Academic Interpreting

Working with sign language interpreters (SLIs) in academic settings are a challenge because of the language of the academy and the specialized language of he discipline. Another layer of challenges are also due to the lack of familiarity with your research topic.

One of my Twitter followers (thanks @DeafAllan) asked for practical suggestions after I posted the previous post about presumed incompetence. So here we go! First, I want to spotlight a few scholars who have written about designated interpreters (DIs) for academic settings: Maartje De Meulder, Jemina Napier, & Christopher Stone (2018), and Wyatte Hall with others (2019). I’ve linked to all three sources here.

I don’t know if a DI model works for everyone. Some colleagues and I have talked about the benefit of having a small pool of recurring interpreters. I like to have a couple that’s good at social networking occasions within academic contexts, someone that’s good for administrative meetings and conversations of a sensitive nature, and a rotation of regular interpreters for classes & research meetings.

On Interpreter Selection

Relationship: Find a good match. Someone that you have a rapport with, can develop synergy together through mutual respect, and whose language and background (e.g. race, social class, gender) you feel best reflects your “voice.”

Shared Philosophy: It’s important that my SLIs and I have a shared philosophy about interpreting: we have a mutual understanding surrounding boundaries, model(s) of interpreting- open process model for me [video explanation on OPM by Stephanie Clark], the value of preparation for classes and lectures, the importance of honoring my agency and embracing deaf centric ways of approaching our work together.

Shared Political Commitments/Values: I select interpreters who share my political commitments and values. Those who are invested in social justice, racial justice, and/or disability justice- because those undergird my teaching and scholarship. Familiarity with the language and people of these arenas are all very helpful. It’s nice to randomly quote Alice Wong or Leah Piepzna Samarasinha in responding to a student question, for example.

Complementary Scholarly Backgrounds: If possible, find interpreters with scholarly backgrounds aligned with your discipline and research. For my PhD I had a SLI with a MA in women’s studies, another SLI who was a PhD student in women’s history, and a SLI with a completed PhD in anthropology. When I started teaching Uni, I started working with an interpreter who had a M.A. in linguistics.

Selections Done! Now What?

Now that I’ve finally established my pool of interpreters, the next stage is the actual work together. What does that entail?

Time. Lots of time. Advance preparation on my part: slide decks and notes with highlighted names and critical points, all reading materials, etcetera are delivered to the interpreters with sufficient time for them to review the material. With cloud based services like Google Drive and Google Docs, this is even easier. Prior to each class session, we had an hour set aside for discussion where the interpreters could ask me questions for clarification and we’d warm up with conversation about the readings. They’d get a sense for how I signed certain concepts or how I spelled words. Your interpreter needs to not just have the language but to also understand your goals. You can make them explicit through discussions and preparation. Those discussions were beyond valuable. I benefited from them because I’d see where maybe my students would also have questions or get clarity about my goals/takeaways for the day’s lesson. [On this note, if you’re a professor with a deaf student in class, super helpful for you to share your lecture notes and teaching materials].

Patience: developing synergy with interpreters take time no matter how talented they are. When you work together over time, you develop a relationship where you understand each other with such ease that you feel they’re plugged directly into your brain. At some point, you even begin to anticipate the other.

Consistency: If you have the same interpreters across your program or courses, over time they start picking up the language of the academy, the discipline, and the content.

Compensation: I successfully advocated for compensated prep time for my interpreters: 2 hours of paid prep for each class session. They were also paid for that time they met with me before each class. The college also provided free copies of all books I assigned my students.

Listening with Flexibility: I also explain to my classmates, professors, audiences, students that the interpretation process is imperfect. Interpretation is not translation. The interpreter does not have direct access to my knowledge and training; they may use language that is not reflective of my expertise. Although we’ve invested in preparation together to the best of our collective ability, there will be times when the listener needs to listen with “flexibility” and patience. Maybe a word didn’t make sense or a proper name was mispronounced but you can contextualize and figure it out. I remind everyone that questions and interruptions for clarification are welcome. That we’re all working together toward mutual understanding. All of this requires patience- crip time- making temporal accommodations for clarification, interruptions, repetition, writing on the board, what not.

Trust. On this point, I feel it’s important to emphasize trust. At some point, you need to let go and let them do their job. No one likes to be micromanaged or their skill set constantly questioned.

Humanity. Remember that interpreters are human just like we are. Mistakes or moments of struggle will appear despite our best efforts. It’s ok to repeat, clarify, try a different strategy, use the resources in your space like the whiteboard, slide deck, or app (depending on setting) to write out/spell out unfamiliar terms and names. We’re working together. Treat them with respect, make sure they’re properly compensated for all their labor including the not-so-apparent labor of reading and preparation, make sure they’re well supported with all the resources you can manage to offer. They’ll keep coming back to work with you.

Overall, my experience with SLI in academic settings has been very positive when I’ve had the chance to develop a relationship with my interpreters. I bet other deaf academics here have wisdom to share as well. Here’s just my .02.

Last but not least: a shout out to my amazing group of academic SLIs over the years: Maryam, Tiff, Emily, Carolyn, Cath, Deb, Jolanta, Laura, Donnie, Ben, Linda, Shannon, Candace, Christopher, Jemina, & Andy. No last names here but if you’ve hit the conference circuit or done a classroom gig with me and recognize yourself, know you are very much appreciated.