Interpreting Roles
My Experience
Interpreting
This was an exciting, yet nerving position because as the interpreter you must convey all that is spoken into ASL. Since this is one of my first times interpreting cold material with a team, I was not able to fully utilize my resources. For example, I forgot that I had a team member, and thus I forgot to look at her for feeds. While interpreting, I felt as though I was able to facilitate the main points of the message. However, I felt as though I could have been more prepared.
The Support Role
Although one is not interpreting while playing the support role, it is still a vital aspect to interpreting. As the supporting interpreter, one has to process the audio message, process the visual message, and then be able to give "feeds" whenever the interpreter in the hot seat needs assistance. It is a challenging position because as the support, one has to know what kinds of "feeds" to give, when to give them, and how to give them effectively. I found the first challenge to be difficult becuase I could not find the one word that the interpreter was looking for. For example, if the interpreter looked at me, I had to process the audio message, the visual message, and the interpreter's thoughts
Presenting
I was so excited to be able to fully discuss something that was important or interesting to me, that was not interpreting. After hearing several peer's interest, my excitement grew. As the speaker, I did not feel very nervous because I had grown up in a Co-op where giving speeches was normal, as well as unavoidable. Thus, I felt confident. However, because this topic is interesting to me, it was difficult to see the disinterest in my audience's eyes, as I explained the technical details. As a result, I sped up my presentation as to grab the audience's attention again.
Deaf Consumer
As the deaf consumer, I felt overwhelmed; my attention had to shift between looking at the power point, watching the interpreter, and taking notes. At the end of the class, I did not have many notes at all, but I felt as though I learned a decent amount about the topic. At the end, during the question and answer time, I also was confused as to who was talking. However, my interpreter clarified by stating the names of the people she did know. Also, that part was a challenge, because I forgot I was deaf; sometimes I would turn around to face the speaker, then I realized I could not hear them and turned back around to face the interpreter.
About Me
Email: sierra4rest@gmail.com
Phone: 513-374-5972