Original link: https://tyingknots.net/2022/09/friendterpreting/
September 23rd is International Day of Sign Languages. In recent years, under the framework of the “Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities”, the United Nations has advocated states to promote sign language learning, raise social awareness of linguistic diversity, and legislate to protect the right of deaf people to access information without barriers. The deaf research book list compiled by Yu Shengzhi previously recorded the close relationship between the deaf community and sign language culture with cases from all over the world.
–
In this article, two authors, Rachel Kolb and Timothy Y. Loh, use North America as a context to explore a series of specific questions: As sign language interpreters gradually form a profession, non-professional How can professional listeners participate in and understand sign language culture? Wouldn’t the world be a more interesting place if accessibility was not a legal obligation but a shared joy and mutual aid?
–
In China, sign language interpreting was not recognized as a profession by the Ministry of Labor and Social Security (now the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security) until 2007. Chinese sign language interpreters still have a long way to go compared to their American counterparts in terms of sign language ability and translation normative skills. But as the authors reminded in the text, exploring “friend translation” and developing professional translation are not incompatible. What we need is to “transcend the rigid and institutionalized accessibility services, make a broader imagination, think about the multiple aspects of accessibility, and imagine the complexity brought about by its multi-faceted nature.”
Original author / Rachel Kolb, Luo Yule original link / https://ift.tt/ECSZcAe
Original publication time / August 17, 2022 Translator / Xin Che editor / Lin Zihao
For deaf people in the United States, “barrier-free” often corresponds to perfect and professional sign language interpretation services. But in daily life, deaf people’s experience of “barrier-free” also includes more informal language aids, such as “friendterpreting”.
Imagine the following scenario:
When a deaf person attended a listening party, he brought a good listening friend who knew sign language. In response to the needs of the deaf person, the listening friend became the helper who helped him communicate with others from time to time.
A man who listens to sign language and his deaf friend visit a museum. When purchasing tickets, the docent asks if they would like to join the next guided tour. The deaf friend looked at her hearing friend. The friend nodded, expressing his willingness to help translate.
A deaf man invited two deaf friends to have dinner with her hearing family who did not understand sign language. During the conversation, she alternated between sign language, impromptu gestures and spoken language, allowing both parties to understand each other more accurately.
These are examples of what we call “friend translation”. We use this term to describe the communicative role played by a hearing or deaf signer in the presence of another hearing or deaf friend (usually also a signer) in spontaneous, conversational interactions.
Since the passage of the Americans With Disabilities Act in 1990, providing accessible services to people with disabilities has increasingly become a social norm. Although violations of this law still exist, more and more organizations and enterprises recognize their legal responsibilities and obligations to provide comprehensive convenience for people with disabilities. At the same time, they have gradually incorporated disability issues into their diversity, equality, and inclusion initiatives. While reasonable accommodation comes in a variety of forms, the inputs required vary—for example, building a ramp is different from providing Braille; these institutional changes mean that in the United States, deaf people see sign language interpreters appearing in large formal Events or small professional meetings are nothing new.
But what happens when a professional translator is not the most ideal and practical first choice in the gap between activities and daily communication?
“Friend Translation” refers to the daily way deaf and hearing friends take to talk to the world together. Credit: Igor Alecsander/Getty ImagesLet’s think about the following scenario again: A deaf college student who has been out for a night stumbles into the school cafeteria. At the moment, everyday communication strategies—such as using gestures, typing on a cell phone, or the “friend translation” we’re talking about here—seem to be a better option than a hypothetical sign language interpreter on call.
“Friend Translation” is neither a professional sign language interpreter nor a standard, institutionalized accessibility framework – but it is a colorful and complex part of the interaction between the deaf and the world. This form of everyday communication has a more academic name: “informal interpreting” or “sign language brokering.”
But the compound word “Friend Translation” places more emphasis on the emotions and relationships, and it’s these ties that make the interaction, and even the interaction itself, a joy : it’s a shared experience created by deaf and hearing friends.
The fun of translation
We, who are both academic partners and friends, completed the writing of this article together. As hearing anthropologist Tim and Deaf literature scholar Rachel, we share the same interest in the politics of deafness, hearing, language, and communication. Our academic research guides us to question together how the politics and ideology of language shape the possibilities for deaf people to explore the world in different social, cultural, and historical contexts.
Over the past 30 years, the relationship between deaf and interpreters in the United States has become more standardized and specialized, which also means that it is more closely tied to the application process in formal, institutionalized accommodations. American Sign Language interpreters (ASL interpreters) are mostly listening people, and their services really help bridge language and cultural differences. However, it has also been pointed out that the excessive attention of the mainstream public to American Sign Language interpreters will lead people to ignore the contribution of deaf people themselves in creating communication bridges. This neglect can also lead to additional barriers and barriers.
An American Sign Language interpreter translates during a press conference by Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf in 2021. Regarding the popularity and entertainment of Tingren sign language interpreters, you can see the previous compilation of ” Sign Language Interpretation in Disaster News ” by Yu Shengzhi. Credit: Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle/Getty ImagesResearchers in the field of linguistics and education have suggested that the translation services of American Sign Language interpreters in teaching situations may cause some unintentional mistakes. For example, it would leave certain deaf students in public schools chronically language-deprived, and it would also inadvertently reduce the influence of deaf scholars. Research by anthropologist Michele Friedner has shown that the various practices of professional American Sign Language interpreters conflict with the pursuit of spiritual community and spiritual transcendence by deaf people in religious settings.
It is true that we have recognized that it is especially important for deaf people to have access to formal, legal translation services. But we also hope to broaden our understanding of how deaf-hearing people build relationships outside of formal settings. What if accessibility is not an obligation, but a form of sociality in and of itself?
In this ableist world, “Friend Translation” demonstrates the many complex ways that deaf and hearing friends take to explore their responsibilities to each other. Usually, this is more of a “deaf life hack” (a technique or method to improve the productivity of life) – that is, the deaf and hearing partners work together to make a “friend translation” which is bottom-up decision. Like any complex social phenomenon, “Friend Translation” has advantages and disadvantages. In an unpublished paper, anthropologist E. Mara Green called it a “utopian compromise.” This paper is about a queer community using informal American Sign Language interpreters in Portland, Oregon.
Like us, Green emphasizes the joy that arises from shared experiences like “Friend Translation”.
An Example of “Friendly Translation”
“Friend Translation” is something we choose to participate in together.
Take the night we both went to the movies together. Yule told Rachel that he met a vibrant group of people at a church in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where Rachel happened to move to the city during the first year of the pandemic. For Rachel, going to church without a sign language interpreter used to be fraught with anxiety, but now she wants to meet the group of friends Yule mentioned. Therefore, the two drove to the event site to meet and chat with some local friends who were not very good at sign language.
But that wasn’t the real start of the party.
This event, or the joint participation of the two, started a few days ago. When she received the invitation from Yule, Rachel knew that there were no deaf believers in this church, so there would be no American Sign Language interpreter on the scene. She also knew that the movie would start in the early evening, the lighting was dim, and people were wearing masks to communicate—all of which made it impossible for Rachel to lip-read the scene. Therefore, knowing that Yule can use sign language, Rachel asked him to act as a middleman to explore with her, understand the situation at that time, and provide her with the information she needed. He readily agreed.
Yule did not take on the role of a professional sign language interpreter when he attended the event, and Rachel was not one of his deaf clients. The two are friends and serve as friends to achieve their primary goal – to interact and enjoy the night.
On the way to the scene, Yule asked Rachel if she originally planned to express her need to communicate in sign language in front of her listening friends, or if she had simultaneous communication (simultaneous communication, or sim-com). Sign language has different grammar and syntax to speak and sign at the same time). Rachel is well aware that twisting a conversation or speaking in unison to “take care” of a deaf person is worse; she tells Yule that the way she chooses to communicate depends a lot on the conversation and the situation at the time. She also said he was free to float away and chat with people he met while she was away. He readily agreed.
In this way, we planned the communication rhythm for the night in advance and discussed what language patterns we wanted to use. But what we do is more than that: our communication depends not only on sign language, but also on our friendship – a double-arrow mind, willing to let each other freely understand and participate in this game at their own pace. reunion.
We maintained this rhythm of communication throughout the night, making adjustments as appropriate. Some friends present noticed us and joined the conversation, playing some basic sign language every now and then. One of them said, “Oh, I can spell you my name with my fingers”. Rachel gave the man a nod of pleasure. At the same time Rachel realized that these informal sign language exchanges were taking place freely in different ways, and she readily agreed, although she would never allow professional interpreters to do anything like that. She wants direct relationships with new friends that don’t rely on middlemen, even if they can only communicate in rudimentary sign language.
The rest of the people present made no attempt to join us through the “sign language game”. In this case, Yule assumed a more direct translation role, using sign language to listen to what his friends said, and converting Rachel’s sign language into spoken language. Occasionally, Yule also joins the conversation, although this may seem very unprofessional to the American Sign Language interpreter. In “Friend Translation”, the dialogue becomes more complicated, detailed and participatory.
On the way back, we reviewed our experience that night: What conversations went well? Which ones are not smooth? Are there situations where either of us is uncomfortable? How do we handle this situation next time?
“Accessibility” as a relationship
While the night we watched the movie together was more complicated than our other social gatherings, it wasn’t the only “Friend Translation” situation, and we had many different negotiating experiences. We will continue to “friend translation” and experience the world together as friends with different bodies, perception styles, and communication styles.
Accessibility is complex, as some recent discussions in academia have shown. As disability-related rights and regulations become more formalized, accessibility can only be achieved in narrower and more specific ways. For the deaf in the United States, it has been equated with providing professionally certified American Sign Language interpreters who see themselves as objective intermediaries delivering information, only responsible for relaying what others have said.
We feel that exploring social situations together as deaf and hearing friends can be chaotic – but full of meaning and fun at the same time. Credit: urbazon/Getty ImagesBut what if pure “objectivity” is not always the goal of verbal interaction? What if, at times, the chaos inherent in social relations could be prioritized instead of being deferred to formalized accessibility services?
“Friend Translation” enriches and broadens the definition of “barrier-free”. By appealing to a sense of intimacy and responsibility between deaf and hearing friends, Friends Translation highlights how both parties benefit from a co-created experience that is far less fun without the involvement of either party.
Readers are also asked not to interpret this article as an objection to the provision of formal accessibility services for the deaf or otherwise disabled. Quite the contrary, we believe accessibility is a necessity for any meaningful social justice action. But here we invite readers to go beyond rigid, institutionalized accessibility services to a broader vision, to think about the multiple facets of accessibility, and to imagine the complexity that its multifaceted nature brings .
Experience has taught us that accessibility is not a one-size-fits-all rule or a box on a form to tick. It is a dynamic process that emerges from our daily lives and relationships with others.
about the author
Rachel Kolb is an English literature scholar and a Young Fellow at the Harvard Society. Inspired by the cultural connotations of deaf and disabled people, she is writing a manuscript for a book on sound and speech in America in the nineteenth and mid-twentieth centuries. Her work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, TEDxStanford and many other public platforms.
Timothy Y. Loh is a Ph.D candidate in Anthropology of Science and Technology at MIT. His ethnographic research explores sociality, language, and religion in Jordan, Singapore, the deaf community in the United States, and the world of sign language.
Translator introduction
Heart clear, a squid.
This article is compiled and reproduced according to the copyright framework of the Sapiens platform. If you want to forward it, please leave a message on this platform, or contact by email.
Related Reading
Sign Language Interpretation in Disaster News
‘Just a good ear’: Deaf Americans trapped in a crippling incarceration system
Ramps, Cities, Accessibility | Platypus Podcast
Barriers to “Accessibility” | Real-time subtitles, deaf-hearing space and communication labor
The Gift of International Deaf Week: An Anthropology Book List
This article is reprinted from: https://tyingknots.net/2022/09/friendterpreting/
This site is for inclusion only, and the copyright belongs to the original author.