The Linguist is a languages magazine for professional linguists, translators, interpreters, language professionals, language teachers, trainers, students and academics with articles on translation, interpreting, business, government, technology
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@Linguist_CIOL OCTOBEr/NOVEMBEr The Linguist 25 FEATURES thus important to highlight that this brokering has not only been performed by hearing members of the communities (such as the children of deaf adults), but also by deaf members of the community. Even so, Christopher Stone and I contend that: "The history of Deaf interpreting is a mirror image of that of 'hearing' sign language interpreting, with similar milestones, but a very different history and power relationships in particular. Deaf interpreters are thus uniquely situated at the point of contact between two different languages and cultures, which are of unequal status." 6 As practitioners who are themselves deaf, they work with people from the majority language and culture, and from the minority language and culture, to broker communication, aided by their own experience in language brokering and communication with hearing people, along with their sign language skills. Towards professionalisation Sign language interpreting became an independent profession in the Uk with the establishment of the interpreter registration panel by the Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People in 1982. Nine interpreters who had passed a new assessment, and 112 people who had the Deaf Welfare Examination Board (DWEB) qualification (for missioners who were able to interpret), joined the register. Although there were deaf people in the first few intakes, they were a small minority. Deaf practitioners seem to have continued to work without training or registration as 'relay interpreters' alongside trained hearing colleagues, particularly when the deaf client has atypical sign language use or is deafblind. A relay interpreter is used in spoken language or sign language settings when the usual triad of one interpreter working with two clients is not able to bridge the communication gap. With the advent of the internet, websites, social media and enhanced access to broadcast media, there has been a growing demand for translation of written text into sign languages. In the Uk, there is a Level 6 NVQ Diploma in Sign Language Translation (introduced in 2010), and deaf people have been assigned to translate from English to BSL in a variety of settings around the world, including police and legal settings and international events. The 2003 Communications Act requires 5% of TV programmes to be subtitled in BSL, while the 2010 Equality Act has created additional work in the translation of websites and museum guides from English into BSL. More recently, translators have worked from an English text feed in an autocue into BSL at conferences and live on the BBC News. There are still no qualifications for deaf people who work as deafblind relay interpreters or sign language relay interpreters, although there are qualifications for deaf practitioners who interpret between two sign languages or translate from (written) English to BSL. This latter development was only possible when the National Occupational Standards were amended to delete reference to speaking and listening, which prevented deaf people from qualifying as interpreters and translators. 7 English speakers can qualify to work as lipspeakers (who repeat spoken messages for people who can lipread) 8 and speech-to-text reporters, thereby qualifying to work in the same language but in a different mode. however, a deaf person is not permitted to register as an interpreter working between different modes of the same sign language – an inequality that needs to be addressed. Why a deaf practitioner? There is a body of literature that outlines how gender, race, class and aspects of our identities mark our relational positions. 9 Deaf practitioners share a relational position with deaf clients, and minority language communities use interpreters that share the same positionality as their clients. Most It is useful to consider the impact of using terms which sub-categorise deaf practitioners IMAgES © ShUTTErSTOCk