IW 190: InterpreTip-10: Belong to the Interpreting Community

"Help! I need somebody! Not just anybody."

We need community. The interpreting community just as much as the Deaf and the hearing communities, maybe even more.

The feeling of belonging is very important for our well-being and development in our profession. Let's think about this together in this 10 minute or less InterpreTips episode.

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Transcript

IW 190: InterpreTip-10: Belong to the Interpreting Community

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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.

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00:00:34 Tim [ONLY TIM SPEAKS IN THIS EPISODE]

And now, interpreTips, 10 minutes or less.

00:00:38

Let's see if I can do it today.

00:00:40

Yes, I'm challenging myself to talk about one topic in 10 minutes.

00:00:45

Let's see how far I can go.

00:00:47

Don't worry, we'll go back to the regular interviews, comedy, and normal interpret tips later.

00:00:54

The vast majority of sign language interpreters around the world work alone.

00:00:59

We are independent of a manager, a supervisor, whatever you want to call it, someone who watches over our jobs or tells us how to do our job.

00:01:10

We normally don't have that.

00:01:12

Even when you work for an agency or you're working in a school or an institution, you still have some autonomy in your work.

00:01:23

And many of us hear the same silly comments and questions.

00:01:28

I think it's so wonderful what you do for those poor Deaf people.

00:01:34

Wow, you know sign language, that means you can talk to so many people around the world.

00:01:40

Can you make a living at that?

00:01:42

What's your real job?

00:01:44

How did you get involved in that?

00:01:46

Do you have Deaf parents?

00:01:48

Are you a missionary?

00:01:51

All of those wonderful comments, come and go every year, every month, we get those same questions.

00:01:58

And you can feel it.

00:02:00

Before they even say it, you can feel that.

00:02:03

And you prepare that in your mind.

00:02:06

But when we do work with a team of interpreters (co-interpreters) sometimes we have those same silly, awkward moments where we talk about…

00:02:18

Well, one time I did blah, blah, blah, or I've worked here or I've worked there.

00:02:25

Oh, in my experience, and it's all kind of “me, me, me, me, me”, “what I've done” to show the other person somehow showing the other person that you have experience or some of the fabulous things you've done.

00:02:38

And everybody starts to share it back and forth.

00:02:42

The experience with hearing people talking to us, making silly comments, or the experience of working with new co-interpreters or team interpreters, both give us awkward conversations.

00:02:56

Ones that don't feel natural for us, natural in that situation, but it's not the same conversations or the same atmosphere that co-workers in a business or even those freelancers such as plumbers or electricians.

00:03:17

You never hear someone say to a plumber, do you make a living at this?

00:03:22

How did you get started?

00:03:24

Was your father a plumber?

00:03:26

Interesting, huh?

00:03:28

But if you worked at a restaurant or a retail or a corporation, your coworkers usually don't have that same awkward conversation about where they worked before and what they did.

00:03:42

And it's more about what is going on in the business.

00:03:47

That's something we need.

00:03:49

We don't have that as much.

00:03:52

How do we get that for sign language interpreters?

00:03:55

Because sometimes we just want to be able to talk, to chill, to sit down and have a chat with someone that understands, where we don't have to explain what we do.

00:04:08

We do not have to explain sign language and everything that goes along with it.

00:04:14

We don't want to have to deal with silly questions.

00:04:17

We just want to talk to someone who does the same work and understands just little sentences, a little phrase or a word, and they get it.

00:04:28

And it also helps because we can share the problems, the issues, and get ideas.

00:04:38

The ideas flow in the conversation and we learn more about our profession.

00:04:44

We learn, one, that we're not alone, that we don't have a unique situation.

00:04:51

Others have experienced it, too.

00:04:54

That gives us a cohesion, a feeling of belonging in the interpreting community, a feeling of belonging to the profession.

00:05:04

It actually feels more like a profession, not just – my – own – work.

00:05:12

That's why we go to conferences.

00:05:14

That's why we go to workshops.

00:05:16

We get a different feeling when we're there because we're all the same.

00:05:20

We're all interpreters.

00:05:22

We can talk to one another and reasonably ask each other questions or just laugh together.

00:05:30

Unfortunately, our profession has the atmosphere, the culture of working alone, going to workshops, going to conferences, and that's it.

00:05:43

That culture changes how we talk on social media.

00:05:47

It influences how we talk to each other, because sometimes we get the impression that we are unique.

00:05:54

I'm the only one that's done international work.

00:05:57

I'm the only one that's gone to this exciting place.

00:06:01

There's only a few of us that have ever done this.

00:06:05

It gives us a false impression of what the interpreting profession really is.

00:06:12

We sometimes think, I had a very unique experience, ethical dilemma that nobody else has ever had.

00:06:22

And those false impressions lead to misunderstandings, and they lead to struggling with our development.

00:06:33

So how do we fix all this?

00:06:35

Well, meet with interpreters as often as you can.

00:06:39

If you live in an area where there are a handful of interpreters that you know, set up some meetings.

00:06:46

Meet with them.

00:06:48

If there aren't, why not start a mentoring program?

00:06:52

Volunteer to mentor new interpreters, new students of interpreting.

00:06:58

Start that feeling of sharing, that camaraderie, the connection with the rest of the profession.

00:07:06

We talk about the Deaf community, the hearing community, and the interpreting community, but what does community mean?

00:07:14

It means sharing some ideals, sharing concepts, sharing experiences, and the culture of interpreting.

00:07:25

And that goes across the world, that shared experience.

00:07:31

There are differences just like there are different signed languages.

00:07:34

However, we're all part of the same community.

00:07:39

So, gather your community together, meet with that community as often as you can to learn from that community, just like we should being involved with the Deaf community to learn the culture, the language, the lived experiences, learning, and developing together as the interpreting community.

00:08:03

So, join a community of interpreters.

00:08:07

Until you do, keep calm, keep interpreting.

00:08:12

I'll see you next week.

00:08:14

Take care now.

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[ROCK EXIT MUSIC STARTS]

00:08:20

Well, 10 minutes or less, all about community.

00:08:24

So why not join the Interpreter’s Workshop Community.

00:08:29

I know you probably guessed I would say that.

00:08:33

But for those of you who want to reach out to the larger interpreting community worldwide, join the IWC, Interpreters Workshop Community online.

00:08:45

That's what we do, learning from each other as often as we like, whenever we like.

00:08:52

See you inside.

00:08:54

Take care now.

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