London before 6:30 AM on Monday morning, it's fine. That's… [Tim chuckles]

00:09:38 Bruce

So about 12:00 on Sunday, I thought right, let's have a look at the trains because the trains are every hour on the half hour from Glasgow.

00:09:48 Bruce

OH! That’s right. They’re on strike.

00:09:49 Bruce

So, what's, what route are they taking?

00:09:50 Bruce

Are we taking ScotRail to that…? No, no, no.

00:09:55 Bruce

I thought Oh! I now need to get to Edinburgh from Glasgow, which is an hour away in the train. And then there's only a train... I basically need to leave now which is at lunchtime to get there today.

00:10:07 Bruce

Any later and I’m not going to manage. I thought, Right, OK, let's have a look at the flights…

00:10:10 Bruce

Because flights that, they're… [Tim: hmm] The flights, the cheapest flight I could find, one way was 305 lbs. [Tim chuckles]

00:10:18 Bruce

So, a return flight was going to cost me £587.00 which I would never get that expenses back at all, so that's not going to happen. I thought, right, OK. [Tim chuckling]

00:10:28 Bruce

So, train it was! So, up until Sunday there travel down has been great.

00:10:35 Bruce

It's been fantastic. Getting to London has not been an issue.

00:10:38 Bruce

It's… The train is a four-and-a-half-hour journey, and I, sometimes, I'm quite happy just to chill, switch off, listen to various podcasts, [Tim: hmm] you know, including yours, including this one.

00:10:51 Bruce

I won't listen to my own voice, to be honest.

00:10:54 Bruce

4 1/2 hours and it's nice. It’s a nice relaxed journey down. [Tim: Mmm]

00:11:00 Bruce

Flight-wise is quicker.

00:11:04 Bruce

By, only by an hour and a half, door to door.

00:11:06 Tim

Wow.

00:11:07 Bruce

Because you know you need to be there an hour and a half beforehand two hours maybe. And then you get to Heathrow, and Heathrow to the hotel is fine.

00:11:16 Bruce

That's not an issue.

00:11:17 Bruce

It's just more relaxing on the train. You can get up, you can walk about. So yeah, the commute down is fine. Coming home?

00:11:25 Bruce

People leaving London to come home and that's going home to on that line, Manchester, Birmingham, Preston, all that route, that’s, it’s, it's a bit more challenging.

00:11:36 Bruce

So, sometimes you kind of think, “OH! I forgot about this. I forgot about going home.” [Tim: hmm]

00:11:41 Bruce

You know, but you know, it's, it's usually fine.

00:11:44 Bruce

The reason for the train journeys is because I think I've discovered a little hack which seems to be working so far is I can't book return flights from Glasgow to London and back.

00:11:58 Bruce

Purely, because I don't know what time I'll be finished on the finish day. Parliament can overrun. [Tim: Yeah]

00:12:05 Bruce

So, if you're doing Parliament, you say we'll finish by 3:00. It might be 5 o'clock, 6 o’clock.

00:12:10 Bruce

You can't book a flight home. [Tim: Mm-hmm] If you're doing news. You're finished at 2:00.

00:12:14 Bruce

Yeah, you can.

00:12:16 Bruce

So that's why the train for me was a relaxed option. I say relaxed…

00:12:20 Bruce

It's only relaxing if you get a seat, but it's always happened so far.

00:12:24 Tim

You mentioned days.

00:12:25 Tim

Are you only working Mondays and Tuesdays then?

00:12:28 Bruce

No, it's, umm, it varies.

00:12:30 Bruce

At the moment it's aiming for about four days a month.

00:12:33 Tim

Oh, OK.

00:12:34 Bruce

So, there's been occasions where the four days a month have been the last...

00:12:39 Bruce

So, it's two days one week, two days the following week. [Tim: Mm-hmm] There has been occasion where it's been two days at the end of the month, and in the follow month it's two days at the beginning of the month.

00:12:48 Bruce

So, you're basically in London for four weeks in a row. [Tim: Yeah, yeah] So, which, which I think pleases the kids, to be honest. [Tim laughing]

00:12:57 Bruce

I think they're happy that dad's away.

00:13:01 Bruce

Which, well, pleases me.

00:13:03 Bruce

You know, I, I get a break for two nights which is quite nice.

00:13:07 Bruce

In fact, in fact…

00:13:08 Bruce

I love them dearly, but they, you know… [Tim chuckles] They're coming up for teenagers now.

00:13:13 Bruce

It's, it's, [Tim: yeah]

00:13:15 Bruce

They do… I think they talk to me more when I’m away than they do when I'm here. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:13:19 Bruce

So that's, that's nice.

00:13:20 Bruce

It's something that, they're at that age which, which helps.

00:13:24 Bruce

And the fact that I'm near a makeup shop, any kind of makeup shop, “Dad, Dad, can you get this? Can you get that?”

00:13:29 Bruce

Yeah. It's fine. Yeah.

00:13:30 Tim

Yeah. So, I noticed you didn't… You kind of glossed over not talking about how your wife feels about all of that?

00:13:37 Tim

But, uh…

00:13:38 Bruce

Yeah, she's all right with it just now.

00:13:39 Bruce

Yeah, I think…

00:13:41 Bruce

Where issues crop up is where she has to work away.

00:13:45 Bruce

Just on Monday there I went down to Sunday to work Monday, Tuesday. Home on Tuesday, she had to go to her office in London on Monday afternoon, Tuesday, and back on Wednesday. So…

00:13:56 Bruce

When we were talking, …Wait. It turns out she's only 20 minutes along the road from where I am. [Tim laughing: Oh!]

00:14:02 Bruce

She’s just outside London.

00:14:03 Bruce

So, it was like… Obviously we can't meet up because I've got to get up at 5:00 in the morning and she's probably at some fancy “do” until 2:00 in the morning. So that's yeah…

00:14:13 Bruce

But anyway, so far, it's been fine.

00:14:15 Bruce

And I suppose we're lucky in the sense, being an Aberdonian, I could have easily, I think, when I was younger gone into offshore work, working in oil rigs, [Tim: Mm-hmm] which means two weeks, - two weeks away, two weeks home or more 4 weeks away, four weeks home.

00:14:31 Bruce

And I, ahh, that's not for me.

00:14:33 Bruce

Two nights? Yeah, that's alright.

00:14:35 Bruce

It's only twice a month, it's, it's fine.

00:14:37 Bruce

Absolutely fine.

00:14:38 Tim

Yeah.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS]

00:14:39 Tim

Are you tired of social media shenanigans?

00:14:43 Tim

Well, why not go ol’ fashioned?

00:14:45 Tim

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00:14:59 Tim

Thank you. Let's go back.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC ENDS]

00:15:03 Tim

Let's go back to the actual work of interpreting there at the studio. [Bruce: hmm] How much prep do you get?

00:15:09 Tim

You get any materials beforehand, or the headlines of the news or the topic of the day at the UK parliament?

00:15:16 Bruce

Yes, we get access to the papers for Parliament the day before, but what we don't get, what we don't get… We get a list of questions that are going to be asked.

00:15:25 Bruce

So, there's a list of questions that you can see.

00:15:28 Bruce

There's gonna be 20 odd questions that may be asked and then there'll be, sometimes, most of times, there will be a statement by Ministerial department, but you will only find out half an hour before it goes live. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:15:42 Bruce

There'll be an urgent question from an opposition MP, which you will only get half an hour beforehand.

00:15:48 Bruce

So prep time is next to zero, to be honest. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:15:54 Bruce

And I think how to prepare for it. And this is maybe why I now start listening to politics. You know, I listening to politic podcasts. I watch Parliament live. If I'm working in between jobs, if I'm working online at home, I will have a window open with Parliament on in the background. The aim of it is…

00:16:12 Bruce

And I will watch the BSL version, not, not to see what my colleagues are doing, just to listen to the language. And if I hear language, I go, I've absolutely no idea what that means, because, because politicians are politicians. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:16:25 Bruce

I think, how did my colleague cope with that?

00:16:28 Tim

Yeah.

00:16:29 Bruce

It's, it's impressive.

00:16:30 Bruce

It really is impressive, and you know my hat goes off to the whole team and how they cope with it. And it's, it's, it's brilliant and I'm learning how to say I've only been doing it for a year.

00:16:40 Bruce

I'm still…

00:16:41 Bruce

I'm still a baby.

00:16:42 Bruce

Watching these experienced men and women [Tim: yeah] doing their stuff, it's fabulous. And it's worth watching how they cope with language that isn't normal language [Tim: Mm-hmm] especially in Parliament, news is different.

00:16:59 Bruce

I'll arrive just before 6:00 in the morning and switch the TV on - news channel.

00:17:05 Bruce

What usually happens is that they will roll and repeat the stories.

00:17:10 Bruce

So, you'll usually get the same stories appearing from 6:00… from 6:00 to half six, and then business news is 6:30 to 7:00, and then they will roll the same, similar stories from 7:00 to half past.

00:17:23 Bruce

But they will go live to… This week, they will go live to Jerusalem. They will go live to Gaza.

00:17:29 Bruce

So that was the topics this week. [Tim: yeah]

00:17:32 Bruce

So, because they've gone live, that's a new part they've, they've thrown in.

00:17:36 Bruce

So, you, you can only prepare for what you think might come up.

00:17:40 Bruce

You know the funeral. Denis Law’s funeral, we only got 2 minutes, 3 minutes notice about that.

00:17:44 Bruce

Right, so I'm now going, “Right. He played for Huddersfield. He grew up in Aberdeen. (Luckily, I'm from Aberdeen.) He played for Manchester City, played in Italy for Torino. He played Manchester United.” So, all these things and they were speaking to former players.

00:17:59 Bruce

So, it then became, but I need to know about football here.

00:18:03 Bruce

But what can you learn in a few minutes before going live? Nothing. [Tim: Right]

00:18:08 Bruce

So, you have to be prepared for the unprepared. Sometimes I think it's easier to not be prepared.

00:18:14 Bruce

Because you just have to deal with what comes in front of you.

00:18:16 Bruce

But sometimes I think I'm not preparing, but I think maybe subconsciously I am. By, by the things I watch. [Tim: Mm-hmm] And it's just by taking it in, just by watching stuff, not even saying, “What would I sign for that?”

00:18:28 Bruce

Just listening to the language and thinking, and it's so important don't fix on the language. And there's a couple of guys, Eddie, who's a seasoned professional and I respect dearly and love his, his input, who's been on the news for years, years, and years.

00:18:44 Bruce

He asked if he could do a bit of a, not a critique, but more of an observation of me.

00:18:50 Bruce

And would I like feedback and I’m like of course absolutely.

00:18:53 Bruce

And his feedback from the Parliament and the feedback he gave me was so insightful, so beautifully critical. It was like, “Do you realise…?”

00:19:03 Bruce

And actually, I do realise I do that. I don't know why I do that. [Tim: yeah]

00:19:08 Bruce

[He] explained it to me, and I went, yeah. And then… Certain signs that we do, you know, we think, “Why did I… Why do I sign that?”

00:19:16 Bruce

Because I hear the word.

00:19:17 Bruce

For example, “It's now time to do this.” Right?

00:19:19 Bruce

So, the word time. I do it and a lot of other people do do it as well, and I see it.

00:19:25 Bruce

You just point to your watch.

00:19:26 Bruce

But that's not the right time.

00:19:28 Bruce

It's not the right time and it's just a habit thing that I've developed. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:19:32

It was pointed out.

00:19:33 Bruce

I don't do it anymore.

00:19:35 Bruce

I’ve now, I've completely dropped, and I will only point to my wristwatch if it's actually to do with what time of day it is. [Tim: yeah]

00:19:43 Bruce

An hour, two hours, it’s 6 o'clock.

00:19:46 Bruce

So, we think now is the right time, but that's not your watch.

00:19:49 Bruce

So, I did it since I was...three years old, four years old.

00:19:53 Bruce

And at 51 I was still doing it until somebody pointed it out and I was like, “I, I need more of this.”

00:20:00 Bruce

Somebody else to observe, and be critical in a positive way because it's the only way that I will learn. [Tim: Mm-hmm]

00:20:08 Bruce

Well, I, I don't know.

00:20:09 Bruce

I, I'm so open to being told, “Do you realize you do this?”

00:20:14 Bruce

I’m like, “Actually, no, I don't.” [Tim: yeah]

00:20:17 Bruce

Even if I record myself and watch myself…

00:20:19 Bruce

You don't criticize yourself in a way that, that, “Well, that's fine. It must make sense”, where actually think of something different.

00:20:26 Bruce

And now, since it's been pointed out, I've, I've stopped doing it.

00:20:29 Bruce

In fact, the day after he said it, I went to point to my wrist. I went “NO”, and my finger went somewhere else. [Tim laughing]

00:20:38 Bruce

[chuckling] You get annoyed, annoyed with yourself thinking, “Don’t sign that, again!” [Tim chuckling: yeah]

00:20:44 Bruce

So, the team are fantastic, the team are very, very open to discussions and for me, I'm extremely open to being told. “Bruce, come on.” [Tim: Yeah]

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC STARTS]

00:20:59 Tim

What a fun way to step into someone else’s situation. Learning about every little detail of the technology, the logistics, how they work together, how they prepare and don't prepare, even just learning about his commute.

00:21:14 Tim

How many of us do a four-hour commute?

00:21:18 Tim

Let's talk about these things: the technology, the logistics, the commute, and preparation.

00:21:23 Tim

The technology is pretty amazing how they can have a live feed of the captioning, basically a teleprompter in front of the camera, being able to see all of the different monitors giving the information many things that the interpreter has to constantly monitor and see the information to make those minute decisions, while at the same time working live for very hard topics, news and politics.

00:21:54

It's a skill set.

00:21:56 Tim

It's a skill set that makes it hard to prepare for, and I think he found what we all know is that preparing for some things is not only difficult, but sometimes long term, watching the news, understanding the politics of the day, using your commute or your downtime wisely.

00:22:20 Tim

So that you can prepare and learn the vocabulary. Learn the rhythm of how these particular people speak.

00:22:28 Tim

And that is his preparation, long term preparation to be able to change and adapt on the fly using the technology, the monitors, the captioning. It sounds like a beautiful circus for the art that we call interpreting.

00:22:44 Tim

I don't know about you, but while listening to Bruce, explain all of this…

00:22:49 Tim

It got me thinking about all the situations that I have done over a long period and how I adapted my interpreting skills differently to match that situation.

00:23:01 Tim

Some skills for that situation are not appropriate for other situations. I don't have to use them, but what it does is it puts more tools in my toolkit as an interpreter, so that when another situation comes up that's similar to it, I'm ready.

00:23:17 Tim

It's part of our ongoing professional development. And lastly, there are two things I would like to point out.

00:23:25 Tim

It's great to see deaf interpreters working on their own, not dependent on a hearing interpreter feeding them.

00:23:34 Tim

And seeing a hearing interpreter utilize the same skills by accessing the captioning in the same way that the deaf interpreter does, enhancing their own work and the last bit that Bruce commented on is something we should all take to heart.

00:23:52 Tim

We all have skills or habits that we should get rid of, habits that we may not see, may not recognize, may not even understand that they might be bad, and having a team work with us. Give us feedback.

00:24:07 Tim

Critical thinking feedback can help us develop and enhance our own interpretations.

00:24:14 Tim

So, work with others, be with others, very similar to being in the IW Community. Just thought I'd put that out there: The IW Community, check the show notes.

00:24:25 Tim

Next week we meet with Bruce again to finish this conversation. This Spotlight on one aspect of his professional life.

00:24:34 Tim

Until then, keep calm. Keep interpreting with no preparation. Wait, no…um,…

00:24:42 Tim

…with long-term preparation.

00:24:45 Tim

I'll see you next week.

00:24:46 Tim

Take care now.

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