Metaglossia: The Translation World

Eight hearing-impaired students are expressing disappointment on learning that during the past few days of school there were no interpreters to assist them with their school work.

A state review of a controversial hire indicates that although several people had reservations about the hiring of a sign language interpreter, she was the pick of the boss...State Career Education Di...

Superbe initiative de la part du CHU de Nancy. Tout part d'une nouvelle recrue, le Dr Isabelle Bouillevaux, qui en plus de ses 10 années d'études de médecine, a eu le courage de se mettre à apprendre la langue des signes. Cette toute jeune spécialiste voulait être plus entière dans sa pratique, mieux communiquer avec ses patients.

Du coup, elle veut faire profiter un maximum de personnes de son savoir. Et on la comprend ! Alors elle a eu l'idée d'organiser des conférences en langue des signes, sur des sujets de santé publique. Depuis le mois de Mai, ces conférencs ne désemplissent pas !

En ce moment, elle informe les patients sourds - 20 à chaque fois - sur le cholestérol. Rien n’est laissé de côté : hygiène de vie, hygiène alimentaire, risques et traitements sont au cœur du débat afin de sensibiliser au mieux des patients venus de toute la région.

Pour la rentrée, le CHU de Nancy va continuer ces conférences et en créer de nouvelles; notamment à destination des personnes devenues sourdes ou malentendantes. A la différence des personnes nées sourdes, ces conférences ne seront pas en langues des signes. Un exercice qui requiert également du temps de préparation puisque les médecins devront à la fois parler distinctement et articuler de manière à se faire comprendre par tous, avec utilisation d’une boucle magnétique si besoin est. Avec un programme si varié, nul doute que les listes d’inscription seront vite remplies !

A National Group that advocates for deaf people is weighing in on a situation here in Arkansas that it says could put deaf and hard of hearing Arkansans at risk.

LITTLE ROCK -
Dissatisfaction over the state's hiring of a sign language interpreter is spreading beyond Arkansas' borders.

A national organization is going straight to the top…urging Governor Beebe to get involved.

It is a letter dated today…and it is a letter that goes over the head of Department of Career Education Director Bill Walker in hopes of affecting change.

The National Black Deaf Advocates bills itself as the leading advocacy organization of black deaf and hard of hearing people in the U.S.

In a letter to the governor's office dated August 27th, the "NBDA expresses great concern on behalf of the deaf community in the state of Arkansas."

The letter goes on to say "We believe ARS failed to follow the principle that individuals must have national or state level credentials in order to provide professional interpreting services."

It warns that "…your state could potentially face a violation of the civil rights of deaf clients of Arkansas Rehabilitation Services as well as a violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act."

"Black deaf and hard of hearing Arkansans have a right to the best the state can offer in quality interpreting."

The letter closes by suggesting that Arkansas "…re-evaluate and reconsider the hiring practice" that allowed this current situation.

Agency Director Bill Walker was appointed by Governor Beebe five years ago.

Walker stands firm in his belief that the woman picked for this interpreter position was a good hire despite a growing number of complaints.

MINDEN — Minden resident Sandra Maria Diaz-Villalobos doesn’t get alarmed when the police call her at 1 a.m.
For an interpreter, those calls are just part of the job.
“Interpreters are invisible people because we cannot change the conversation or anything ... (we’re) just a bridge to communicate,” Diaz-Villalobos said. “When people swear, I have to swear ... I just turn red.”
Anyone who enters her home steps into a sunny, brightly painted room with plants in the windows and a bookcase filled with dictionaries that Diaz-Villalobos uses for her translation work. She points out that translating is not the same as interpreting, although the words are used interchangeably; when she translates, she writes, and when she interprets. she speaks.
“I love this one,” she said, picking up a book on Costa Rican slang words.
She doesn’t use an online dictionary for her translation projects.