10,000 Hours

Marina McIntire once said “Interpreting is Impossible… So Get Better”.  This workshop provides discrete training tools to help both students and working professionals improve their overall abilities to interpret.  Discussion topics include

Perception of Numbers (the Five-Minute Workshop)

   or "Open your eyes in just 300 seconds"

• Sixes (bottom curves) and Nines (straight sides)
• Sevens (short/long straight +2) and Eights (equal curves +3)

Production & Perception of Fingerspelling

• Finding your personally correct hand configurations [tension, release & reset]
• Fingerspelling grid (pairs of letters) [AA, AB, AC ...XZ, YZ, ZZ]
• Fingerspelling round-robin [pair up, alternately produce & perceive two lists of words]

English Grammar and Production

Sentence structure / processing time

Articulation / volume / speed

• Listen to the radio and repeat back, verbatim and with equal inflection, what people are saying.  (this and the next one work well when driving alone between assignments)
• After doing the repetition task for at least one minute STOP, turn down the radio and prepare to summarize what you just said... first plan it, then confidently speak it out loud as though you were explaining it to a person who had not heard any of the original text.
• Read a paragraph in English.  Restate the same paragraph in your own terms in spoken English.  Restate the same concepts once again in ASL.
• Listen to or read a paragraph of English text.  Restate the concepts in a different text type

1. Narrative (telling / informing) - tell me a story
2. Description (reporting / explaining) - give me definitions and details
3. Argumentation (analysis / urging / discussion) - convince me of the pros or cons

Bilingual Processing of Information (Apply these to your work)

• language to image to language (using drawings in notes)
• hop skip and jump (consecutive processing within simultaneous interpreting)
• Colonomos Training = Concentrate / Represent (visualize) / Plan (rehearse)
• visual competition (conscious insertion of gaps / sharing visual space)

Effective Cultural Adjustments between source and target texts (thought pieces to guide future work)

• Name signs (Sandra McLennon)
• Educational Choices (institute / oral / mainstream) (Mal Grosinger)
• Deaf Artifacts (bed vibrators / flashing lights / TTYs / Videophones)

Professional Ethics

1) RID Code of Professional Conduct
RID
Confidentiality
Only accept work within ability
Professional behavior (including no personal gain)
Respect consumers (professional behavior)
Be a team player
Learn / get better

2) International Association of Conference Interpreters (AIIC)
AIIC
Confidentiality (“Secrecy”)
No Personal Gain
Only accept work within ability
Professional behavior (don’t embarrass the profession)
Be a team player

3) American Translators Association
ATA
Faithful/Accurate/Impartial
Confidentiality
Only accept work within ability
Learn / get better
Be a team player
Professional behavior

4) International Medical Interpreters Association
IMIA
Confidentiality
Respect consumers / match their communication styles / needs
Only accept work within ability
Avoid conflicts / family close friends as clients
Professional behavior / not personal opinion
Medical terps focus on medical interpreting unless qualified for other kinds
Take care in explaining cultural issues / conflicts
Do not interfere with the flow of communication

Learn / get better
Pursue professional connections
No Personal Gain

5) National Association of Judiciary Interpreters and Translators
NAJIT
Accuracy
Impartiality
Confidentiality
Professional behavior / not personal opinion
Professional behavior (stay within courtroom protocols)
Learn / get better
Accurate Representation of Credentials to the court
Reveal impediments to compliance to the court (fatigue/low volume/use of jargon)

6) EIPA (Educational Interpreter Performance Assessment) Ethical Guidelines

The EIPA guidelines are designed to guide both the interpreter and the other members of the educational team toward effective use of interpreting services.  Therefore they do not fit the same format as the Ethical Codes described above.

• Interpreting for young children requires maturity from the student – as the student matures the strategies and behaviors employed by the interpreter will change.
• Educational interpreting means working as a member of an educational team guided by laws, district policies and Individualized Education Plans that take precedence over any professional code of ethics.
• Interpreters should have and make use of Prep Time
• Interpreters should not express personal opinions about other educational team members
• Interpreters should strive for complete accuracy and inform consumers if it has not been achieved
• Interpreters should make cultural adjustments as needed
• Interpreters should not interfere in the student’s responsibilities for their own behaviors
• Interpreters should promote their consumers’ understanding of interpreting and encourage effective use of interpreting services
• Interpreters for Deaf students need to monitor the student’s ability to perceive all useful information visually and allow for/encourage students to make effective use of visual aids
• Interpreters should work with the teacher to find effective solutions for the student
• Interpreters might also provide effective tutoring services to their students, but the role of interpreting should always take precedence, supervision and training in effective tutoring should be provided, and consumers should be made aware of