IW 156: InterpreTips: The Anonymous Interpreter Exposed

Who said that?! I did. Who are you? None o' your business.

Social media has us all questioning ourselves and everyone's "real life". Sometimes it's not a place you can trust.

Today I discuss why some people post anonymously on social media platforms. Is it OK? Why does it matter? Or does it? Let's think about these issues in this episode.

The Interpreter's Workshop with Tim Curry is three years old in June of 2025!

In the summer 2025, July and August, the Interpreter's Workshop with Tim Curry will take a break.

The episodes will resume in September.

Catch up on the episodes you've not listened to yet!

Check me out on Instagram @interpretersworkshop.

Transcript

IW 156: InterpreTips: The Anonymous Interpreter Exposed

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[ROCK INTRO MUSIC STARTS]

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.

00:00:28

Let's start talking... interpreting.

[ROCK INTRO MUSIC ENDS]

00:00:34

And now the quotes of the day. Today I have several quotes, one from a former US Supreme Court justice, a British writer, American actor, a famous physicist and an American priest and scholar. The first quote by John Paul Stevens,

00:00:56

“Anonymity is a shield from the tyranny of the majority.”

00:01:01

And the second by Danny Wallace,

00:01:05

“Anonymity is an abused privilege abused by most people who mistake vitriol for wisdom and cynicism for wit.”

00:01:16

And the next quote by Jason Priestley,

00:01:20

“You never appreciate your anonymity until you don't have it anymore.”

00:01:26

And the next by Albert Einstein,

00:01:30

“Anonymity is no excuse for stupidity.”

00:01:34

And the last quote by Douglas Horton,

00:01:38

“The art of giving is perfected through anonymity.”

00:01:44

Hmm. Today's episode might circle around, might orbit around, may be involved with the word, the concept of anonymity. Perhaps, I shouldn't have told you who said all those quotes.

00:02:03

But from those quotes, anonymity has a lot of positive and a few negative sides. Hmm, what is your perspective on anonymity? Well, if you're a victim of a crime, perhaps you want to be anonymous. If you think you're going to be a victim of a crime or be attacked for your opinion, sometimes you wish to be anonymous.

00:02:28

But there are others who want to be anonymous, who are committing the crimes or committing the abuse, or the attack, or even just the insult. In a world of social media of fast communication, instant answers back and forth from people you don't even know personally, it can be hard to find a safe area where you can have a debate about your opinions or perspectives, or perhaps even questions that you have. Maybe you don't understand something, and you want to know what it means, or you want to know what others mean by certain phrases or actions.

00:03:11

But sometimes in those social media areas, we don't feel safe enough, or perhaps we don't feel that the area is mature enough because many people act differently in the social media arena. So, let's talk a little bit about that today. Let's get started.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

00:03:35

This is my podcast, so being anonymous is quite hard. Everything I say, everything I believe, every perspective that I give, even if I'm talking about someone else's, even if I'm talking about someone else's words within an interview, I'm still me.

00:03:55

And everyone knows the voice they're hearing is me, Tim Curry, my perspective on a lot of different topics. Some of them are controversial, some of them are just merely silly, humorous or difficult subjects to get our heads around.

00:04:12

Today I want to specifically talk about how we debate and discuss things in social media. Most of us, when we're answering a social media post, we are doing it in the middle of something else. We may be sitting on a tram. We may be sitting on a bus, going somewhere. Perhaps we're at a doctor's office – waiting.

00:04:36

Or we're in a restaurant or in a cafe having a coffee and we see a post and we think, “Huh. Interesting. I wonder what other people say” and other people comment.

00:04:45

And we latch on to the ones that make sense to us or that we agree with, or that we definitely disagree. And so, we feel the need to comment right then right there at that moment. And we can talk about the social aspects of having our faces in our screens all the time or allowing our screens to interrupt our real life. But that's not the topic today we're talking about. Why would someone post something in social media, anonymously?

00:05:19

Well, we all know the answers, I hope, but let me go through a few of them. One, we're tiptoeing around a confidential situation or dilemma that we've encountered as a sign language interpreter, and therefore, we need to make sure that the information stays confidential. 

00:05:38

If people know that it's us the people in our groups will know or perhaps figure out who we are speaking about or what we are speaking about. And that is a good reason to be anonymous.

00:05:51

So, one reason to be anonymous is to keep the confidentiality as a sign language interpreter to keep that code of ethics firmly closed or open, depending on how you look at it and making sure that information that we're about to ask about or even discuss does not come back around to the people actually involved in the reality of the situation.

00:06:18

Another reason someone might post as a sign language interpreter anonymously is because they are a new sign language interpreter. Perhaps their confidence has not matured enough or is not strong enough to know whether or not their question or their topic is too much of a “new” interpreter question and they don't want to be embarrassed by that.

00:06:44

And connecting to that, they may actually just be an introvert and talking about personal topics or topics that relate to them is hard to begin with.

00:06:56

And they don't know who to trust.

00:06:58

So, they can't talk about it within their own community. So, they reach out to social media, which is more of a general community where they can get multiple ideas and perspectives and not have it connect to them since they are introverted enough to not feel open enough to tell the general public, so it's a comfort zone for them.

00:07:25

But yet they still want to get the information and perspectives back from such a huge listening audience, you might say. Or they merely feel the need to not make it about them.

00:07:39

Their perspective is I don't want this to be about me. Look at me. Look what I've done. Look what situation I'm in and I'm thinking about it this way. Maybe they truly want to be impartial, neutral, but they want to know the answers.

00:07:56

And so, they are purposefully being anonymous to not make it about them. And the other aspect has to do with not trusting the space that you're posting in. We've all seen it. We've all seen people attack others in Facebook posts or Instagram, Twitter, you name it. In fact, I should have named it X instead of Twitter. I apologize.

00:08:25

Seeing someone post their opinion, maybe even typing it in a way that they would normally say in an offhand remark which seemed to be nothing to them, was taken quite literal, quite serious by many others. And then they are attacked for that offhand quick comment that they made in the coffee shop while they were doing nothing substantially connected to the topic in the post, but they just happened to see it and said, “Ohh yeah, that's silly.” Typing in quickly, answering and replying without really thinking deeply about it.

00:09:04

And those posts are the ones that actually influence people to go anonymous, to be anonymous when they post a question or a sensitive topic, because they see that others have been attacked for very little or for a short remark which is hard to understand the meaning or intention.

00:09:28

Sometimes we read posts that as interpreters we can read them to mean many different things.

00:09:35

We can read them as sarcasm. We can read them as humor. We can read them as serious, as quite literal, but all of those perspectives have different meanings and should be judged differently. But we can't always see that or understand that not fully.

00:09:54

It's not the same as hearing remarks in the situation where the discourse is constantly changing, constantly feeling different in that moment, that's when the words, the meanings, the intentions, the, the comfort zones are illuminated quite well compared to a text of seven or eight words. 

00:10:20

And so when we see people are attacked for asking (for them) what might be a serious question…

00:10:26

…or a serious topic that they really want to know the answer to. They have a genuine curiosity of why this happens or why should this happen or not happen. Or they may just be having a bad day, and they say, “Ah, why are teams like this?”

00:10:46

Or just complaining to social media to another group of interpreters saying something like, “Ah, I made it on time 15 minutes before the job. I'm there and everybody else is late and I know that means we're gonna be ending later, which means I have less time to get to my next gig.”

00:11:06

And they're just venting. And that one little vent could easily be attacked. I could see perspectives saying.

00:11:14

It's up to them whether they're late or not. Don't judge those participants. By your standards, you're being hired to give a service. It's their life that you're going into. It's not your life. And then I could see them coming back and saying “Yes, but I'm booked for only so much time.”

00:11:34

Blah blah, blah, blah blah blah.

00:11:36

And it was only meant to be thrown out there as yeah, this is a hard day. That's all it was.

00:11:44

Maybe. We don't know. It could be.

00:11:48

And that's my point. We don't always know our culture of answering or replying to posts quickly with what first comes into our mind of what their intention is, or their goal is, or their meaning. When we use that first impression of what we think it means.

00:12:09

And we reply, we could be totally off base, we could be totally off the mark of what was really meant.

00:12:18

Maybe they didn't want to reply at all, or maybe they just wanted to say, “Uff! You're having one of those days. Are you? Yeah, I understand.” That's it.

00:12:28

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS]

When I'm having one of those days, I need a stiff, strong drink – of coffee. In fact, you can support me in that cause. Just click on the links in the show notes for Buy Me A Coffee to support interpreters worldwide, thank you. Now let's go back.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC ENDS]

00:12:44

We have talked about horizontal violence on the podcast before speaking to the fact that even within sign language interpreting our profession on social media, sometimes we are attacked by other interpreters. Attacked in the way, verbally or in- insultingly or in an ego-competitive-way that doesn't give a real purpose or meaning to the exchange. It doesn't help either one of us develop better, and it's not just in social media, but it can also be word of mouth or even in a teaming situation.

00:13:23

As a very small community where individuals usually work alone, it can be very stifling when we are then put into a group of other interpreters who may or may not respect us or understand what we do, what we go through, and sometimes it's hard to realize that my perspective may not be the same as another interpreter’s perspective.

00:13:52

It doesn't mean it's wrong. It doesn't necessarily mean that I'm right, but it takes us back to the fact that communication is key. We want to be clear in our interpretation. We want the participants in our work to be as clear as possible to be understandable so that we can do our job well.

00:14:15

But sometimes we forget to put those same principles to use when we're interacting with other interpreters, whether it's on social media or whether it's in person.

00:14:25

Teaming or at a conference or a workshop, or when we happen to be somewhere else and we're observing another interpreter doing their job, we need to apply the same principles of clear communication and respect. We don't know what that interpreter is going through as they're working in this situation. We don't know what preparation they had.

00:14:46

We don't know what they've been told by participants to do or not do, or what to give and what not to give.

00:14:53

When we are on social media, sometimes we don't always know who's replying, where they are at that moment because as we know the environment where we are influences how we think, the conversations that we're just having influences our worldview at that moment.

00:15:14

And therefore, it influences how we read the goals or intentions of a text message and how we respond to them.

00:15:23

Sometimes we think in a social media setting everyone there is in the same conversation. Unfortunately, we're not.

00:15:32

Because many of us are in other conversations at the same time that we're responding to a separate written conversation, and that is a different dynamic. We have one conversation influencing our mood influencing our, our outlook on life, influencing our thought processes, -cisis?, priceessees?, processes, …prosthesis? No, that's not right.

00:15:57

We are influenced by where we are, which influences how we react and how we respond, how we understand the social media text.

00:16:08

Have you ever listened to a conversation and then went to your phone to answer, say, a, a job or an assignment that someone's asking you about and you've answered your reply, and you come back to the situation to the real conversation, the live conversation, and you realize that something's a bit off. You're kind of there, kind of not there.

00:16:29

Well, if you haven't noticed it, the other people in the room do notice it. We realize that you kind of disconnected for a moment, and now you're reconnecting at a different point to the conversation.

00:16:42

Which means the relationship has changed the dynamics and the flow of the meaning of that conversation has changed. The same thing happens in social media. People have sometimes hours before they respond to a comment that they read, so they can think about it and think about it and think about it.

00:17:03

And the intention and the mood and everything else changes how you're thinking about it, so someone being anonymous posting something makes perfect sense to me. If they're talking about a sensitive topic which they know is going to be construed different ways by different people in different situations in different countries with different levels of the language being used in the text.

00:17:30

So many variables, so many world views. Looking at… not only that, sorry. So many world views that are being dynamically changed in the moment, in the reality that they are in at that moment, whatever coffee shop they're in, whatever bedroom they're in, whether they're in a public place, a private place, in a car, on the street, at a concert. 

00:17:58

All of those different environments change the world view, change the attitude, change the mood change the thought process that they are going through when they respond to a text message, a post in social media. So, someone’s posting a sensitive topic may think, “AH, people are going to not understand this the way I want them to understand it, but I need to ask because I need an answer. I need some kind of clarity.”

00:18:27

So, if they're going to be anonymous, I totally forgive that. No problem whatsoever. And I think the profession should too.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC STARTS]

Confused as to whether you should be anonymous or not when you're discussing issues of our profession? Why not just join the IW Community, a place where we can trust that it's confidential with supportive sign language interpreters together. The IW community. Check out the links in the show notes.

[ROCK TRANSITION MUSIC ENDS]

00:19:01

One more thing I'd like to add to why someone would want to be anonymous, or they would feel safer, more confident to ask about something sensitive, or to post something sensitive, goes back to how they were taught.

00:19:17

From my experience in the US, learning interpreting, learning ASL, I was told by many peers, many teachers, graduates that you have to be very careful with how you handle situations. Ethics is very important. Confidentiality is very important.

00:19:32

Because if you mess up, if you screw up one little thing, your reputation can just spread like wildfire, good or bad, because the community is small. Not only the Deaf community, but the interpreting community as well. So, one little mistake everybody knows.

00:19:52

So, if you have a question and it's a sensitive question or you don't know if it is or not, or can you really ask that because you're not deaf or because you are new, or because whatever the reason…

00:20:06

…you already have a fear that people are going to be so sensitive that it will spread bad news all about you.

00:20:17

I know I had that feeling. In the beginning, I had an undercurrent of ohh everybody's gonna know and you can lose your career as a sign language interpreter in a heartbeat, if enough in the Deaf community or the interpreting community think something bad about you.

00:20:38

Perhaps it was overblown and didn't take into account that we're all human and we make mistakes and there are good people and bad people everywhere you go. Some people are really nice and very kind and others are not. It's just life.

00:20:54

So yeah, I don't think social media is going to change anytime soon, but I would hope that each of us would remember, “Would I say this to this person's face really?”

00:21:04

And why would I do that? Is it worth it? Is it just because I want to get my opinion out? Have I thought this through? Is it gonna change anything? Is it going to help or support?

00:21:16

Using our skills as a skilled sign language interpreter, how to communicate how to extract the meaning, the intention, those skills can help us determine whether or not someone is acting out of faith and looking for support. I tend to go towards more of a positive outlook.

00:21:41

Maybe they just don't understand. Just like hearing people and not understanding what we do, how we do it or the deaf community or sign languages, bless their hearts, they never will fully understand, but that's OK.

00:21:50

And how I respond to it, that's on me.

00:21:55

Not them – me.

[SHORT TRANSITION MUSIC]

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC STARTS]

00:22:02

So here I am anonymously giving my podcast using my name so that you know exactly whose idea this was. That's right, me, Tim Curry, interpreter's workshop. Sign language interpreter. Me. It's a sensitive topic. 

00:22:22

Not everyone tells you why they're trying to be anonymous on social media, some of them just send it out there, and if they're accused of different things or blamed for being anonymous.

00:22:33

They just ignore it and don't comment anymore, maybe because they're scared to comment, again. I like to think of us in the profession as more open to curiosity, more open to questions, to discussion, maybe even to questions that disagree with our principles, disagree with our codes of ethics or maybe even disagree with me, the person in the mirror. Because we don't all think the same way, nor do we all see the different world views at the same time.

00:23:04

So if you're thinking I need answers, there are places you can go that are not public, but they are a place where you can confidently ask the question and know that you're going to get the answers. Find those people, find those groups. Ask a mentor or ask many.

00:23:30

So, I hope I made you think a little bit more about why someone else might be anonymous and that we need to respect that to a certain degree, at least within social media posting in sign language interpreting. So, what are your thoughts? Let me know. Send me a voicemail or an e-mail get in touch, check out the links in the show notes. I'd love to hear from you.

00:23:52

Until then, keep calm. Keep openly interpreting. I'll see you next week. Take care now.

[ROCK EXIT MUSIC ENDS AT 00:24:35]