This is a video I created with help from my friends using the Keynote presentations app. My friend Dane Allen recorded me and Austin Reeve, someone I team interpret with often. Stimulus being interpreted was taken from various YouTube clips.
My Thoughts
I learned a lot about interpreting and teaming in my internship sites. Most of my thoughts and opinions are expressed in the video above, but I wanted to add some personal experiences below, comparing what I've learned from different settings.
Higher Education
In higher education, I relied on my team more than in any other setting I worked in. It was also interesting to see how it differs from K-12 interpreting. In K-12 interpreting, the interpreter often knows more than the student, and also serves as a bit of a coach along with interpreting. In college, the student very often knows just as much as, if not more than, the interpreter. I learned from this setting the need to include the student as a part of the interpreting team. For example, in one of my observations I went to an advanced microbiology class, one that I understood very little of the content in spoken English. The student clearly had a better grasp of the subject than me and while the interpreters did a great job, this subject was not their forte. I also noticed that even if I fingerspelled something wrong or fast or interpreted incorrectly, the college students knew what I meant. I looked over to my team very often and am grateful they were attentive and knew how to give me feeds.
High School
In high school, I had the opportunity to work with two mentors in voicing and signing. There's a definitive difference in sitting close to your team when voicing and being across the room from each other. I also learned how to meet students' IEPs and match their needs individually from working with my teammates.
Junior High School
I noticed that in the junior high, as well as at the elementary school, debriefing is done significantly less. I noticed preparations were being done in both of these settings, but debriefings were almost never necessary except when something was out of the ordinary. I surmise that this is because the interpreters work with each other all day throughout the school year and also that the content is basic. If the content were more challenging, or if the team didn't work with each other so often, I suspect more debriefing would be done.
Elementary School
In elementary school, interpreters almost always work alone unless there is a severe linguistic need. Due to the pacing and simple content of elementary school classrooms, one interpreter is comfortable and two would be too much. That's the feeling I had when I was at the elementary school. I think I might enjoy it when I'm working on my own, but I felt it was unnecessary to have two in the class.
Platform Settings
Doing platform interpreting is how I learned most of the techniques mentioned in the video above. I also learned about how to use whatever means available to help your team and for the message to be accessible. At Fan-X my team gave me verbal cues to help me with turn taking as well as with giving feeds when the content was moving very quickly. The teammates did a great job watching me and making sure I was keeping up in order for the information to be interpreted.
Higher Education
In higher education, I relied on my team more than in any other setting I worked in. It was also interesting to see how it differs from K-12 interpreting. In K-12 interpreting, the interpreter often knows more than the student, and also serves as a bit of a coach along with interpreting. In college, the student very often knows just as much as, if not more than, the interpreter. I learned from this setting the need to include the student as a part of the interpreting team. For example, in one of my observations I went to an advanced microbiology class, one that I understood very little of the content in spoken English. The student clearly had a better grasp of the subject than me and while the interpreters did a great job, this subject was not their forte. I also noticed that even if I fingerspelled something wrong or fast or interpreted incorrectly, the college students knew what I meant. I looked over to my team very often and am grateful they were attentive and knew how to give me feeds.
High School
In high school, I had the opportunity to work with two mentors in voicing and signing. There's a definitive difference in sitting close to your team when voicing and being across the room from each other. I also learned how to meet students' IEPs and match their needs individually from working with my teammates.
Junior High School
I noticed that in the junior high, as well as at the elementary school, debriefing is done significantly less. I noticed preparations were being done in both of these settings, but debriefings were almost never necessary except when something was out of the ordinary. I surmise that this is because the interpreters work with each other all day throughout the school year and also that the content is basic. If the content were more challenging, or if the team didn't work with each other so often, I suspect more debriefing would be done.
Elementary School
In elementary school, interpreters almost always work alone unless there is a severe linguistic need. Due to the pacing and simple content of elementary school classrooms, one interpreter is comfortable and two would be too much. That's the feeling I had when I was at the elementary school. I think I might enjoy it when I'm working on my own, but I felt it was unnecessary to have two in the class.
Platform Settings
Doing platform interpreting is how I learned most of the techniques mentioned in the video above. I also learned about how to use whatever means available to help your team and for the message to be accessible. At Fan-X my team gave me verbal cues to help me with turn taking as well as with giving feeds when the content was moving very quickly. The teammates did a great job watching me and making sure I was keeping up in order for the information to be interpreted.