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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APRIL/MAY 2017 The Linguist 7 thelinguist.uberflip.com FEATURES idea Spanish – both are my mother tongue. I always translate into either Catalan or Spanish. What interests me is communication; words are one of the basic tools of communication but there are many aspects. I wanted to see the world so I needed to speak languages; that's why I became interested in translation. Q. How do you use your languages in your work with Access Friendly? A. At the beginning, a great part of my work was to travel and see the good practices that are implemented in other countries. We did a lot of field work, visiting people who are involved in accessible culture, art education for the blind at the MoMA in New York, Tate Modern in London, Centre des monuments nationaux in Paris. To speak English and French is a great door that opens contact with many people. Without English and French this would have been, perhaps not impossible, but much more difficult. Q. How does audio-description work differ from audio-visual translation? A. In audio-visual translation you are limited by the time code, by the silences etc. Whereas in the context of a museum, or an audio guide or a guided tour of an exhibition, you are not. You can use many other techniques and you feel more free to explain, to interact with a blind audience. Q. The Access Friendly website is available in three languages. How do you keep that up-to-date? A. I translate it myself. The Spanish and Catalan is mine. Although I translated it into English, I have a good friend who is a native English translator and she corrected it. Whenever I have to write something in English, I always give it first to a native English person who is a professional translator. Q. What are your plans for the future? A. My plans for the next 5-6 years, before I retire, are to continue improving and implementing accessible practices in museums, exhibitions and cultural tourism in Barcelona. Apart from this, I have been working on a project for the last three years to make public sculptures in urban spaces accessible – to make them speak, to make them exist, to spread knowledge about them and respect for them. accessfriendly.es © ANTONIOLAJUSTICIA; TALIA, 'G AUDI' 24/2/09 CC BY-NC 2.0)/ ANDREWGOULD, 'GALLEY, MARITIME MUSEUM, BARCELONA' 16/4/07 (CC BY 2.0) VIAFLICKR to develop this field of accessible tourism. In Barcelona, all the Gaudí sites receive lots of foreign visitors but local people with sensory impairments had no access to this heritage. Q. How did Access Friendly come about? A. I went to the tourist board and I told them I would like to put in practice some sort of accessibility at the Gaudí sites. Gaudí is ideal for blind people because we're talking about materials, textures, forms – all these things that are so tactile. [World Heritage Site] La Pedrera was very interested, so I looked for a partner because it was too much for me to do alone. When that partnership ended three years ago, I continued on my own with Access Friendly, although we continue to collaborate. Q. As a freelancer working on big projects, do you work with many collaborators? A. Yes, many. From the very beginning, I got in touch with blind people and now, many years later, I consult with them to check how our solutions will work in practice. I also work with sign language interpreters whenever I need them. The Maritime Museum recently asked me to adapt their new permanent exhibition, and I am working on this project with a few providers and professionals, including a firm that specialises in making sea vessel models and a sculptor who makes tactile elements and reproductions to scale. Q. Do you provide interpreting in Spanish Sign Language? A. In Catalonia, Deaf people who sign speak Catalan Sign Language (CSL) so we work with CSL interpreters. Most Deaf tourists come with their own interpreter – they don't expect museums to have International Sign Language interpreters. Q. What languages do you speak? A. My foreign languages are French and English, and I am bilingual in Catalan and