What You Can Learn from Being an Interpreter

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What You Can Learn from Being an Interpreter

Have you ever wondered what your job might be like if you were a professional interpreter?

Many people in the interpretation field have varying experiences and different aspects of the job that they love. We gathered some insight from seven language interpreters from all over the world, and they had a few unique experiences to share about their interpretation career.

They shared a few lessons that they got from interpreting. Here are a few things you might learn if you decide to become an interpreter yourself!

You learn to adapt quickly

When you are working as an interpreter, you have to be quick on your feet. It is one thing to speak two languages, but quite another to be an expert in cultural context. If someone who you’re interpreting for uses an idiom, you have to be able to shift that phrase over to another language that may not have an equivalent saying.

Furthermore, if a speaker’s voice fluctuates or if they are mumbling, you have to be able to interpret effectively. There’s no interrupting someone to ask them to repeat themselves!

You learn the lingo

With technical settings like the hospital or the courtroom, you have to go through specialized training to learn the lingo. For example, if you are a medical interpreter, on top of all the regular language learning, you also have to know a dearth of healthcare terms, and be able to interpret very accurately.

Sign language interpreters may also have to learn additional signing terms if a client uses a slightly different dialect of signing. (Did you know? From Louisiana to New York, ASL signers can have different ‘accents’.)

You learn to work in pairs

Interpreting is hard work. You often work with at least one other fellow interpreter and switch off every half-hour or so, because it takes so much mental energy to keep up with two languages simultaneously.

You and your partner will need to make sure you are comfortable with each other’s speaking styles and preferred terminology.  This is to lessen confusion on the speakers’ end. How confusing would it be if two interpreters used slightly different terms for a medical ailment?

You learn to be impartial

Perhaps the most important thing about your job as an interpreter is the impartiality. Interpreters act as ‘invisibles’, or someone that both speaking parties should essentially pretend is not even in the room! Impartiality is often one of the hardest parts of the job, many interpreters-in-training say.

If you work in the legal or medical field, you will often come across emotional situations. Keeping your body language and tone consistent is hard work, but impartiality is what makes you a successful interpreter.

 

Interpreting is definitely hard work, but all of the interpreters above agreed that it was a fulfilling profession. If you are looking for a job that keeps you on your feet and presents you with fresh challenges each day, then interpreting may be the right path for you. Of course, it comes with a lot of training, learning and control, but with the right skills and practice, you can become a great interpreter!


The History of American Sign Language

The History of American Sign Language

When asked to think of a language other than ‘English’, what is the first thing that comes to mind?
With so many spoken languages throughout the world, it can be easy for people to forget that “sign language” is a great response! Sign language has its own rich history and culture across many countries, and what some people may not realize is that just like spoken language, sign language in the United States is different from sign language in Russia.

American Sign Language (ASL) has its own nuances and linguistic structures, and even as you travel from Nevada to Louisiana to New York, ASL shifts among signers from different regions. New Yorkers tend to sign quicker and with sharper motions, and southerners sign with a more relaxed manner, spelling words out more often. This is called sociolinguistic variation, and goes to prove how rich the ASL dialect is in the United States.

With the history of the American spoken dialect, you might initially think that ASL takes its influence from British Sign Language. In fact, ASL stems from Old French Sign Language – a sign system created in mid-18th century France by deaf individuals. However, sign language didn’t officially make its way to America until 1814, when Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet met 9-year old Alice Cogswell, a bright girl without access to education because there were no American schools for deaf students like her.

Inspired to create an educational system for deaf children, Gallaudet traveled to Europe and found himself in Paris, where he learned a French signed language from Laurent Clerc and Jean Massieu at the Institut Royal des Sourd-Muets. Clerc accompanied Gallaudet back to America, and together, they founded the American School for the Deaf in Hartford, Connecticut in 1817.

Another famous figure in deaf history is Laura Bridgman. Although she did not sign American Sign Language, she was the first formally educated blind and deaf woman – first taught a full 43 years before Helen Keller was even born! Bridgman’s teachers introduced her to the ASL alphabet by signing the letters into her hand, and she was able to sign back by pressing letters back into her fellow conversationalist’s hand. Her fame spread rapidly throughout America, and little girls aspired to be like her.

laura bridgman

Formalized American Sign Language is just over 200 years old, but there is so much vibrant history to this powerful language! A Columbus-based company, Access 2 Interpreters prides itself on providing reliable, 24/7 interpretation services for American Sign Language and over 189 other languages.