EFSLI AGM and Conference

EFSLI 2006 AGM & CONFERENCE PAPERS:
1. Maya DE WIT and Irma SLUIS (The Netherlands)

Getting the most out of it

Developing the individual and the team

Consumers and interpreters must get used to the fact that many assignments are best carried out by a team of interpreters, rather than typically by a single interpreter.

We will raise the issues that are involved with setting up a team, consisting of all the parties involved in the interpreting assignment: consumers and interpreters. When is more than one interpreter needed on an assignment? What should interpreters take into consideration when accepting an assignment? How to set up a team with consumers and interpreters? Who should be on the team?

We will also discuss possible strategies on how to develop the team and its members. One of the recurring obstacles is the lack of awareness among consumers on what an interpreter (team) does. Therefore, we must inform the consumers what is needed to provide optimal communication. Other issues such as providing feedback during and after the assignment will be discussed as well.

The presentation is illustrated with cases that have examples of good (and not-so-good) practices. The examples are based on our experience over the last three years, involving a variety of settings from university classes to multilingual conferences. With a mixture of practical anecdotes and lessons learned, we will provide insight into the dynamics of working and improving as a team.

Maya was born in Zürich, Switzerland in 1968. After graduating with a BA in Special Education in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, she attended the Health Care Interpreting Program at St. Mary's Campus of the College of St. Catherine, in Minneapolis (USA), qualifying as RID Certified ASL interpreter in 1993. In 2003 Maya became certified as a Dutch Sign Language interpreter.

Since 1993, she runs her own business in international interpreting services, based in the Netherlands. Maya is also the policy maker of the Dutch Association of Sign Language Interpreters (NBTG), representing the Dutch Sign Language interpreters at national and international forums.

Irma Sluis, has attended the Dutch Sign Language Interpreter training program at the College of Utrecht. In 2001 she received her degree as a Dutch Sign Language Interpreter. She is officially registered at the Dutch Registry of Sign Language Interpreters. Irma Sluis interprets between spoken Dutch and English into Dutch Sign Language(NGT) and visa versa. She has experience in international settings, conference interpreting, academic and higher education, team interpreting and linguistics.
2. Angela JONES (USA)

Team Interpreting in the United States: A History and Overview

In the beginning of interpreting as a profession interpreters spent many long hours working alone. As time went on interpreters as well as consumers began to see the value in team interpreting. Research was conducted and found there to be support for having interpreters work in pairs. This presentation outlines the history of team interpreting in the United States and shares research that has been conducted on this topic. Part of that history includes information regarding how interpreting teams are not restricted to only interpreters who can hear, but importantly involve deaf interpreters as a critical part of the interpreting team as well. The paper goes on to addresses how team interpreting has changed the profession and continues to evolve. Finally, the presentation provides findings regarding not only the physical impact but also the mental impact of team interpreting verses interpreting alone.

Angela Jones was sworn in as President of Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) in August 2003. She is currently serving her second term as president. She graduated from Mesa College in San Diego, California, in 1993 with an AA degree in American Sign Language, and from the University of Phoenix in San Diego in 2001 with a BS degree in Business Management. Before being elected President, Angela served on the RID national board as Region V Representative for five years. She holds a Certificate of Interpretation and Certificate of Transliteration from RID. She currently resides in San Diego, California with her husband of 18 years.
3. Angela JONES (USA)

Team Interpreting: The Good Teammate

Any interpreter knows the joy of working with a team who is a perfect match and the frustration of working with another who is not. This paper outlines the characteristics of a good teammate and explores approaches for making even the most questionable situations a success. In this presentation the concept of pre and post conferencing is outlined along with step- by-step suggestions for making most any teamed assignment a success. Finally several models of "feeding" are discussed along with general tips and examples. Having two interpreters at an assignment is one thing, having them know how to work well together is priceless. Information in this presentation will help interpreters do just that.

See above
4. Pirkko MIKKONEN (Finland)

Self Assessment and Reflection

In Finland the Interpreter Training Programme started at higher level in two universities of applied sciences (Diak and Humak) in 1998. In Humak we have been using all the time in evaluation so called “Four field evaluation”. It is used in students’ self assessment and reflection as well as in evaluation and feed back given by lecturers.

Two years ago in EFSLI Trainers seminar in Finland all Interpreter Trainers from European countries were studying and practising this four field evaluation method – next month European Trainers are having Trainers seminar in Sweden and they will go on to develop this four field evaluation process.

Those four evaluation fields are:

1. PLANNING AND ORGANIZING SKILLS
-         Understanding theories
-         Professional concepts
-         Working roles
-         Identifying needs and motivations
-         Preparing techniques

2. SOCIAL SKILLS
-         Promoting interactions
-         Cooperation with customers and colleges
-         Flexibility
-         Independent decision-making

3. TECHNICAL SKILLS (professional ability)
-         Language skills
-         Interpreting process
-         Knowledge of the subjects

4. EVALUATION SKILLS
-         Self-assessment
-         Critical evaluation of the quality of action and development
-         Ability to give and receive feedback
-       To choose suitable working methods

In my presentation I will explain more about team and personal assessment and reflection.

Pirkko Mikkonen is a Director of Degree Programme in Sign Language Interpretation and currently holds MA in Education and is Teacher for the Deaf, too. She taught Deaf children for 9 years. Aside her teaching, she is also an interpreter since 1978 and started teaching sign language in 1980. She became an Interpreter Trainer in 1983 and is now Director of the training programme. The Interpreter training in Finland has been full time studying: first one year training (1983-86), then two year (1986-88), then three year (1988-98) programme. Since 1998 Interpreter training has been on Higher level at Humak University of Applied Sciences. The Students make their BA degree in 4 years. It has been a great honour to develop Interpreter Training Programme in Finland during those 23 years!
5. Katarina MåRTENSON & Gunvor SVENSSON (Sweden)

Teamwork with everyone involved

We would like to share with you our experience of teamwork and cooperation. We work in a company or interpreter agency of 19 interpreters.

Many of the assignments we get last over a period of time, for example we interpret to students in educational settings for months or years. A small group of interpreters alternate, which means they know what has been discussed in class. The cooperation with the deaf student and with the teacher can develop in a good way.

Another setting which requires a lot of teamwork is meetings of people that are deafblind. In those situations the cooperation is a very complex process, there are teams or pairs of interpreters working together in the team but also cooperating with other teams. You have a teamwork going with the person/-s you are interpreting for. The situation is often dependent on technical equipment and cooperation is required for it to work well for everyone involved.

We would like share our experience of cooperation clients-interpreters-coordinator. Maybe we can give some food for thought, start discussions on different practices and get suggestions on other and better ways.

Katarina Mårtensson is a trained and authorized Sign Language Interpreter. She is also Interpreter for the Deafblind. She graduated in 1997 and is employed at Stockholmstolkarna, a private interpreter agency.

Katarina was chairman for the Swedish national association for sign language interpreters (STTF) for 2 years. During her years on the board she participated in developing the ethical guidelines for sign language interpreters in Sweden.

Gunvor Svensson is a trained Sign Language Interpreter and Interpreter for the Deafblind. She graduated in 2000 and is employed at Stockholmstolkarna. In 2004 she studied Interpreting Theory (10 credits) at Stockholm University.
In spring 2006 she mentored Interpreter Students during their last term of training.

Gunvor was on the board of the Swedish national association for sign language interpreters (STTF) for 2 years.
6. Petr VYSUČEK (CZE)

The situation of team interpreting in the Czech Republic and the position of a Deaf interpreter in a team of interpreters

The Czech Sign Language is still struggling for its status in the Czech Republic. According the Law of the Sign Communication, which was accepted on May 21st 1998, people with hearing disabilities have right to use signs as means of their communication (Czech Sign Language, Signed Czech). The situation of the Czech Sign Language, of the Deaf and their genuine and valid right to the interpreting services is getting better (has improved) since the Law was established (the enactment of the Law). But (However,) high-quality classes of the Czech Sign Language are still not common in the Czech Republic. That is why there is such a lack of good CSL interpreters, whose services would cover the real needs of the Czech Deaf community. One positive step forward is the change of the rate of CODA interpreters and the interpreters, who do not have deaf families. Since 2003 the Czech organisation of the Sign Language Interpreters has been providing a Certificated Educational Program for CSL interpreters, transliterates of the Signed Czech and visualisateur of the spoken Czech, where all interpreters can learn and/or improve their theoretical and practical individual interpreting skills.

Nonetheless, there are no programs or classes for systematical education and training of whole teams of interpreters. This fact can cause problems in situations, when more than one interpreter is needed and the interpreters have to create an "interpreting team" for the occasion. Such a situation can generate a lot of difficulties: the interpreters do not perceive each other as partners but as competitors, they are not able to accept a professional help of a colleague in other way than as a humiliation and a personal failure, the interpreters are presenting just themselves and their personal skills, they do not know how to cooperate in a team, they do not respect each other, and they do not feel collective responsibility for the final result. It gets even more difficult in the case, when the "hearing" interpreters have to cooperate with the deaf interpreters. Such a specific situation is not common in the Czech Republic. The deaf interpreters are often not used, even for occasions suitable for them - as they are professionals and native speakers of CSL. The "hearing" interpreters do not accept their deaf colleagues as interpreters of the same value and skills, and they do not seem to need their help. There is a strong prejudice against the deaf interpreters connected with a common opinion that a Sign Language interpreter has to be hearing. I am convinced that the hearing and the deaf interpreters should cooperate. They could share their experience, language skills and work together to improve the quality of interpreters and interpreting services. I believe that our colleagues abroad have more experience with setting-up of professional interpreting teams, even the mixed ones - teams in which the hearing and the deaf interpreters work together. I would be glad, if we found a way how to cooperate, as far as the issue of the mixed interpreting teams is concerned.

My name is Petr Vysuček and I am Deaf. My parents are also Deaf. I attended nursery, primary,secondary school and college in the scope of special school for hearing impaired in Hradec Kralove.

After primary school I studied at the College of Education, five years full time study, from which I graduated with school leaving exam. After it, I enrolled to the Czech in the Communication of the Deaf course at the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, Charles University in Prague. I was accepted and I studied four years for bachelor’s degree. When I graduated, I decided to continue in my study with additional two years for master’s degree of the same program. I am currently finishing my second year, with master thesis to be completed.

In addition to that I have been also working since I had been studying. My full time job is at the Faculty of Philosophy and Arts, Charles University in Prague, where I work as the fellow of the program Czech in the Communication of the Deaf which I graduated from. In the scope of my responsibilities, I participate many researches linked with sign language, I also lecture at the courses for hearing and Deaf students.

I also work as the chairman of the organisation Pevnost – Czech Centre of Sign Language, the main concern of which is teaching the widest society the sign language. I also work there as Czech sign language lecturer. My other job is an external employee of Czech Television, as the TV Deaf Club presenter, together with my colleague Radka Novakova.

I also accepted a small duty in the JPD3 project within Czech Chamber of Sign Language Interpreters,where I cooperate as the member of realisation team “Sign Language Interpreter”. The project is called “Lecturers Training and Teaching Materials Developing for Sign Language Interpreters, Signed Czech Transliterators and Spoken Czech Visualisators”.
7. Kateřina ČERVINKOVÁ-HOUŠKOVÁ (CZE)

Team cooperation by "shadow interpreting" of a theatre performance

At the very beginning I would like to introduce the project "Tracy's Tiger - a theatre performance transferred to the sign language by so called "shadow interpreting". (How and when the project originated, number of participants, establishing a contact between the theatre and the organisation of interpreters, and purpose of the project.)

In the following part (chapter) of the paper (thesis) I will analyse, how the team of interpreters is set together and the situations, which occurred during this process. Further, I will pay attention to the whole team working on the performance and I will examine in detail particular types of the team relations among the participants of the project (interpreters, actors, director, interpreter - supervisor, Deaf - supervisor) and types of the team work (preparatory work, ongoing work, and work in substandard situations).

At the end (in the conclusion) I will try to form general rules for team cooperation during "shadow interpreting" of a theatre performance coming out of our over three-year work (experience) in this field.

Kateřina Červinková Houšková is hearing. During her study at college, she attended sign language courses. At that time she started to meet Deaf regularly. Her work with children led her to the idea of organising Camps for hearing impaired children. This was done first on behalf of Czech Union of the Deaf Prague, later organised by the association “Setkání”, which she has founded.

During 1996 – 2004 she organized 11 integration camps and more than thirty weekend activities for hearing impaired children and the youth. She also founded the Deaf group singing in sign language “Quiet Music”, and she has been its leader till now. She is member of Czech Chamber of Sign Language interpreters since 2003 and was the member of Chamber Committee in 2004-2005.

She graduated in 1999 (Faculty of Education, Charles University in Prague, Family Education, Social work specialization) and 2001 and received a master degree in Special Pedagogy. In the years 1997 – 1998 she passed inter-course additional Czech in the Communication of the Deaf at the Faculty of Philosophy & Arts, Charles University in Prague.

She worked as an interpreter at the College of Health for hearing impaired in Beroun (1997 – 2000) and at the same time as the leader of the Free time centre for hearing impaired children and the youth in Prague (1998 – 1999). She had worked as an interpreter at the Faculty of Education, University of Hradec Králové in the years 2001 – 2004. She obtains her working experiences also thanks to regular interpreting of cultural events (Signed by Heart, Three Kings concert, Tracy’s Tiger etc.) and also as an interpreter of the Centre of providing interpreters to the Deaf. She worked also as the sign language lecturer in the Czech Union of the Deaf.

She has been working at the College of Education for hearing impaired in Hradec Kralové as the interpreter and teacher since 2000. She lives in Čestice, village nearby Hradec Kralové with her deaf husband and two deaf children.
8. Oana FARCAS (ROM)

Team Interpreting: a challenge in the Romanian context

The answer to the question: "Who is an interpreter?" can be related to this: "You are only a person in the world, but for a deafblind person you are the whole world", so the role of the interpreters and of the partners in all the communication situations is to connect the person with the world and this an enormous undertaking.

There may be a need for a team interpreting due to length of assignment, complexity of material, pacing of speaker, multiple speakers, working with a Deaf-Blind consumer, or a need to copy sign questions from the audience. In this paper, I will simply underline that a real team is like this: your team mate and "you" will mean the on interpreter, and I can not understand "team" interpreters thinking that they are just there to wait for their turn.

I will discuss also some of the team principles like:
- The "real" teams are built - not born.
- Teams come together and become productive through work - not through a series of abstract and unrelated "teaming" exercises. Although relevant activities and exercises certainly have their place in team development
- Teams largely benefit from comprehensive training that focuses on the appropriate technical and team-related skills. They need knowledge of specific process improvement, problem solving, and group facilitation tools to be effective.
- To effectively facilitate teams, you must pay attention to the task/content side and the maintenance/behavioural side of the equation.

A specific part of the paper will be about involving native speakers of sign language in the interpreting team, as a particularity in the Romanian context and in the end "The nice thing about team work is that you always have others on your side".

Oana Farcas from The Consultancy Center for the Deafblind, “Babes Bolyai” University in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, is an interpreter and a teacher for deafblind children. She is also, the national trainer for teachers working in deafblind units in Romania. Her main interest is always communication and interpreting for deaf and deafblind individuals. For her master degree, she wrote her dissertation on total communication and interpretation. She interprets for deaf and deafblind people at national and international conferences.
9. Selman HOTI and Versa SELMANI (KOS)

Challenges Facing Team Interpreters in a Developing Country

Sign Language Interpreter Training began for the first time in the history of Kosovo in 2005. This was made possible by funding received from the Finnish Association of the Deaf (FAD) and the Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Training takes place one weekend every month over a two year period and will be completed in December 2006.

The first year had a total of ten modules and the second year has seven modules. The first year began with an introduction to sign language interpreting at a basic level. In the second year of training, the concept of Team Interpreting was introduced. Prior to this training module, Team Interpreting was non-existent in Kosovo. This paper will highlight the challenges faced by the local interpreter trainer, the Project Interpreter Trainer Advisor from Australia and the international guest interpreter trainers from Canada, Australia, Ireland and England on how to develop relevant resources and the creative approaches needed to begin to train students in the classroom setting. These included operating between Albanian, Bosnian, Serbian and English spoken and signed languages.

This paper will also outline the practical challenges faced by the interpreter training students in putting the theory of Team Interpreting into practice in the classroom setting. The next challenge for the Project was to explain the concept of Team Interpreting to the Deaf Community to enable interpreter training students to practice Team Interpreting in a safe environment. Another challenge was to seek out opportunities to practice Team Interpreting in mainstream settings where the concept of sign language interpreting has yet to be recognised at any level. These mainstream settings give interpreter training students the opportunity to receive evaluation of their work as a Team Interpreter. The students also receive evaluation of their work from Deaf Community members. Finally, this paper will outline the challenges facing interpreters on completion of their training.

These include the need to establish an Interpreter Booking Agency, to establish the Kosovo Sign Language Interpreters Association, the need to provide awareness to both the Deaf and wider community about the need for interpreters, the need to be paid for providing a professional service, the need for Team Interpreting and how will Team Interpreting be put into practice in Kosovo on an on-going basis given the geographic constraints as well.

Selman Hoti, is a Kosovo Sign Language Interpreter Trainer. He is an interpreter/interpreter trainer with The Organisational and Sign Language Development Project for the 11 regional Deaf Clubs in Kosovo. Selman is presently teaching 11 students in the Advanced Interpreter Training program and 10 students in the Basic Interpreter Training program. He also works as an interpreter on the Kosovar Television Signed News.

Versa Selmani, is a Kosovo Sign Language Interpreter (presently in training with the Advanced Interpreter Training program). She works as a teacher assistant/interpreter at the Prizren Deaf School.
10. John WALKER (ENG)

From co-working to co-interpreting: definition, application and curriculum.

Chereme Ltd., a training provider, has developed and delivered a programme on 'co-interpreting', which has developed over the past 6 years: primarily in Italy (ANIOS) and later in the UK (ASLI, Hampshire, Manchester College, RAD, University of Sussex).

Chereme introduced a new term, 'co-interpreting' as an extension to the commonly known concept of working in a team. If a team can be defined as:

'Two or more people working together in an organised way to achieve the same aim'. When applied to interpreting, this definition may refer to how two interpreters can co-operate in the same space, but how can interpreters work together to achieve an improved interpretation?

This paper will define what co-interpreting means; will draw on examples of good practice between interpreters, Deaf or hearing; and recommend a curriculum for training.

John Walker, Director of Chereme Ltd., is a qualified trainer in personal and professional development and an associate member of Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. He has also developed programmes in 'assertion' and 'mentoring' training for sign Language Interpreters. John is currently studying as a Deaf interpreter at University of Durham's Post Graduate programme in the UK.
11. John HAY (ENG)

DEAF AIDES as co-workers with SL Interpreters

The issues of using deaf persons to support Sign Language interpreters during their course of professional services are complex. The new term DEAF AIDES is very distinct from Deaf interpreters, Deaf relay interpreters and Deaf translators who are currently engaged after having undertaken formal training. This presentation would be like a forum.

It would enable conference participants to share their experiences on how they benefit from using deaf persons to support their professional services especially in specialised areas such as mental health services, community settings, legal situations, educational arenas and so on. Issues on using deaf persons untrained in aspects of interpreting, representation, advocacy, etc during interpreting situations would be also discussed. Case studies will be presented for open discussion.

Currently on his Winston Churchill Travelling Fellowship study tour of Deaf Museums and Archives, John A. Hay is Senior Lecturer for Deaf Studies & BSL/English Interpreting at the University of Wolverhampton since September 1998. He is supported by services of BSL/English interpreters through the HM British Government "Access-to-Work" initiative thus making his professional employment more efficient and functional and also, on equal par with his hearing counterparts.

Being Deaf since birth and also, having a Deaf wife and two Deaf sons, he is the consumer of interpreting services in a wide variety of settings for many years. For nearly a decade until his emigration to England, John was strongly associated with the Scottish Association of Sign Language Interpreters contributing towards its training programmes, recruitment of trainee interpreters and assessments. John is also known for his passion of Deaf History of which he is internationally renowned for having been President of Deaf History International.