Jemina Napier

The D/deaf-H/hearing Debate

T  explores the role and status of hearing people within the Deaf community, in particular, sign language interpreters. Of the various literature that has been written about the Deaf community, its language and culture, most of the works have discussed the notion of culturally Deaf people who identify as a member of the Deaf community as a linguistic and cultural minority group. Pathological definitions have been disregarded in favor of social models of deafness, whereby it is purported that Deaf people are disabled by society in that they are not given access to information, rather than being regarded as people with disabilities. Deaf people are described as sharing a sense of pride in forming an identity based on their linguistic and cultural experiences (Brien ; Erting, Johnson, Smith, and Snider ; Gregory and Hartley ; Higgins ; Lane ; Lane, Hoffmeister, and Bahan ; Padden , ; Padden and Humphries ; Turner ; Wilcox ). Woodward () established the convention—now prevalent in the literature—of using the upperor lowercase letter D/d to classify the status of D/deaf people. ‘‘Deaf ’’ people are those who identify themselves as members of the Deaf community and regard themselves as culturally Deaf, whereas ‘‘deaf ’’ people are those who do not sign and regard themselves as having a hearing impairment. Several authors have discussed what it means to be a member of the Deaf community, suggesting various criteria to determine

Sign language interpreting : the relationship between metalinguistic awareness and the production of interpreting omissions

This article presents the findings of the first linguistic analysis of sign language interpreting carried out in Australia. A study was conducted on ten Australian Sign Language/English interpreters to determine the rate and occurrence of interpreting omissions and the interpreters’ level of metalinguistic awareness in relation to their production of interpreting omissions. After videotaping interpretations, analyzing the interpreters’ output, and conducting postinterpreting task reviews and retrospective interviews, the authors report that all the interpreters appeared to have high levels of metalinguistic awareness with regard to their production of interpreting omissions. This finding led to the definition of five categories of interpreting omissions: conscious strategic, conscious intentional, conscious unintentional, conscious receptive, and unconscious omissions. The findings of this study can be applied in the education of signed and spoken interpreters not only in Australia but also worldwide.

Medical Signbank: Bringing Deaf People and Linguists Together in the Process of Language Development

In this article we describe an Australian project in which linguists, signed language interpreters, medical and health care professionals, and members of the Deaf community use the technology of the Internet to facilitate cooperative language development. A web-based, interactive multimedia lexicon, an encyclopedic dictionary, and a database of Australian Sign Language (Auslan) are being used to create an effective, accepted, and shared sign language vocabulary for the discussion of medical and mental health issues by deaf clients and health professionals in interactions mediated by Auslan interpreters. The site, called Medical Signbank, is a means of monitoring Auslan vocabulary use and innovation by interpreters and of providing an explanation of basic medical and mental health terminology to deaf people with limited English or literacy skills. Medical Signbank will use the interactive capabilities of the Internet to turn the tables on language planning and standardization—from “top down” to “bottom up”—and, by so doing, encourage an organic and more natural process of language development.

Cooperation in interpreter-mediated monologic talk:

Discourse-based interpreting research has determined that interpreters are participants within interaction. Grice (1975) established that conversation participants conform to a cooperative principle. With respect to interpreting, what is the cooperative principle? How do sign language interpreters and deaf people work together to negotiate meaning in interpretation? The aim of this article is to present a case study of a deaf presenter and two sign language interpreters and evidence of their strategies for cooperation in interpreter-mediated monologic talk. Drawing on a framework of interactional sociolinguistics, naturalistic data from a seminar presentation was analysed, focusing on the use of pauses, nods and eye contact as contextualization cues in the interpreter-mediated event. It was found that these three participants used these cues deliberately and strategically for signalling comprehension, marking episodes, clarification and controlling the pace of the presentation; drawing on their frames of reference. Thus, the data suggest that the cooperative principle of interpreting involves the establishment of particular cues for communication.

Challenges of mental health interpreting when working with deaf patients.

OBJECTIVE The aim of this present paper is to highlight some of the issues faced by therapists and sign language interpreters when working with deaf patients. CONCLUSIONS Key issues include linguistic, interpreting and role challenges, and potential threats to the therapeutic alliance. Recommendations are made in relation to preparation strategies and training for sign language interpreters and therapists.

Sign Language in Action

Sign language in action is a term that we have coined to encompass how sign languages are used in everyday life. In Chapter 2, we framed the notion of sign language in action against the backdrop of the fields of Deaf Studies and applied linguistics and by introducing the concept of applied sign linguistics. In this chapter, we will discuss the concept of sign language in action in depth, exploring sign language identity, attitudes and policy. Initially, we will explore the notion of sign language and identity to highlight the relationship between deaf people as a linguistic and cultural minority group and the wider majority of non-deaf people. By describing attitudes towards sign languages, we can then provide a context for considering how sign language policy and planning is shaped by attitudes towards deaf people from within and outside the deaf community.

The design and application of rubrics to assess signed language interpreting performance

This article explores the development and application of rubrics to assess an experimental corpus of Auslan (Australian Sign Language)/English simultaneous interpreting performances in both language directions. Two rubrics were used, each comprising four main assessment criteria (accuracy, target text features, delivery features and processing skills). Three external assessors – two interpreter educators and one interpreting practitioner – independently rated the interpreting performances. Results reveal marked variability between the raters: inter-rater reliability between the two interpreter educators was higher than between each interpreter educator and the interpreting practitioner. Results also show that inter-rater reliability regarding Auslan-to-English simultaneous interpreting performance was higher than for English-to-Auslan simultaneous interpreting performance. This finding suggests greater challenges in evaluating interpreting performance from a spoken language into a signed language than vice versa. The raters’ testing and assessment experience, their scoring techniques and the rating process itself may account for the differences in their scores. Further, results suggest that assessment of interpreting performance inevitably involves some degree of uncertainty and subjective judgment.

Does Personality Matter? an International Study of Sign Language Interpreter Disposition

This is an exploratory inquiry into signed language interpreters’ perceptions of interpreter e-professionalism on social media, specifically Facebook. Given the global pervasiveness of Facebook, this study presents an international perspective, and reports on findings of focus groups held with a total of 12 professional signed language interpreters from the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Denmark, all of whom are also Facebook users. The findings reveal that Facebook is seen to blur the traditional boundaries between personal and professional realms – an overlap which is perceived to be compounded by the nature of the small community in which signed language interpreters typically work –necessitating boundary management strategies in order to maintain perceptions of professionalism on the site. Facebook is considered a valuable professional resource to leverage for networking, professional development, problem solving and assignment preparation, but it is also perceived as a potential professional liability for both individual interpreters and the profession at large. Maintaining client confidentiality was found to be the most pressing challenge Facebook brings to the profession. Educational measures to raise awareness about e-professionalism were generally viewed favourably.The study probes into translation students’ perception of the value of online peer feedback in improving translation skills. Students enrolled in a translation degree in Australia translated a 250-word text on two separate occasions. On each occasion, the students were given another fellow student’s translation of the same text to mark and provide anonymous peer feedback. The original translations from all the students, together with any peer feedback, were uploaded onto an online forum. The students were encouraged to download their own translation to review the peer feedback in it. They were also encouraged to download and peruse other students’ peer reviewed translations for comparison. Upon completion of the project, the students were surveyed about their perceptions and appreciation of their engagement in the process in the following three capacities: (i) as a feedback provider, (ii) as a feedback recipient, and (iii) as a peruser of other students’ work and the peer feedback therein. Results suggest that translation students appreciate online peer feedback as a valuable activity that facilitates improvement. The students found receiving peer feedback on their own translation especially rewarding, as it offered alternative approaches and perspectives on tackling linguistic/translation issues. In comparing the three capacities, students perceived reviewing feedback on their own work and perusing other students’ work as more beneficial than engaging in giving feedback to others.Title: Tarjamat al-khadamaat al-’aammah ( Community Interpreting and Translation) Author: Dr. Mustapha Taibi (University of Western Sydney) Year of publication: 2011 Publisher: Dar Assalam , Rabat (Morocco) ISBN: 978-9954-22-088-7 191 pagesAccent is known to cause comprehension difficulty, but empirical interpreting studies on its specific impact have been sporadic. According to Mazzetti (1999), an accent is composed of deviated phonemics and prosody, both discussed extensively in the TESL discipline. The current study seeks to examine, in the interpreting setting, the applicability of Anderson-Hsieh, Johnson and Koehlers (1992) finding that deviated prosody hinders comprehension more than problematic phonemics and syllable structure do. Thirty-seven graduate-level interpreting majors, assigned randomly to four groups, rendered four versions of a text read by the same speaker and then filled out a questionnaire while playing back their own renditions. Renditions were later rated for accuracy by two freelance interpreters, whereas the questionnaires analysed qualitatively. Results of analyses indicated that 1) both phonemics and prosody deteriorated comprehension, but prosody had a greater impact; 2) deviated North American English post-vowel /r/, intonation and rhythm were comprehension problem triggers. The finding may be of use to interpreting trainers, trainees and professionals by contributing to their knowledge of accent.The title Conference of the Tongues at first sight raises questions as to the particularities of its pertinence to translation studies, i.e. the range of possible subject matters subsumed, and is somewhat loosely explained in the preface by a short and factual hint to its historical origins (in sixteenth-century Spain in a paratext to a translation of Aesop). There is no further elaboration on the motivation for the choice of this title however.The market for translation services provided by individuals is currently characterized by significant uncertainty because buyers lack clear ways to identify qualified providers from amongst the total pool of translators. Certification and educational diplomas both serve to reduce the resulting information asymmetry, but both suffer from potential drawbacks: translator training programs are currently oversupplying the market with graduates who may lack the specific skills needed in the market and no certification program enjoys universal recognition. In addition, the two may be seen as competing means of establishing qualification. The resulting situation, in which potential clients are uncertain about which signal to trust, is known as a signal jam . In order to overcome this jam and provide more consistent signaling, translator-training programs and professional associations offering certification need to collaborate more closely to harmonize their requirements and deliver continuing professional development (CPD) that help align the outcomes from training and certification.Interpreting is rather like scuba diving. With just a bit of protective equipment, we interpreters plunge for a short time into an often alien world, where a mistake can be very serious, not only for ourselves but for the other divers who are depending on us to understand their surroundings. And as all who dive, we interpreters find this daily foray into a new environment fascinating, exhilarating, but also at times, challenging. One of the high-risk dive sites into which we venture often is the sea of healthcare, where the strange whale-song of medical dialogue, the often incomprehensible behavior of local denizens such as doctors, and the tricky currents of the healthcare system itself require special knowledge and skill to navigate successfully. Did you ever wish for a dive manual for unique world of healthcare? Well, here’s a good one, from linguist, RN and interpreter trainer, Dr. Ineke Crezee of New Zealand.Among all the difficulties inherent in interpreting, numbers stand out as a common and complex problem trigger. This experimental study contributes to research on the causes of errors in the passive simultaneous interpretation (SI) of numbers. Two groups of Italian Master’s degree students (one for English and one for German) were asked to interpret simultaneously a number-dense speech from their respective B language into their mother tongue, Italian. Note-taking was allowed during the test and both the study participants and their lecturers completed a questionnaire afterwards. Data analysis was conducted with statistical and qualitative methods, combining the cognitivist and contextualist approach. The objective was to ascertain whether one main variable may be held responsible for the high error rate related to interpreting numbers and the difficulty perceived by students in the task. The analysis quantifies the relative impact of different causes of difficulties on participants’ delivery of numbers. It stresses the crucial role of the subjective variable represented by interpreters’ skills. Didactic implications and directions for future research are discussed in the conclusion.

Community interpreting: Asian language interpreters' perspectives

This is an exploratory inquiry into signed language interpreters’ perceptions of interpreter e-professionalism on social media, specifically Facebook. Given the global pervasiveness of Facebook, this study presents an international perspective, and reports on findings of focus groups held with a total of 12 professional signed language interpreters from the United States of America, the United Kingdom, and Denmark, all of whom are also Facebook users. The findings reveal that Facebook is seen to blur the traditional boundaries between personal and professional realms – an overlap which is perceived to be compounded by the nature of the small community in which signed language interpreters typically work –necessitating boundary management strategies in order to maintain perceptions of professionalism on the site. Facebook is considered a valuable professional resource to leverage for networking, professional development, problem solving and assignment preparation, but it is also perceived as a potential professional liability for both individual interpreters and the profession at large. Maintaining client confidentiality was found to be the most pressing challenge Facebook brings to the profession. Educational measures to raise awareness about e-professionalism were generally viewed favourably.The study probes into translation students’ perception of the value of online peer feedback in improving translation skills. Students enrolled in a translation degree in Australia translated a 250-word text on two separate occasions. On each occasion, the students were given another fellow student’s translation of the same text to mark and provide anonymous peer feedback. The original translations from all the students, together with any peer feedback, were uploaded onto an online forum. The students were encouraged to download their own translation to review the peer feedback in it. They were also encouraged to download and peruse other students’ peer reviewed translations for comparison. Upon completion of the project, the students were surveyed about their perceptions and appreciation of their engagement in the process in the following three capacities: (i) as a feedback provider, (ii) as a feedback recipient, and (iii) as a peruser of other students’ work and the peer feedback therein. Results suggest that translation students appreciate online peer feedback as a valuable activity that facilitates improvement. The students found receiving peer feedback on their own translation especially rewarding, as it offered alternative approaches and perspectives on tackling linguistic/translation issues. In comparing the three capacities, students perceived reviewing feedback on their own work and perusing other students’ work as more beneficial than engaging in giving feedback to others.Title: Tarjamat al-khadamaat al-’aammah ( Community Interpreting and Translation) Author: Dr. Mustapha Taibi (University of Western Sydney) Year of publication: 2011 Publisher: Dar Assalam , Rabat (Morocco) ISBN: 978-9954-22-088-7 191 pagesAccent is known to cause comprehension difficulty, but empirical interpreting studies on its specific impact have been sporadic. According to Mazzetti (1999), an accent is composed of deviated phonemics and prosody, both discussed extensively in the TESL discipline. The current study seeks to examine, in the interpreting setting, the applicability of Anderson-Hsieh, Johnson and Koehlers (1992) finding that deviated prosody hinders comprehension more than problematic phonemics and syllable structure do. Thirty-seven graduate-level interpreting majors, assigned randomly to four groups, rendered four versions of a text read by the same speaker and then filled out a questionnaire while playing back their own renditions. Renditions were later rated for accuracy by two freelance interpreters, whereas the questionnaires analysed qualitatively. Results of analyses indicated that 1) both phonemics and prosody deteriorated comprehension, but prosody had a greater impact; 2) deviated North American English post-vowel /r/, intonation and rhythm were comprehension problem triggers. The finding may be of use to interpreting trainers, trainees and professionals by contributing to their knowledge of accent.The title Conference of the Tongues at first sight raises questions as to the particularities of its pertinence to translation studies, i.e. the range of possible subject matters subsumed, and is somewhat loosely explained in the preface by a short and factual hint to its historical origins (in sixteenth-century Spain in a paratext to a translation of Aesop). There is no further elaboration on the motivation for the choice of this title however.The market for translation services provided by individuals is currently characterized by significant uncertainty because buyers lack clear ways to identify qualified providers from amongst the total pool of translators. Certification and educational diplomas both serve to reduce the resulting information asymmetry, but both suffer from potential drawbacks: translator training programs are currently oversupplying the market with graduates who may lack the specific skills needed in the market and no certification program enjoys universal recognition. In addition, the two may be seen as competing means of establishing qualification. The resulting situation, in which potential clients are uncertain about which signal to trust, is known as a signal jam . In order to overcome this jam and provide more consistent signaling, translator-training programs and professional associations offering certification need to collaborate more closely to harmonize their requirements and deliver continuing professional development (CPD) that help align the outcomes from training and certification.Interpreting is rather like scuba diving. With just a bit of protective equipment, we interpreters plunge for a short time into an often alien world, where a mistake can be very serious, not only for ourselves but for the other divers who are depending on us to understand their surroundings. And as all who dive, we interpreters find this daily foray into a new environment fascinating, exhilarating, but also at times, challenging. One of the high-risk dive sites into which we venture often is the sea of healthcare, where the strange whale-song of medical dialogue, the often incomprehensible behavior of local denizens such as doctors, and the tricky currents of the healthcare system itself require special knowledge and skill to navigate successfully. Did you ever wish for a dive manual for unique world of healthcare? Well, here’s a good one, from linguist, RN and interpreter trainer, Dr. Ineke Crezee of New Zealand.Among all the difficulties inherent in interpreting, numbers stand out as a common and complex problem trigger. This experimental study contributes to research on the causes of errors in the passive simultaneous interpretation (SI) of numbers. Two groups of Italian Master’s degree students (one for English and one for German) were asked to interpret simultaneously a number-dense speech from their respective B language into their mother tongue, Italian. Note-taking was allowed during the test and both the study participants and their lecturers completed a questionnaire afterwards. Data analysis was conducted with statistical and qualitative methods, combining the cognitivist and contextualist approach. The objective was to ascertain whether one main variable may be held responsible for the high error rate related to interpreting numbers and the difficulty perceived by students in the task. The analysis quantifies the relative impact of different causes of difficulties on participants’ delivery of numbers. It stresses the crucial role of the subjective variable represented by interpreters’ skills. Didactic implications and directions for future research are discussed in the conclusion.

A case study of the use of storytelling as a pedagogical tool for teaching interpreting students

Abstract This article details the findings of a systemic functional linguistic case study of university classroom talk, and in particular an evaluation of the storytelling that occurs in classroom talk and its functioning as a pedagogical tool with interpreting students. The data consists of two hours of naturalistic classroom talk that occurred with sign language interpreting students discussing the topic of interpreting ethics. The ‘chunks’ of the text comprised of storytelling were identified, and the stories were classified into genres. The study revealed exemplum stories to be the most common story genre, and that story genres were used by both the teacher and students to make meaning within the learning process. The findings of this study are innovative in that they demonstrate that storytelling is a feature of pragmatic teacher-student interaction, and is a pedagogical tool used to engage with sign language interpreting students in order to relate practical experience to theoretical constructs, which could be considered by spoken language interpreter educators if culturally appropriate.