I'm taking this online class to help prepare for the NIC exams. It's been really interesting! Right now we are in the unit of linguistics. I thought this would really bore me, but so far not so bad. The reports have really compared and contrasted English and ASL, and I've picked up some tips that will help me to interpret.
One thing I read this morning was about Vagueness. In English, it is common for a person to say a sentence and leave the meaning unclear- vague. However, ASL is ALL about meaning. What is the purpose of the sentence? What are you getting at? The answer to these questions really is found in the grammatical structure of ASL.
Interpreting scenario: The hearing person is talking and finishes a sentence without any obvious meaning. I interpret the same sentence in ASL and also leave the meaning unclear. The response I get is....the Deaf individual looking at me like "...and...". Then he/she usually looks quickly from me to the hearing person to see what the heck is going on. AHHH...this can be a freakout moment for an interpreter. I have to stay in my role, but I wonder how I could have interpreted that better to let the Deaf individual know that I don't know what hearing person is saying EITHER!!!??? So, that was my question for the day in my class.
That's a good question. One thought, ASL is not all about what is said or signed. Very often it is about interpreting/translating the facial expresions of the Deaf into oral thought or concepts. So, it my not be out of place to translate, 'he/she usually looks quickly from me to the hearing person to see what the heck is going on' expression, to the hearing person as, "so what's your point" or "I'm sorry, what's the point" etc. Thus audiably conveying the expressed concept of the Deaf, to the hearing person.
ReplyDeleteI suppose though it would be great to get some field examples of 'vague english expressions' that we all could comment on how those might be glossed or interpreted :-D
Thanks Steve. I love that idea of "so what's your point?" LOL. That would also make it more fun to interpret instead of sitting in that uncomfortable silence.
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