I know when you are interpreting for some one you are required to say everything that is said, no matter what even if you disagree with it. What if, in a social setting, (and not their professionally) something off colored is said. I don’t have a problem with that, I said off things myself from time to time. What if it is about the person that is deaf? When this has happened to me I don’t tell them. The way I look at it is two ways: First if this person was hearing and had been out of the room when the same thing was said they wouldn’t have heard it and I wouldn’t tell them what was said. You wind up being a tattle tale when you do that. Second it looks like, (in my opinion) that you are trying to cause problems with the Deaf person and the other hearing people in the room. If you do that too much, even if you are truthful, you may give the impression to your Deaf friends that you are trying to cause a rift between them and their other hearing friends. I know people that are like that, (not this situation but cause problems between existing friends so they can be the center of everyone’s world) what do you think??
am i really supposed to??
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Liza
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Are you volunteering to interpret in these social settings? I think the rules are a little different from the professional interpreting to social interpreting. I would think of this way - First, ask the Deaf friend you are interpreting for if she or he wants to hear even the potentially offensive things being said. Maybe your friend will say no, and you won't have to wonder more. What if she or he says yes? Do you also want to know how she or he would handle the off wall comments? Maybe a good discussion will come out of this between you and the ones you are interpreting for.
jillio
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I personally think that withholding information, even if it is offensive, from the deaf person is wrong. They have the right to experience the all and everything of communication and then make up their mind how to respond, just the same as a hearing person does. It's insulting not to provide them with that opportunity. Most deaf people I know certainly don't need to be protected, and are perfectly capable of puttinghearing people in their place if they are being offensive.
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That is true. In a professional setting, it doesn't matter what is said, you must interpret it, no matter whether you agree with it. It's not your place as an interpreter to judge what's being said, or at least if you do, don't show it.
If you're just hanging out, it's up to you. If you just happen to overhear something you don't like, I don't think you're under an obligation to sign it. I hear stuff I don't like when I'm with my hearing friends and I don't necessarily point it out if they didn't hear it. But if you're functioning as an interpreter, I think it's polite to interpret everything. I wouldn't use the term "ethical" since I don't believe professional ethics apply in a social situation, but I believe it's impolite to pick and choose what you interpret, if you're going to be interpreting at all.
Monkeyboy
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My older sister interprets for me and she knows I don't always need to know every word thats being said, just the basic idea. Sometimes when someone says something really bad my sister just tells me that someone said something bad and unless I ask her exactly what was said she leaves it at that. On the other hand, some of my friends want to know word for word what was said no matter how bad it is.
its basically a no win situation for you. I live my life straddling the mix company of deaf and hearing, and it always ends in hurt feelings somewhere.
your there to socialize, not to interpret. wether you want to interpret or not, its up to you. filtering information tho is not your job, as a friend or an interpreter. Either interpret or dont is my point. Tho as an interpreter, your not going to have much oppurtunity to socialize yourself.
your there to socialize, not to interpret. wether you want to interpret or not, its up to you. filtering information tho is not your job, as a friend or an interpreter. Either interpret or dont is my point. Tho as an interpreter, your not going to have much oppurtunity to socialize yourself.
Yeah that is the way i see it. I am not technically his "interpreter" and i am not there for that function. We are going to the party or club or bar as friends. I do it so he can communicate with anyone he wants to and visa versa. If the lighting is poor he cannot read their lips that well and not everyone can understand him when he uses his voice. If we are at a Deaf party he knows i cannot understand fast sign and he will "interpret" for me, slowing everything down, repeating and making sure i understand. Sometimes if it is a lot of information he will tell me to tell the hearing person something. And he will ask me what was said sometimes.
I really look at it as if he was hearing and didn't hear it i wouldn't have told him that, i didn't want to hear it myself. It does put me in a bad position though because i feel i should, but i don't want to.
On the other hand if he is conversing with some one and they say something i will sign it whether i want to or not. Same for him if he signs something i don't want to voice but it is in the conversation i still will. I am just refering to back ground noise i guess you could say. LOL the really bad thing is when he wants to go talk to some one we both don't know. I am shy in those situations and he isn't so i do it anyway. I guess it helps me kinda to break out of that.
I really look at it as if he was hearing and didn't hear it i wouldn't have told him that, i didn't want to hear it myself. It does put me in a bad position though because i feel i should, but i don't want to.
On the other hand if he is conversing with some one and they say something i will sign it whether i want to or not. Same for him if he signs something i don't want to voice but it is in the conversation i still will. I am just refering to back ground noise i guess you could say. LOL the really bad thing is when he wants to go talk to some one we both don't know. I am shy in those situations and he isn't so i do it anyway. I guess it helps me kinda to break out of that.
this may sound shitty, and i myself have a problem with this....but you should tell your friend if he wants to communicate with the hearing people, he needs to do it himself, not through you. thats not to say, you just leave him hanging and let him figure it out for himself, but i have no doubt he is capable of writing. if you feel comfortable and enjoy the role of interpreting, go for it, if not...tell him to bring a pen and paper. force all the hearing people to write down what they say, they will either do it, or stop talking, either way your buddy is kept in the loop.
and when you are in a group of deaf, and they are signing too fast, you need to ask them what they said, make them sign in a way that you understand. if they get huffy, or dont want to talk to you anymore, well thats their loss. more than likely tho they will take the time to make you understand. thats not to say interrupt them when they are talking to someone else....in that situation either ask your buddy, or wait till that person is done and ask them to explain. it sounds kooky, but its allowed, and it will make you a better signer in the end.
the more you are exposed to different styles of signing, the better you will be. When your buddy filters everything for you down to his style, yeah you can understand, but your not learning as much as you could be. he is using signs he knows that you know...etc.
i had a deaf friend that used to make me go up and interpret for him when he hit on hearing girls...i was fairly new and had not yet learned how to stand up for myself to deaf...so yeah he took advantage of me lol. i hated every minute of it....now i tell him if he wants to get laid tonight, hes on his own.
and when you are in a group of deaf, and they are signing too fast, you need to ask them what they said, make them sign in a way that you understand. if they get huffy, or dont want to talk to you anymore, well thats their loss. more than likely tho they will take the time to make you understand. thats not to say interrupt them when they are talking to someone else....in that situation either ask your buddy, or wait till that person is done and ask them to explain. it sounds kooky, but its allowed, and it will make you a better signer in the end.
the more you are exposed to different styles of signing, the better you will be. When your buddy filters everything for you down to his style, yeah you can understand, but your not learning as much as you could be. he is using signs he knows that you know...etc.
i had a deaf friend that used to make me go up and interpret for him when he hit on hearing girls...i was fairly new and had not yet learned how to stand up for myself to deaf...so yeah he took advantage of me lol. i hated every minute of it....now i tell him if he wants to get laid tonight, hes on his own.
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That is so wrong...that should be something your friend should learn how to do on his own. What will he do when he is alone with the girl in a bedroom? Ask u to join so u can interpret? LOL!
Well firstly this guy is my best friend and I am his so there is no way that I would tell him to write it down because I don’t feel like interpreting for him. He does write things down though with different people at different times as to not monopolize my time. Secondly I enjoy doing it so and I would feel like a jerk saying that to him, or any of my other Deaf friends. (although we are parting in some of these situations and if i am tore up i cannot understand a lot but that is with hearing too! LOL)
When we are at a Deaf party and there is a conversation going on with multiple people I watch intently. I take in as much as I can and try my best to figure it all out. Just because it is too fast for me does not mean I just stop paying attention. This is an area I know I need improvement on and the only way to improve is to be exposed to it. He or some one else will ask if I understand and I will say I think so or no. If I say I think so they will ask me what was said and I will repeat it. If I am right cool, if not they will correct me. If I just don’t understand some one will explain it to me. Every time I have spoken to a new Deaf person I ask them to sign a little slow, fast and one handed sign is hard for me to understand. They always say fine and sign slow and talk to me for a while. I have not encountered anyone that was rude to me.
LMAO as for “hooking up” when I started learning sign I told my friend I would not help him hook up with anyone. NO WAY!! If you find a guy you are interested in, in that way you will have to use pen and paper. That is just too weird….. He agreed and said he would not do that to me, that would be taking advantage of our friendship. And it would make it look like he was only friends with me so I could go around interpreting for him. I told him i don't do that for my hearing friends, i am not doing it for him. We are friends first and foremost. The interpreting thing just kinda evolved and doing that has helped me with my sign. But you are right I do understand him very well other people are harder for me to understand but I am getting used to that. And he introduces me to more and more Deafies. I thought I have met a lot and made a lot of new friends, he informed me that I have only scratched the surface and there are a lot more he wants me to meet.
When we are at a Deaf party and there is a conversation going on with multiple people I watch intently. I take in as much as I can and try my best to figure it all out. Just because it is too fast for me does not mean I just stop paying attention. This is an area I know I need improvement on and the only way to improve is to be exposed to it. He or some one else will ask if I understand and I will say I think so or no. If I say I think so they will ask me what was said and I will repeat it. If I am right cool, if not they will correct me. If I just don’t understand some one will explain it to me. Every time I have spoken to a new Deaf person I ask them to sign a little slow, fast and one handed sign is hard for me to understand. They always say fine and sign slow and talk to me for a while. I have not encountered anyone that was rude to me.
LMAO as for “hooking up” when I started learning sign I told my friend I would not help him hook up with anyone. NO WAY!! If you find a guy you are interested in, in that way you will have to use pen and paper. That is just too weird….. He agreed and said he would not do that to me, that would be taking advantage of our friendship. And it would make it look like he was only friends with me so I could go around interpreting for him. I told him i don't do that for my hearing friends, i am not doing it for him. We are friends first and foremost. The interpreting thing just kinda evolved and doing that has helped me with my sign. But you are right I do understand him very well other people are harder for me to understand but I am getting used to that. And he introduces me to more and more Deafies. I thought I have met a lot and made a lot of new friends, he informed me that I have only scratched the surface and there are a lot more he wants me to meet.
you wouldn't be a jerk for saying that. how does he communicate with hearing people when your not around? or noone else is there to terp for him? your not his crutch
i used to be like you...eager, motivated....ready and willing to do it all to get my skill up. looking back it wasn't a wate, but i see my mistakes. And i see where i was taken advantage of. best friend or not, he and your hearing friends are taking advantage of the fact you can hear.
when me and my deaf friends go out to restraunt, they order for themselves. if they ask me to say something, fine no biggie. but im not their interpreter, they know it, i know it. if im out with mixed crowd, ive tried to straddle the line, it simply dont work. I either voice or sign, not both.
We'll just have to agree to disagree on that point. I wouldn't do that to my friends period. Hearing, Deaf, doesn't matter i still would not treat them that way. I don't treat anyone that way. To me doing that is like saying, "Oh you didn't hear that, sucks for you. Yeah i heard it but what do you expect you aren't paying me. Terping is my job and I am OFF THE CLOCK" said not signed. I can't treat people that way, i never have. My friend will talk to people to the point where he can tell they are starting to not understand each other and then asks me to step in. He reciprocates when we are at Deaf events. And i don't feel that i should have 70 Deaf people come down to my level the entire night, that is crazy. He helps me in those situations. I help him in the others. I dunno I just cannot treat the people i call friends that way. You may be fine with doing that and it is cool if you are, i am not judging you for that, everyone is different, I just am not that way. How does any Deaf communicate if a hearing person who knows sign isn't there.... If that is how you feel why is there even a need for interpreters to begin with. You sound a bit jaded.
off topic Dune is one of my favorite movies.
off topic Dune is one of my favorite movies.
perhaps my tone was wrong, and i apologize.
i didn't mean it to sound like i was saying "oh sorry you didnt hear that, too bad", i dont just leave my friends hanging when they didn't understand something or whatever. Point is to force the other people to communicate with your deaf friend, not force your deaf friend to communicate with them, does that make sense?
so you feel that deaf are unable to communicate without the help of hearing people....soo not true man.
i didn't mean it to sound like i was saying "oh sorry you didnt hear that, too bad", i dont just leave my friends hanging when they didn't understand something or whatever. Point is to force the other people to communicate with your deaf friend, not force your deaf friend to communicate with them, does that make sense?
so you feel that deaf are unable to communicate without the help of hearing people....soo not true man.
Yeah that does clear it up for me thanks.
Nope that's not what i mean, however there is a need for them otherwise the job wouldn't exist. Yes there is oral, lip reading, and pen and paper but there is a need for interpreters. For the reasons i gave prior, poorly lit room, person cannot understand when the deaf voices or the deaf person does not feel comfortable voicing. No pen and paper handy, and writing everything down is tiresome for both. There is a need for interpreters, or like i said the job would not exist.
Nope that's not what i mean, however there is a need for them otherwise the job wouldn't exist. Yes there is oral, lip reading, and pen and paper but there is a need for interpreters. For the reasons i gave prior, poorly lit room, person cannot understand when the deaf voices or the deaf person does not feel comfortable voicing. No pen and paper handy, and writing everything down is tiresome for both. There is a need for interpreters, or like i said the job would not exist.
Taric25
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Rainbow Association of the Deaf (RAD)
Hey, Southern, it's nice to see another person in Florida. I'm in Daytona.
Anyway, are you and/or your friend queer? You said your friend is a "he", but you also mentioned, "If you find a guy you are interested in, in that way you will have to use pen and paper." I was just wondering, because I was a member or WCRAD (Windy City Rainbow Association of the Deaf), when I was in Chicago.
Hey, Southern, it's nice to see another person in Florida. I'm in Daytona.
Anyway, are you and/or your friend queer? You said your friend is a "he", but you also mentioned, "If you find a guy you are interested in, in that way you will have to use pen and paper." I was just wondering, because I was a member or WCRAD (Windy City Rainbow Association of the Deaf), when I was in Chicago.