What Interpreting Training Taught Me

In 2006, I was a mere high school student fascinated with sign language, determined to learn the language and become an interpreter. I spent evenings going to night classes to prove my feeble skills, graduated high school and went into a one-year program of immersion, and then what was to be two years of interpreting training. In 2010, I entered the work world and spent four years working in the education system and local community.

There is much to be said about the training process, which I would love to see changed/altered to empower, enrich and encourage interpreters better. Still, there were also significant aspects in my journey in that training, which I continue to use daily as a creative writer and multi-media producer.

Know Your Biases

To keep an interpretation clean from your bias and allow the message to be received as intended, you must know your personal opinions/biases. In always being aware of your own opinions, you can set them aside and move forward with whatever message is being said.
In many respects, that has led me to the mantra:
“You can’t hold space for others if you do not hold space for yourself first.”

If You Feel Critical, Get Curious

I will never forget how hard-hitting this statement was early on in the interpreting training process. It’s easy to vent, rant, rage, posture and go on about something you feel strongly about, but it’s much more complex and honourable to get curious and sink into asking why. ‘Why?’ to yourself and ‘why?’ to the world around you.
This phrase has been a constant companion when I have felt the desire to defend, project or prolong unhealthy discourse.

Research, and then Research again.

Similar to ‘get curious,’ never let what you think you know of something be the end of your assumptions. Assume you have more to learn, discover, and decide on.
This not only keeps you current, but it keeps you aware of your own inability to know everything.

It’s Not About You

When you walk into a room, it’s never about you. You are not supposed to stand out, suck the air out of the room or make a show of yourself. You must conduct your job as effectively and clearly as possible with as little disturbance to the environment around you as possible.
Outside of interpreting, this has kept me aware of how to show up confidently while also working hard to collaborate effectively, stay true to my ‘reasons/intentions’ for being in any one place and make sure I look out for those who need to be seen or heard.

Explain what Something is by What Something Isn’t

In a visual language, such as American Sign Language, it is contextually helpful in many scenarios to express first what has been determined in communication as ‘not what I mean' and then progress to ‘what I actually mean.’ Much of spoken language is repetitive and stream-of-consciousness, and we often over-clarify in our speaking what we mean.
By pausing and letting ourselves take in the missing pieces in our communication in everyday life, we can better pivot and express agreement on what might be confusing, unclear, etc. and readily go forward into what we mean, what is better expressed and move forward.

For these lessons, I am thankful.

Onwards,