New Tip of the week

Develop Sense memory

Sense memory is that wonderful sensation of your body knowing what to do without you having to think about it. Remember when you first learned to ride a bicycle, or roller skate. Before there was success, there was this tricky little thing called "balance.' Your body had to learn how to shift your weight minutely to keep you from falling to one side or the other. In the same way, the muscles of your hands can learn patterns and actions that can reduce the amount of time you put into thinking about the interpreting process.

Consider how much easier it is now to spell your own name than the day your first learned to fingerspell. With practice, you are spelling it because it is your name, not because of each letter identified with the spelling. In the same way, we can practice words to spell, or commonly signed phrases so our multi-tasking brain can trust the hands to handle certain things. Just remember, this is not permission to interpret on auto-pilot. Just train yourself to trust what you know how to do.

New Tip of the week

Test yourself

Video tape yourself interpreting an unfamiliar piece. Put the tape away and listen/ watch the source material until you can make an outline of the major points (introduction, 3 main points, conclusion) and some pertinent details. Ask a colleague for assistance if you are unsure you got it all. Wait three weeks. Now, watch the interpretation while checking off the major points and details from your notes. Did you get 90%? If not, consider what was missed. Were they major details or minor? Did you struggle with pronouns? These are the areas to focus on while practicing over the next months.

Anyone who tells you they got 100% is fibbing. We do have two languages involved and exact duplication is virtually impossible due to culturally-bound information. Transliteration may get closer, but even there minor details are likely to be changed or dropped.

New Tip of the week

Use video resources wisely

Remember all those tapes of proficient ASL signers you have access to? Use them in more than one fashion. Perhaps the first time, leave the sound off and see how well you understand the discourse. Sometime in the future, practice your voicing technique, comparing yourself to the voice interpreter if one is available on the tape. Again, at a later date, try changing the register of your voicing style. Pretend you are interpreting for a business meeting, then try again as if explaining the same material to a second grader. Finally, use that proficient signer as a model to improve your own signing style and grammatical structures. Mimic the signs and facial grammars until they become a tool you can use without thinking.

Another tip...

Become familiar with your own process.

The truth of the matter is, 90 percent of interpreting takes place in the brain, not on the hands or out the mouth. And none of us can get inside your head as well as you can. Learn what works for you, what helps your clients to understand you better.

What can you do to make your nerves subside? How can you learn to trust you more?

Take advice when offered, but only keep what works for you. Become your own diagnostician. It may put me out of business, but the profession will be the better for it.

Public Speaking

As interpreters we tend to focus much of our attention on improving our signing skills. Just as often we need to attend to our ability to speak effectively. A theater class can teach one to project clearly, analyze a text and modulate one's voice to match mood and manner. A speech class can also help one analyze a text but adds the skills of persuasion, exposition and improvisation to one's bag of tricks.

Interpreter's need an expansive vocabulary and a clear understanding of register in order to make their English production match the source text. Theater and speech classes are a good way to start. Continue by joining Toastmasters or a neighborhood theater company to further hone the skills. Besides, it might be fun!

Cold Weather Tips

Clearly cold weather is soon upon us. We all know the warning:

Keep your hands as warm as possible.

Here are some suggestions for doing so.

1. Wear mittens (best because each finger warms the one next to it)
2. Wear warm gloves (i.e. those with fur or cashmere lining)
3. Purchase hand warmers (i.e. some are chemically activated and designed for hunters)
4. Warm your hands by holding a hot cup of water or other beverage.
5. Hold your hands under warm running water.
6. Dip your hands in a warm wax machine, if available.
7. Warm-up by performing some gentle exercises.

Tip of the week 4

Students are always asking me how to improve receptive fingerspelling skills. My favorite?

Play "Wheel of Fortune" as often as possible.

Knowing the topic, the approximate number of letters and a few of those letters is often all we catch the first time around a word is fingerspelled. This program helps develop closure skills which will prove useful in filling in the gaps while reading fingerspelling.

Besides, it is still fun to watch after all these years.