Goofy Interpreters

i have a terp for my Criminal Investigations class this semester at the college and shes the BEST!! i love her -- her skills are beyond "great" shes the BEST terp ive come across in a long time!!! *thank god i have her this semester for the class* hehe
 
Oddball said:
One time I went to the doctor office for SSDI evaluation. I got an interpeter for my DR appointment and did not recall her name. I thought she was a qualified ASL interpreter, but it turned out she was not because she often misunderstand my signs. I told DR to hold on for a minute, he understood. I BLUNTLY asked her, "Are you a certificated ASL interpeter"? She honestly responsed to me, "no. I am sorry" in several times. I politely nodded at her statements as I was very miffed inside. When the meeting was over, I thanked her for interpreting me even though she SUCKED. Afterwards, I never see her again ever since. She is a lousy interpreter.
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Not Blame you, I have been there once maybe more times. :roll: sometime... I have to be :stupid: with them. :lol:
 
I love those goofy interpreters. They are what makes the class a bit more interesting. Of course, they do their jobs. It's the breaks when they begin to goof around. Once, a friend and I made a bet on something with the interpreter. I lost so I ended up buying them drinks. The quarter was over before I went any further. :(
 
There are times when it is okay to have goofy terps, but there are times when the terp have to maintain professionalism. I love my terps who are goofy during boring classes. It helps me stay awake and focus on the class. LOL!
 
Oddball said:
One time I went to the doctor office for SSDI evaluation. I got an interpeter for my DR appointment and did not recall her name. I thought she was a qualified ASL interpreter, but it turned out she was not because she often misunderstand my signs. I told DR to hold on for a minute, he understood. I BLUNTLY asked her, "Are you a certificated ASL interpeter"? She honestly responsed to me, "no. I am sorry" in several times. I politely nodded at her statements as I was very miffed inside. When the meeting was over, I thanked her for interpreting me even though she SUCKED. Afterwards, I never see her again ever since. She is a lousy interpreter.
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Oh my god, I had similar problem like you had. I was required to go to a doc for check up for SSI and the interpreter showed up in a weird and plain outfit with ripped/torned black socking. She kinda looked poor or something. She could barely sign, oh god, I was heating up inside of me. When the doctor wasn't speaking or wasn't in the room, she turned and looked at me..... "Jesus loves you", she said for a SEVERAL times. I felt like I want to scream at her! I was gonna say something to her but it seemed like she doesn't know ANY of interpreter policy nor anything. She handed me a small bible. I was being nice to her and thanked her. I went straight to home and called SSI to file complaint. I doubt they would do anything about it!
 
e said:
Oh my god, I had similar problem like you had. I was required to go to a doc for check up for SSI and the interpreter showed up in a weird and plain outfit with ripped/torned black socking. She kinda looked poor or something. She could barely sign, oh god, I was heating up inside of me. When the doctor wasn't speaking or wasn't in the room, she turned and looked at me..... "Jesus loves you", she said for a SEVERAL times. I felt like I want to scream at her! I was gonna say something to her but it seemed like she doesn't know ANY of interpreter policy nor anything. She handed me a small bible. I was being nice to her and thanked her. I went straight to home and called SSI to file complaint. I doubt they would do anything about it!
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Yes, I had a male interpreter who is JW and gave me biblical pamphlet during the class. Sighs. I hate when it happens to me. RME at those interpeters who don't follow the code of ethnics.
 
Fly Free said:
i have a terp for my Criminal Investigations class this semester at the college and shes the BEST!! i love her -- her skills are beyond "great" shes the BEST terp ive come across in a long time!!! *thank god i have her this semester for the class* hehe
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Yes, I have a several "best" terps in a few states.
 
Hey e, (mods: sorry this is off track a bit) what city is your signature picture of? It looks pretty cool to me.

I had some very good terps for school, they were pretty cool and talked to me when the lesson was so boring I nearly fell asleep. However, I've found that teachers of the deaf are the worst at signing, not professional interpreters (since theyv'e had the professional training in signing). Most interpreters I've come across come from a deaf family so they're well aware of deaf people's needs.
 
SeattleDeafGrl said:
Ahh...These days, it's hard to find the perfect interpreter. I've had hard time explaining to hearing people in the business world how necessary we have to have interpreters for any situations. I've argued with people many times and tossed ADA papers on their table and demand for a certificated interpreter when they proposed a friend of theirs that has knowledge of ABCs and little bit of sign languages, even someone who knows sign language.They'll do anything to save their money! :fu2: That's how I am treated. You guys are not the only ones! So, this time, we have to make our voices loud and be assertiviness! Know your rights!
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Oh....I agree..... I am fluent in ASL (for real), PSE, and in English and Spanish too. However, even though I am hearing and speak these three languages (and one "arificial" signing system) fluently, I don't consider myself qualified to be an interpreter. Because my fiancee was raised in an oral household (and it was abuse from her mom (who thinks she is the most perfect person in the world and DETESTS ASL or even signed English)), my fiancee doesn't think she needs/deserves a good interpreter during doctor visits if I go with her. I CAN interpret ASL quite well, better than most of those idiots they call interpreters. And these IDIOTS are CERTIFIED!!!!

I may be a pro-bono interpreter some day. (It's something I'm considering because I am sick of the shitty interpreting services we have now and because interpreters are too damn expensive for what they do...ASL interpreting isn't hard at all if you have a genuine interest in it. Those idiot interpreters, however, just want the money.). Several interpreters yelled at me for using ASL (when I "should be using my voice", they claim...), even with my fiancee in there. (My fiancee and I think it is best if I sign everything I say myself because it eliminates interpreter errors and translation losses.) I can't believe the stupidity I've seen in interpreters.

I might not want to get certified, though. You guys have to understand that certification means nothing. It's mostly bullshit.

I think interpreters need to be frequently spot-checked by Deaf people. The way it's done now is obviously not working. Those of you who are Deaf need to stand up. I can't do it for you! I believe you guys can live a much more stress-free life by threatening legal action because of interpreter problems. You shouldn't have to take it. Remember Gallaudet?
 
ASL interpreting isn't hard at all if you have a genuine interest in it. Those idiot interpreters, however, just want the money.).
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I beg to differ. Even if you're fluent in ASL and are completely confident with your skills, taking a language and translating it is hard. Even if the thought process comes naturally, it's still hard to sit in a lecture for 2 hours and sign without a break.

Also, let's not jump to conclusions about why people become interpreters. Not all are in it for the money. Some, like myself, do it because they enjoy it. I get paid crap to work in a highly stressful environment, but I do it because I love interpreting and I love the kids I work with.

I might not want to get certified, though. You guys have to understand that certification means nothing. It's mostly bullshit.
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Certification means more job opportunities.
 
wow.. that's so sucks for you.. I have a few people who sucked on the interpreter i just make interpreter to relaized that they should practice more often.. i just simple ask them a question.. how long you had interpreter.. where u go college to took a sign language interpreter or whatever.. after they answer my question and i would said.. well im sorry for the offense and u should pracatice more often and they would turn out feel hurt and ask me why.. i would said why you keep asking me please say again and again and again.. don't u get the hint?

they just say nothing after the hints and they don't want to bother to interpreter for me again for the next time..
 
I might not want to get certified, though. You guys have to understand that certification means nothing. It's mostly bullshit.
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Certification, depending on the source, means a tremendous deal to me if I am going to get a sign language interpreter for the court. Many certified sign language interpreters I know who work in schools, colleges, and universities would not make competent court interpreters.
 
me_punctured said:
Certification, depending on the source, means a tremendous deal to me if I am going to get a sign language interpreter for the court. Many certified sign language interpreters I know who work in schools, colleges, and universities would not make competent court interpreters.
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Agreed. While I do just fine in an educational setting, I wouldn't volunteer to interpret in court. I had the option of interpreting for a university law student last fall, and turned it down because I knew it was something WAAAY out of my league.
 
ayala920 said:
Agreed. While I do just fine in an educational setting, I wouldn't volunteer to interpret in court. I had the option of interpreting for a university law student last fall, and turned it down because I knew it was something WAAAY out of my league.
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Just imagine interpreting legal terms like proximate cause, probable cause, common law and constitutional law! That's only the tip of the iceberg.
 
me_punctured said:
Just imagine interpreting legal terms like proximate cause, probable cause, common law and constitutional law! That's only the tip of the iceberg.
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It was the Latin that scared me. I went to a workshop/in-service for the interpreters at the University (all 7 of us), and I was so thankful I wasn't the one who would have to go to class on Monday. :)
 
For all of my foreign language classes, I was basically on my own, except when my professor spoke English for lectures. The captioners were much more handy than interpreters, but I was still on my own, which was fine because I'm comfortable with romance and classical languages.
 
me_punctured said:
For all of my foreign language classes, I was basically on my own, except when my professor spoke English for lectures. The captioners were much more handy than interpreters, but I was still on my own, which was fine because I'm comfortable with romance and classical languages.
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How exactly did that work? Did you have interpreters who spoke the languages you were taking and just used ASL? A few times at my old job I had to sub in a Spanish class. Luckily it was an easy class, and I remembered enough to get by, but man. Spanish -->English --> ASL. Not fun. The student was hard of hearing and didn't really pay attention to me anyway, but still.
 
ayala920 said:
How exactly did that work? Did you have interpreters who spoke the languages you were taking and just used ASL? A few times at my old job I had to sub in a Spanish class. Luckily it was an easy class, and I remembered enough to get by, but man. Spanish -->English --> ASL. Not fun. The student was hard of hearing and didn't really pay attention to me anyway, but still.
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Of course not! If it was Latin class, it was exclusively conducted in English, because we were perpetually translating dead white male windbags in chopped verse. If it was French or Spanish, I just sit in by myself and follow the buzzing conversation. I would be fortunate to get a 'terp who knows some Spanish and can mouth it. I ended up studying them independently and never became proficient in either languages. Someday, perhaps.

Generally, foreign language classes can be stressful. Many professors think I imitate well enough to deserve to be called on. (NOT!) Currently I am taking Italian. The students with disabilities program at the community college assigned me a team of incompetent 'terps. They aren't too helpful. They can only tell me what precedes nouns and how they end (such il ragazzo/i ragazzi/ la ragazza/le ragazze, lo studente/gli studenti, l'automobile/le automobili, etc.). Blah blah blah. I'm better off exploiting my autodidactic skills to study most languages, but I do like hearing how languages are spoken. I learned that the 'h' is always silent and the great majority of words are stressed on the next-to-the-last syllable in Italian. Plus my professor is hilarous. She immediately bends over the floor to call an invisible dog, "HERE, DOGGIE, COME HERE!" every time a student fails to pronounce "americano/a" correctly (because 'cane' means dog). She also grabs somebody's hair (il capello) if a student fails to pronounce "il cappello" (hat). Heh.
 
I'd like to add that Italian is not on the list of foreign languages I'm most likely to hear where I live. :)
 
me_punctured said:
Of course not! If it was Latin class, it was exclusively conducted in English, because we were perpetually translating dead white male windbags in chopped verse. If it was French or Spanish, I just sit in by myself and follow the buzzing conversation. I would be fortunate to get a 'terp who knows some Spanish and can mouth it. I ended up studying them independently and never became proficient in either languages. Someday, perhaps.

Generally, foreign language classes can be stressful. Many professors think I imitate well enough to deserve to be called on. (NOT!) Currently I am taking Italian. The students with disabilities program at the community college assigned me a team of incompetent 'terps. They aren't too helpful. They can only tell me what precedes nouns and how they end (such il ragazzo/i ragazzi/ la ragazza/le ragazze, lo studente/gli studenti, l'automobile/le automobili, etc.). Blah blah blah. I'm better off exploiting my autodidactic skills to study most languages, but I do like hearing how languages are spoken. I learned that the 'h' is always silent and the great majority of words are stressed on the next-to-the-last syllable in Italian. Plus my professor is hilarous. She immediately bends over the floor to call an invisible dog, "HERE, DOGGIE, COME HERE!" every time a student fails to pronounce "americano/a" correctly (because 'cane' means dog). She also grabs somebody's hair (il capello) if a student fails to pronounce "il cappello" (hat). Heh.
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Having no idea how much you can hear/speak, I'm curious as to whether you were able to learn to read and write the languages you took. Though I imagine that would be difficult as well.

I remember when Daedalus (I'm assuming we both know who that is) took Hebrew at Georgetown- it was a horrible failure. He ended up having to drop it on the last day to withdraw from a class because he was failing so miserably. :)

I wonder how they do it at Gallaudet. I know they offer foreign languages there.
 
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