IW 193: InterpreTips-10: Everyday Interpreting - Theoretical VS Literal

"Academia-shmemia!" No - it IS important. Use it wisely.

We all get bogged down in arguments. We need to prove our opinions or ideas. Research and evidenced-based facts are hard to pass up. But when applying those facts, we need to remember what the most important factors in our work are.

Let's discuss that in 10 minutes or less.

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Transcript

IW 193 InterpreTips-10 Everyday Interpreting - Theoretical VS Literal

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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.

00:00:39

Today, I'd like to talk a little bit about viewpoints and how that affects the profession.

00:00:46

Over the years, especially in the US and other countries with university degrees that affect the profession,

00:00:54

…a debate has gone on about how our profession has become more academic and less connected to the deaf community.

00:01:03

We've kind of become a sterile or sterilized profession where we're clean, professional, neat, focused on the work.

00:01:14

We might have lost the connections with the deaf community, the people, the culture, the feeling.

00:01:22

In academia, research has played a good part in helping the development of what we do as interpreters and understanding what we do as interpreters.

00:01:34

A research project usually studies or focuses on one question and tries to answer that one question, finding results as you're delving deeper into it, creating this evidence-based structure that you can create curriculum on how to teach new interpreters or how to train developing interpreters, mentoring them to that next level of knowledge or skill level.

00:02:04

However, that has had the effect of making us have less time and energy to be a part of the communities.

00:02:13

And that has influenced also our theoretical debates, discussions, on social media, in teams, at conferences, workshops, we tend to drag in all of the research-based, the evidence-based studies to help support our thoughts and our opinions and our viewpoints.

00:02:36

It's part of the ethical dilemma discussions.

00:02:39

How do we handle this when it pops up in our work?

00:02:43

How do we answer these questions or make these decisions?

00:02:48

Well, if it's based on evidence, it's better.

00:02:52

And we have those circular discussions back and forth.

00:02:56

And in social media, where it's always nice and polite, such evidence-based support is thrown out as the, THE ultimate answer for any of these discussions.

00:03:10

And sometimes it's used correctly and sometimes it's not.

00:03:13

We have to remember that some of the evidence, some of the research, is based only on one particular context, and it may or may not be able to be applied in every context.

00:03:27

So, we have to be careful how we use it and how we teach the next generations of interpreters.

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00:03:34

Wow, listening to the theories, the research from interpreters who have changed the direction of our profession.

00:03:41

From the early days, the history, learning it from the people who lived it.

00:03:46

Listening to interpreters from dozens of different countries around the world and what their working conditions are all about.

00:03:52

How it's the same, how it's different.

00:03:54

Wow, such value.

00:03:56

I mean, who wouldn't want to support that with just a few cups of coffee?

00:04:00

I mean, it's easy.

00:04:01

You just click on a link and you buy three, four, five cups of coffee, and you're supporting all of these conversations.

00:04:08

Huh.

00:04:09

Well, that's just a few thoughts coming out of my head.

00:04:11

Thanks for listening.

00:04:13

Now let's go back.

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00:04:17

As we learn more and more about what we do, we need to remember that there are evidence-based experiences that we have every day when we're working.

00:04:31

We may not have done the research,

00:04:33

…but in our experience, what works, what doesn't work, what is expected and what is not expected can come into play and does because we are not working for a community as much as the individual in that context.

00:04:52

Those individuals, those individuals in that context, in that situation are needing our services.

00:05:01

The community at large has less of a say in what we do than those individuals right now.

00:05:08

We match their language.

00:05:10

We match their needs for that moment.

00:05:14

That's what we base our work on.

00:05:17

Understanding how we use our skills and our knowledge in that situation is based on the evidence and the research and the discussions that we've had.

00:05:28

But in that moment, what is paramount are the needs of those individuals.

00:05:34

So having a discussion, a theoretical discussion about the ethics or the decision of which consecutive or simultaneous mode of interpreting should be used or not, all depends on those individuals and their needs – as well as the interpreter's needs to be able to do the job well.

00:05:58

So, I say all of that not to discredit research, but to understand the symbiotic relationship between research or evidence-based studies, mock pretend interpreting situations and discussions and ethical debates.

00:06:18

All of those must balance with how we actually do our job day-to-day.

00:06:25

We cannot judge someone's work in a live situation based on what the research says they should be doing.

00:06:34

We should base what they've done on what was needed at that moment and then back it up with what the research says.

00:06:44

One of the most important tools we have is to understand our clients' needs.

00:06:50

What do they want in that moment?

00:06:53

Maybe they want me only to sign and let them voice – speak for themselves.

00:07:00

Maybe they want to not have me use the grammar that I'm using.

00:07:07

So why am I talking about this today?

00:07:09

Well, it has a lot to do with the fact that on social media, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, we get a lot of advice and replies with advice based on this research or that research, or, well, ethical codes tell us to do it this way or that way, or how dare you do that?

00:07:35

And while it's great to know all of those things, we need to preface all of that with that situation has its own code, its own code of conduct or behavior specific to that situation, to those individuals.

00:07:53

And as an interpreter, we build all of our general skills to be able to handle the different needs and the different situations.

00:08:03

So, when we're talking about it in the theoretical, in the hyperbole, in the extreme cases, we need to pull back our opinions in discussions and our judgment and understand that in the day-to-day work that is managed by those individuals, including the interpreter there.

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00:08:32

So, I suggest we remember this topic when we're having discussions with other interpreters, or when you have someone trying to impress you with their academic knowledge, or the workshop that they went to and so-and-so said this, remember, that is good to know with the understanding that it is applied in the situations that it meets.

00:08:58

So, the more we develop these skills of analyzing everything we learn helps us determine how we behave and how we work in new and different everyday contexts.

00:09:14

I hope I made it within 10 minutes.

00:09:17

I'll see you next time.

00:09:19

Until then, keep calm.

00:09:21

Keep interpreting for the individuals.

00:09:25

I'll see you next week.

00:09:27

Take care now.

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