In the midst of my preparations for – or rather avoiding my preparations for Signing Hands Across the Water, I’ve been collecting some information for this post for a little while now.
When my ‘s*** hearing people say… to deaf people’ blog became a surprise hit, I pondered on other possible themes for the meme (ooh, poetry, and I wasn’t even trying) and a chance comment by a Sign Language Interpreter made me think… what DO people say to Sign Language Interpreters?
So I asked a few terps, all of whom shall remain anonymous, and wow. Seriously, wow. I’m assured that most people are not like this, but as the saying goes, there’s always one…
“How long did it take you to learn Braille?”
It’s depressing and fascinating how many terps gave an example linked to Braille, from “do you speak Braille?” to “I’ve always wanted to learn Braille.” What is this obsession with Braille???
*Let’s see if the interpreter can interpret THIS… Insert silly word that is usually easy to interpret*
Grow up.
*Let’s see if the interpreter can interpret THIS… Insert rude word that then gets a laugh – at terp*
No, really, grow up.
“Who do I look at, you or them?”
Sigh.
“Oh no, don’t interpret that!”… the answer is usually “I just did.”
Sign Language Interpreters usually interpret simultaneously. You cannot call things back. And also – Booyah!
“They look a bit angry don’t they?” (Of someone who is just signing)
Do they look angry? Does their face look angry? Believe me, you’ll KNOW when they’re angry.
“Are you the signer?”
Sign Language Interpreter.
“Are you the sign lady?”
No, they’re the Sign Language Interpreter.
“Are you the madam interpreter?”
They’re not a dominatrix! Notice the lack of studded whips and fluffy handcuffs. They’re a SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETER.
“Are you the sign gesture person?”
Nearly, but not quite. It’s SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETER.
“Are you the hand waver?”
Oh, for the love of…
“Excuse me, do you mind not interpreting this? This is a private conversation.” (while on the phone and speaking loudly enough to hear)
Excuse you, if the deaf person was hearing, they’d hear your little tiff with your soon-to-be-ex, just like every other hearing person in the vicinity, in fact I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but a few people are listening. Why shouldn’t the deaf person have the same access to this salacious gossip? Now leave the poor terp alone.
*When asked for more prep (since they had hardly provided any at all)*
“Oh, why? You’re not going to be miming that as well, are you?”
Words fail me. Or should I say mimes…?
“Oh, you work with deaf people? Oh, that’s so nice / wonderful / kind of you.”
Yeah…
“Oh how terrible it must be to be deaf… but I’d rather be deaf than blind.”
That remark would be random at the best of times.
“Do they always use hand signals?”
No, sometimes we use flashing lights, vibrations and touch. Or sometimes we use the medium of dance. Get down, baby!
Speaking of dance…
“Did you train at a dance school?”
Look, it was a sarcastic comment, OK? We don’t really communicate in dance. Except under special circumstances involving nightclubs and hot non-signing people.
“If you lose your job, you can become a ticket man!” *laughs*
I actually had to have this one explained to me; apparently at the horse races, the guys taking bets can communicate odds at some distance with special hand signals to each other. Oh, I see. Ha ha ha.
“If you lose your job, you can get a job as a plane marshal! You know, the ones with the orange flags?” *laughs*
Ha, bloody ha.
“Can I get one like you?”
Get one what? Can you clarify exactly what you mean, before someone calls the police?
“That must be almost as difficult as doing foreign language interpreting.”
Erm, simultaneously interpreting from one language to another, something that’s usually only attempted at the UN, and Sign Language Interpreters do it every day… Almost as difficult, yeah.
“How long have they been suffering from deafness?”
OK, that’s enough, I think I’ve seen enough now.
Or have I? If you’re a Sign Language Interpreter, for your sins, and you have some strange / weird / just plain stupid thing some random person has said to you about interpreting that I’ve missed, don’t keep it to yourself. Get it off your chest in the comments below!
You never know, as well as giving us all a good laugh, we might make a few people think. But let’s do it for the laugh 🙂
Donna Williams is a deaf writer and blogger living in Bristol and studying part-time in Cardiff. As well as being a postgrad student, she’s a BSL poet, freelance writer, NDCS Deaf Role Model presenter, and occasional performer. In dull moments, she blogs as Deaf Firefly (where this post was originally published) about what she sees as “a silly world from a deaf perspective!”
The Limping Chicken is the world’s most popular deaf blog, covering UK news and opinions every weekday.
Make sure you never miss a post by finding out how to follow us, and don’t forget to check out what our supporters provide:
- Phonak: innovative technology and products in hearing acoustics
- Ai-Live: Live captions and transcripts
- Bellman: hearing loss solutions
- Deaf Umbrella: sign language interpreting and communications support
- SignVideo: Instant BSL video interpreting online
- 121 Captions: captioning and speech-to-text services
- Doncaster School for the Deaf: education for Deaf children
- Signworld: online BSL learning and teaching materials
- Exeter Deaf Academy: education for Deaf children
- SignHealth: healthcare charity for Deaf people
- Lipspeaker UK: specialist lipspeaking support
- CJ Interpreting: communication support in BSL
- SDHH: Deaf television programmes online
- Sign Solutions:, language and learning
- Sign Lingual: BSL interpreting and communication services
- Action Deafness Communications: sign language and Red Dot online video interpreting
- Hamilton Lodge School in Brighton: education for Deaf children
- RAD: financial advice for Deaf people
- cSeeker: Online booking for communication support
- Krazy Kat: visual theatre with BSL
- Enable Support Services: Supporting Deaf children and adults in Suffolk, Essex, Cambridgeshire and Norfolk
- Sign Language Days: Sign language learning in schools
Enjoying our eggs? Support The Limping Chicken:
The Limping Chicken is the world's most popular Deaf blog, and is edited by Deaf journalist, screenwriter and director Charlie Swinbourne.
Our posts represent the opinions of blog authors, they do not represent the site's views or those of the site's editor. Posting a blog does not imply agreement with a blog's content. Read our disclaimer here and read our privacy policy here.
Find out how to write for us by clicking here, and how to follow us by clicking here.
The site exists thanks to our supporters. Check them out below:
- BSL Zone: TV programmes in BSL for the Deaf community
- Deaf Umbrella: what support is available for deaf students?
- Bellman & Symfon: home alerting solutions, including the mobile phone transceiver!
- SignVideo: Instant BSL video interpreting online
- SignHealth: check out the BSL health library
- 999 BSL: call 999 in an emergency, in BSL
- Appa: Looking for RSLIs, TSLIs and CSWs, apply here!
- Signly: Adding BSL to websites
- Signworld: Learn BSL online!
- DCAL: world-class research into deafness, cognition and language
- Action Deafness: “A Deaf-Led Charity” – interpreting & community support services
- Sign Solutions: Instant access to Interpreters, training and BSL translation nationwide
- InterpretersLive: On demand BSL video interpretation
- Lipspeaker UK: specialist lipspeaking support
- BID: Deaf services, including advice and support, interpreting, employment and letters
- Performance Interpreting: BSL interpreting at concerts
- National Deaf Children's Society: The leading charity for deaf children
Ian Noon
March 12, 2012
On the way to a meeting, I was talking to my interpreter on a train once next to a couple of old ladies. Once the old ladies had worked out that we were talking in sign language, one of them muttered to the other:
“They’re both deaf. I think the one next to me [the interpreter] is more deaf.”
My interpreter totally hammed it up for the rest of the journey.
Annie
March 12, 2012
I had that ‘let’s see if the signer can sign this – insert rude word -‘ yesterday. I tend to switch to finger-spelling at that point in mild defiance. The worst thing about that one is it is most often from the tutor / lecturer within educational settings, rather than the students. *sigh*
I find I don’t really mind the endless well meaning ‘who should I look at?’, ‘is she/he upset/angry/worried?’, and ‘why did you learn signing – are your parents deaf?’ because they come from people who generally want to become more aware.
The ones that get me most are the ‘Sorry, there’s no subtitles on this hour long video, you’ll have to sign it’and ‘I didn’t think they’d need a signer for that meeting because it wasn’t that important’ from people who have worked with the Deaf colleague for years. Grrr!
The funniest encounter was with concierge in a large hotel. A deaf woman asked directions to the toilets and the concierge looked at her, me and her hearing dog and made the inexplicable decision to lean down and explain the directions to the dog!
rakibear
March 12, 2012
“The funniest encounter was with concierge in a large hotel. A deaf woman asked directions to the toilets and the concierge looked at her, me and her hearing dog and made the inexplicable decision to lean down and explain the directions to the dog!”
Absolutely brilliant!! Really made me laugh!!
Cory in Texas
June 6, 2012
Annie it’s an hour later and I’m STILL laughing at the dog comment! ROFL! The college I work at has policies regarding videos and Deaf students. If the video is more than ten minutes long, I won’t interpret it. Period. If it has more than one person talking in it, regardless of length, I won’t interpret it. Period. It’s 2012, everything has captions. So far I’ve only had to tell three professors “you can’t show this in class, I’m sorry.” Only one gave me the “you can’t tell me how to run my class” and I gave her the “actually, I can in this regard” response.
Kataya Joy Davidson
June 22, 2012
Wow, when in doubt of who best will understand you always rely on the dog. HA that is too funny
Liza
May 31, 2013
That’s absolutely hilarious!
Paul Belmonte
March 12, 2012
Usually just after I’ve made a cack-handed attempt at interpreting some beautiful, expressive, eloquent language from the Deaf person: “Wow! What you do is so amazing!” No it isn’t. Language-wise, Deaf person is Oscar Wilde. I am Manuel from Fawlty Towers.
“You need to sit over there so I can see you both.” I do this every day. Trust me, I know the best place to sit so that your conversation works well.
“What do you do for a full time job?” That’s right this is just my hobby, I couldn’t ever get paid for it.
Having said that, most people I work with are great, just the occasional halfwit!
Danielle Holden
March 12, 2012
(With myself suitably sat opposite my deaf client)..
‘Would you mind sitting next to her, you seem awfully far away to help her there’…
Dan
March 12, 2012
‘Are you related?’
‘Thanks for your help. You were amazing. I understood everything you signed.’
Funny that.
‘I’ve always wanted to learn to sign.’
One of the most common.
PadraigIn Ni Raghillig
March 12, 2012
I once had a judge call me a sign typewriter! He was a stereotypical judge; about 190 and asleep most if the time so I forgave him… Also I didn’t want to go to prison for contempt 🙂 Great blog, thanks
Lou
March 12, 2012
At a Sikh wedding once, some family members were speaking in Punjabi. An old, old friend (not age wise but known myself and my hubby long enough to know what my job is!) sidled up to me and we had the following exchange:
Him “What are they saying?”
Me “Erm, I don’t know”
Him “What kind of interpreter doesn’t know?!”
Me “A BSL interpreter”
Him “Oh right, fair enough so can you read braille?”
Me “Is this a joke?!”
I’ve also had the usual “Oh you’re so amazing” Yes, yes I am and later this afternoon I shall be performing open heart surgery on a newt with merely a rusty butter knife.
“Are you the interpretator?” Yes, I’LL BE BACK!
“Are Deaf people allowed to drive or do you have to drive for them” They are allowed to drive and they even have their own money. Amazing isn’t it. Some of them evern have electricity and water in their home
I know for the most part people just do not have a clue, and I do my very best not to make them feel bad about that but seriously, sometimes all it would take is some common sense! My standard line is “Do you mind if I sit by you so that [the deaf person] does not have to play pingpong with their eyeballs”.
I love this blog thread!
Julia Anderson
March 12, 2012
The comment I seem to get most frequently is ‘ahh how nice, my sister/girlfriend/mum does signing, she works with special needs kids/retarded children/mongoloids*’
*yes, at a dinner party someone did actually use this word. And I’m not talking 20 years ago, I’m talking last year.
Sally G
March 12, 2012
“Woah hold on, you can’t come into the exam room, we need to ask them personal medical question, you’ll need to wait in the waiting room.”
“we don’t need an interpreter it’s only a 7min interview” Oh yes, I forgot deafness only kicks in after 10 minutes.
Samantha Riddle
March 12, 2012
This happens to me on a weekly basis:
The booking ends and me and the Deaf client are getting up to leave when the hearing client tells me, ‘I’d LOVE to learn sign language- tell me- how do you say ‘hello” [i show them, or interpret so the DC can show them] ‘… No really’
#facepalm
Liza
September 11, 2013
And then they ask you how to say goodbye & don’t understand how it’s the same sign. And you really can’t be bothered to explain lip patterns. Yep *facepalm*!
Christabel
December 10, 2014
I get this as a CODA all the time!
Monkey Magic
March 12, 2012
I have been called a ‘sign writer’ … just get my paintbrish out then!!
Also, I was asked by a doctor if I was permitted ‘artistic license’ after a particularly spectacular piece of voice over. The gentlemen I was voicing was minimal in his production of sign but said a lot that required a longer rendition in English. I felt that being asked this was really one of the most insulting things you can say to someone who agrees to interpret ‘truly and faithfully’ for a living.
I have also been removed from a room by a doctor who didn’t like what the client has said and who accused me of ‘adding’ because she felt she could understand the client better than me whilst never having learned any BSL. Despite the client repeating this comment again later in the assignment (no apology made by the doctor) the doctor continued to try and blank my voice-over and presence as much as possible, it was extremely unpleasant.
Cory in Texas
June 6, 2012
Magic Monkey: along those lines:
I work at a college and most professors are great, but I get the occasional not so great one. I usually ask on the first day “Have you ever worked with an interpreter before” and if the answer is “no,” i tell them “Okay, when you hear me talking in class, it’s not me talking” (and “can you ‘speak’ for so and so'” REALLY makes my blood boil. i speak for NOBODY).
Anyway, invariably, at least once a semester, the first time I voice for someone the professor will just stare at me like I’m interrupting his or her class.
One of my clients was being a smart ass once in class when a professor asked how a character died in a book (the character in the book died of a heart attack).
The client’s answer, which I voiced faithfully, was “Oh my god, his wife shot him it was terrible and so bloody!” And the professor started bawling me out. I raised my hand to indicate it was me talking and signed while I talked and just said “excuse me, I’m not talking, he is.”
I left class thinking “why on Earth would a 35 year old man with a master’s degree interrupt your class in the middle of nowhere to make a joke? And its even funnier when voicing for a female. I once got told I was “smartass” by a professor because I talked about dying my hair red and putting it in a French braid while in an all girls school as a teen. My client was talking about it in her discussion group.
People can be stupid! I’M SO digging this thread!
Melissa
July 26, 2012
I was interpreting for a brilliant student in an English as a Second Language class (a very poor placement recommendation by the college where I worked–it was largely a class to learn to SPEAK English). The student could read/write/sign in at least 3 languages and correctly answered several of the Instructor’s rather basic questions about English grammar, which I voiced. The instructor stopped, glared at me, and said, “I know YOU know the answers. Give the students a chance to answer!”. After the class, the Deaf student attempted to explain to the instructor how all this works– she was unable to grasp the concept and persisted in glaring at me for the rest of the term. Ah, higher education!
ASLproud
March 15, 2016
SAME! I am a female in my early 30’s and I was interpreting a Holistics class for a 50ish gentleman. The teacher had asked for the students to share some things that modern medicine had tried to help them overcome but that had left them with some doubts as to whether they were fully healed. After a series of heart wrenching stories, my client’s first words words were “well, I can tell you that having your testicles removed is no walk in the park.” I swear the professor’s face turned purple.
She ended up requesting that I be removed from her classroom until a more appropriate interpreter (meaning male) could be found, but my client liked me and said absolutely not.
Aaron Brace
June 13, 2012
I had a similar, disheartening experience leaving a high-profile ASL to English assignment when my team and I were accosted by a hearing person who said, snidely, “I don’t know if I should congratulate (Deaf person) or YOU!”, implying that we had made the Deaf person sound better than s/he was. In fact, we were sweating bullets to try and reach up toward the Deaf speaker’s intelligence and eloquence. This hearing individual knew just enough ASL to be dangerous, and given the topic/nature of the event, I feared that s/he might be in a position of power over some Deaf people. Frightening.
Thanks for bringing up the chance for us all to get these things off our collective chest!
Cheers,
Aaron
Claire Dodds
March 12, 2012
“Oh, you were WONDERFUL – you did SUCH an amazing job!” (commonly after an interpreted theatre performance).
Usual reply:
“Oh thank you. Can you sign then?”
“No.”
“Well how do you know I wasn’t just reciting my shopping list then?”
Pollyanna
July 12, 2013
Love that response x I was in university class with hundred or so hearing students. When the lecturer was going over boring repeating topic and I asked interpreter how was her weekend. She signed to me and lecturer none the wiser but in end of class, other hearing student came up to interpreter and told her that she saw her conversation and it was interesting than the lecturer – oh how embarrassing!
Nicole
September 8, 2014
Love this. I would always get that after a football game or wrestling match, and ALWAYS replied the same way.
Ruth Peaker
March 12, 2012
Ha ha great blog. I often get the following happen:
Me: “hi, I’m here to interpret for *insert name of Deaf person that may not be a British name*”
Receptionist: “oh, you don’t look like you speak Urdu.”
Also today a receptionist covered here mouth with her phone whilst she loudly informed the person she was calling “sorry, I’m just with this bloody deaf lady” amazingly interpreters can hear through plastic.
But, my favourite so far in a very short lived career… I was rehearsing with a theatre group for a show I was ‘signing’ (ahem) when the cue assistant asked me, “so are you bringing people from a care home you work in, is that why you’re here?”
Bah!
Mark
March 12, 2012
Ha ha so many of those or so true.
Try this – from a Major International speaker and academic
– hello we are the sign language interpreters for your lecture
– oh nice to meet you. Oh, sorry, can you hear me? Are you Deaf!
– no we can both hear we are here to listen to your talk and translate it.
– Oh silly me – of course!
However its not only hearing people. Deaf people come up with some classics!
“So have you got your level 2 then? ” (to fully qualified and registered interpreters)
“Is that right then? is it C? ” – directed to the interpreter who has just translated a multiple choice question in a critical exam !
“I’ll sit here in front of the window – its better for Deaf to have the light behind them”
interpreter – but if you want me to voice over what you sign I’ve go to see you too !!
“you should be wearing black clothes – spoken by a deaf person wearing striped teeshirt and check jacket who was about to lead an event I had to voice over watching him sign !
and of course the classic of the deaf person who tries to lipread your voiceover – but doesn’t realise you need a time lag to put it into good english ! so continually says – why aren’t you speaking what I sign !
I don’t want you to do that new-fangled BSL just do ordinary signing ! (their ordinary signing was BSL – after chatting I realised they just though of BSL as what BSL students produce in the deaf club which they don’t understand.
All good fun!
Jill Newlands
March 12, 2012
I was interpreting a performance at the theatre once and a lady in the front row asked me if I’d like a boiled sweet!
Regularly asked ‘what made you start signing?’ or ‘do you have deaf family members?’. Often asked if my deaf clients are my ‘friend’, ‘husband’, family member etc!!!
“So do you do this all the time?” Yes, even when I’m asleep!!! It really is a job, yes I earn a living doing this and I don’t do it because “it must be so rewarding!”.
Love the blog, all the comments made are frighteningly familiar!!!
Cory in Texas
June 6, 2012
Jill: I get stuff along those lines alot! Things like “Oh you are so very special to be doing this for them” etc, crap like that. I hardly have saintly intentions. I enjoy doing it but if I wasn’t being paid quite well I’d be doing something else. So, usually, when I get asked “So why do you do this for a living” i usually just say “because it pays a helluva lot more than welding.” lol.
Monkey Magic
March 12, 2012
Or … ‘Ah yes – you’re the deaf interpreter’. Hmm ….
Rebecca
March 12, 2012
I once interpreted for a lovely group of Deaf OAP’s and the hearing person kept referring to them as my grandparents….just how many parents did they think I have?!?!?
I also love the disappointing look on their face when I tell them that it isnt an International language and that they would have to learn a different sign language for each country!
Lucy
November 23, 2013
A group of foreign people watched me signing with a client and after asked me if all deaf people in the world used the same language. I explained it varies, like spoken language. I got an argumentative response until I suggested banning their home language and culture and forcing everyone in the world to be English “oh no no no you can’t do that” exactly…
Gloria
March 12, 2012
I swear this is true!……
A large organisation had responded to a Deaf person’s complaint and sent a BSL video letter (as the client had requested). At the following face-to-face meeting the Deaf man complained bitterly to the organisation stating, ” I’m really not at all happy with your video letter – there was no sound!”.
Huh????
Linda Slater
March 12, 2012
When I started learning BSL, all those many moons ago, a friend asked me why? I told her that I wanted to become an interpreter and she came back with ‘ooh, that’s for blind people isn’t it’?
Am fully qualified now, and still haven’t met any blind people who want to use me! Funny that!
rakibear
March 12, 2012
” I would like to thank the interrupters for their work this afternoon”!!
– you’re welcome??
When I arrive at the appointment I sometimes introduce myself as a sign language interpreter and say I’m here to interpret for (name of hearing person)
“but they’re not Deaf, they don’t need an interpreter”
“but I’m assuming they can’t sign either…in which case they do!!”
– point taken!!
“hi, I’ve come to interpret for (name of Deaf person)”
“what language?”
“sign language”
“what?”
– 95% of the time they genuinely don’t listen
Tracy
March 12, 2012
Deaf patient and I are chatting in BSL in a surgery waiting room, and are then called in to the GP’s consulting room. We sit ourselves down and the GP leans close to the patient, and says quietly and in a confidential tone ‘Are you happy talking about your medical condition with the interpreter in the room?’ Deaf patient’s face was a picture……
Cory in Texas
June 6, 2012
Tracy I’ve had to tell MANY people, a frightening number of them, “I’m sorry but when you need to whisper something or tell them a secret, you have to do it in my ear, not theirs.”
Helen
March 12, 2012
At the airport, I have arranged for access to announcements in case of sudden changes. As soon as I arrived at the desk, they brought an access officer with a wheelchair in tow……has anyone else experience it?
Hiccups
October 4, 2013
Yes I have had a wheelchair at the airport so I put my bags in it and made them push the chair!
Jaded Interpreter
March 13, 2012
Donna, you made me laugh out loud!
Back in the early nineties, I was booked to interpret at a large agricultural show.
I turned up to find that my base for the week was a small garden shed in amongst thousands of trade stands.
I asked the organiser how deaf people would be able to find me.
‘We’ve thought of everything,’ he said with ‘don’t-worry-your-pretty-head-about-that-dearie’ condescension.
‘Here’s your pager. All they have to do is ring the number written on the shed door, speak to the operator, explain that they’re deaf ….’
Sigh …
Strangely, the shed attracted a lot more attention than I did. I still I think missed out on a great career selling garden furniture.
L
March 13, 2012
rakibear – that’s sometimes more apt than you might know… I was in a tutorial yesterday where the room was really warm so we had to have the windows open, but unfortunately there were building works going on outside. Half the time the interpreter couldn’t hear what was going on (and frankly, if she couldn’t hear, half the group couldn’t either), so she ended up interrupting a lot to get them to repeat it. I’ll point it out to her later, I think she might find it amusing!!!
Liana
March 13, 2012
Awesome blog! Even my family struggle with the concept sometimes. One of my uncles seemed to think that I worked with blind people for some reason! Though it sounds ridiculous, I’ve actually been asked this a few times!
And yes, I’ve had the ‘so you do this full time then?’. The concept that you might do it as a job seems hard for some first timers to take in.
Happy interpretating all!! 😉
Cory in Texas
June 6, 2012
Liana: My family got me a very expensive leather backpack for Christmas a few years ago so that professors would stop assuming I was a student (I look very young for my age). And it still doesn’t work. I’m finding a LOT of us are asked variants of “what are you studying here?” “what do you do for a living” etc is pretty constant with all of us. lol. cracks me up.
Oh and I was asked just today by a professor “So did you have a long training period when you were hired here?” Seems like an innocuous question, but she was under the impression that you could just hire anyone off the street and train them in a couple months to be a terp.
The professor actually said something along the lines of “I can’t believe (insert boss name here) would just hire you and throw you into the job with no training!” (I didn’t have the heart to tell her that the head of Disability Services has no knowledge of ASL, nor did I have the heart to tell her I’m actually the rater for prospective new interpreters).
My client, thank god, with me voicing, explained to my professor “Cory is actually the most skilled interpreter in town, but all interpreters who are certified are full professionals and enter any job with an extensive skill set not limited only to language interpreting which enhances their performance. Just as a doctor isn’t trained how to be a doctor when hired on at a hospital, neither are interpreters.”
Me and my client got in the same elevator when we left the room and I just looked at him and said “Man you SO rock!”
Darcy O'Dell
December 15, 2014
Love this! It’s the best when our Deaf clients advocate for us.
David Wolfe Rose
March 13, 2012
in an interview –
just been offered the job – but the pay was crap – so opt to do worse
“do you have a telephone number – so that I can call you?”
“yes i do – depending on what type of phone do you have, the cord or the cordless one?”
“oh said the interviewer, – why?”
“well i said, with the cord type, i can lip read you on the phone, as for the cordless ones, its hard to lip-read the one, there are millions of lips flying about!”
“ok – let me write this down, as a reminder to use the Cord type only – correct?”
i was trying to suppressed the giggle!
David Wolfe Rose
Tracey P
March 13, 2012
Two of the best ones I’ve heard was when someone said to me, “Oh, your the interpreter, you do that tic-tac-toe thing from the horse racing!
The second was during the break of a Deaf Awareness course. A participant came up to me and said his sister had TWO (his emphasis) hearing aids, one for EACH ear (at which point fatigued I was stifling a giggle). Followed by, she’s considering having a cock-ear implant! At that point I burst out laughing, left hurriedly and left my co-worker to make my excuses for me. All true I promise you!
Aaron Brace
June 13, 2012
Would a “cock-ear” implant be for “aural” sex? I’d say that I couldn’t resist, but the fact is that I didn’t even try.
Liz
March 13, 2012
Oh I didnt know they were deaf, I just thought they were from another country!
Liz
March 13, 2012
You’re the one that waves her hands around all the time – yes I am
You’re the one that pulls funny faces all the time – yes I am
You’re the one who looks after the deaf – ohhhhhh
You dont have to sign to me I am not deaf – but….the deaf person still wants to know what we are talking about
You dont have to sign to me – but normal gestures with speech is not sign language grrrrrr
Liz
March 13, 2012
Wow you’re amazing, I have never seen anyone do that before – YES I AM! Thank you very much x
Alice Chance
March 13, 2012
I love it when the hearing person (who knows no sign language) says, ‘Gosh you’re really good at that aren’t you’ and I think ‘and how do you know? I could be signing any old rubbish and you wouldn’t have a clue’!!
Paul
March 14, 2012
Intepreted at a festival a few years ago, the dancer, while introducing the performance, threw in a greeting in French, (no problem there), then she decided to chuck in some Spanish (again, no issue), finally she tried some Japanese but I use to teach English in Japan for a couple of years so easy peasy. The dancer did look a bit deflated!
Cory in Texas
June 6, 2012
“Oh let’s see if the ‘sign language guy’ can do THIS!” happens to me a lot. If a professor seems irritated I’m sitting in their class getting all the attention (if it’s the first day of class and students have never seen an interpreter before, of course I”m gonna get more attention), they play a game of “let’s be ‘difficult'” and they somehow think they can trip us up. I had one prof who kept throwing in medical terms. So… I just interpreted them. There was only one I had to spell out because I didn’t know what it meant. All the other ones I did. Doesn’t it dawn on these “testers” that we just may, due to the nature of our work, have quite an extensive vocabulary in many different areas?
Words I’ve been “challenged” on:
Triskaidekaphobia.
Cardiostenosis.
blah blah blah many more. What cracks me up is that I KNOW they’re ‘testing,’ as do we all, because they’re ‘added’ and out of context for a conversation.
And yes, English teachers introducing vocabulary: We DO realize when it’s a new word and when its appropriate to spell it rather than sign it. *Yawn*
Andy
March 15, 2012
Went to a high level Government conference with a deaf professional – had a lovely engraved badge with my supposed name… wait for it…
Basil Interpreter
Sigh…
Dionne lawrie
March 16, 2012
Absolutely brilliant idea to get all the stupid comments on paper – totally worth publishing and giving away free to depressed and burned out terps….oh wait?!…that may just push the over the edge!
Had a cracker just today. A Deaf student was requesting an adjustment in an interview for university and wanted the interpreter to translate from BSL into written English for to written section of the interview. She was then told she would need to book a seperate room so the other candidtaes were not disturbed by the interpreter? Who I presume must be writing very loudly!? Donkey!
rustycoyote
March 20, 2012
LOL!!! And I thought it was just Deaf/Disabled people who experience this “cluelessness”!!!
I even blogged about it a while back about my own experiences:
http://rustycyot.blogspot.com/2011/06/are-you-that-clueless.html
eleanor
March 22, 2012
In the hospital, the nurses, doctors, etc. assume I know all the details of the Deaf person’s medical history or expect me to help dress them, give them food, and YES, give them a sponge bath!!!
bozothewondernerd
March 23, 2012
I’m a hearing non-signer (well, a slow finger-spell on a good day) and I’ve really enjoyed reading this thread. Especially thanks to those who understand that we ignoramuses will sometines make really really dumb comments and ask really dumb questons but that doesn’t necessarily mean that we’re uninterested and uncaring – just that we’re often like fishes out of water and express our interest (and thanks) in inappropriate ways. (I saw myself in many of the comments made so far – and laughed out loud!)
Humour and tolerance are great tools for making things better – thanks for the laughs!
LynnW
May 9, 2012
Comments made to me include:
“Wow do the deaf people really understand what you are signing?” Errr yes *rolls eyes*
Or
when noisy outside and asking for clarification on information missed the reply has been “Are you deaf too?”
Also, I was interpreting in a particular church for the first time when the minister introduced the service and told the parishioners to ignore me waving my arms about! Well who wants to sit through a service when you can wave your arms about!
Great thread BTW!
Eleanor
May 15, 2012
“That’s a lot of money to pay for people that just do this out of the kindness of their heart” because I can live off air and good intentions. Recently had a doctor direct me to a chair in the corner where the deaf client could not see me. When I moved to a more appropriate area he physically grabbed me under my arm and tried to pick me up and shove me out of the room. True story. Love this thread, sad thing is that’s it so funny because it’s true….
BrookeB
May 15, 2012
Although I too am newly accredited, the first that shocked the pants off me was:
“You can hear?” *not sure how the Deaf person would gain access without my hearing*
I was in a medical setting at a hospital and the Dr was not impressed that I was with the Deaf person, I explained why I was there. She then proceeded to talk to the Deaf person “Can you lipread?” when the Deaf person answered “Yes” she said “see we don’t need you, thanks!”. *All well and good to say something that a Deaf person lipreads on a daily basis but try some of that medical terminology, all of a sudden have to wonder why the Deaf person can’t understand….hmmmm*
Cory in Texas
June 6, 2012
When I hear a variant of “We’re not gonna need you, it’s just a…..” whatever, I just say “That’s not your call, sorry.”
Catherine
May 15, 2012
After ringing the government department that had disseminated a video discussing current issues, just prior to an election, and asking if they had a subtitled or interpreted version, was told “yes”… and a week later received the information in Braille.
Being reported to my interpreting agency for my inappropriate involvement in a group discussion while interpreting… I was voicing for Deaf participants as well as signing for hearing ones, and had voiced a Deaf person’s interjection to a hearing person’s story. (Worse still, the discussion was about auditory verbal vs signing options for raising Deaf children, the hearing person had said that the doctor had said that if she taught her child to sign, he wouldn’t learn to speak, and the Deaf person had responded “Rubbish!”… you can imagine how popular *I* was after that misunderstanding!)
Teacher/Pastor/Conference organiser: “I really don’t want you standing there, you will distract everyone.” [Read: No one will be looking at me, and I will feel redundant!!]
Teacher/Doctor: “Can you please stop doing that [interpreting], I need them to look at me while I am talking.”
“Can you please stand here to interpret?”… in the dark?
Cory in Texas
June 6, 2012
OOOO Catherine NO word from hearing people makes my blood boil than “Distracting.” When directed to sit where told to, I just ignore the hearing person and stand or sit where I need to to do my job.
RockWitch
May 15, 2012
My bestie is a terp, and I also sign but am hearing. We decided to go out for dinner one evening and as I needed the practice, no talking, sign only. The meal was great and the staff incredible… but the two blokes at the next table were priceless! Completely unaware we could hear every word they said they freely commented on our looks, dress etc. Imagine the look on their faces as we wished them a good night – verbally – when we left!
Catherine
May 15, 2012
Yup, had that too… standing in queue at a fun park, listening to the girls next to us say “Can you understand what they are saying?”…”Some of it, a sign here and there..”… so I sign to my husband (Deaf) “One of the girls next to us is learning sign …. lets sign faster and see if we can lose her!” :D… sharing the ride with them, then saying (in English) as we walk away “Keep up with the sign classes!” :D… same on buses, trains, etc 😀
Ruth
May 15, 2012
I was once asked by a taxi driver if the deaf person actually knew that they were deaf. Sigh.
Steve Waddell
May 15, 2012
This all happens in Australia too with the ‘Ausland’ (Auslan) for deaf/dumb/disabled people… I’m a qualified interpreter ad hear many if not all of the things on this blog regularly. I recommend YouTube searching
‘a day in the life of a sign language interpreter’
For further laughs at the silliness of some members of the ‘normal’ hearing world 🙂
Lorraine
October 5, 2013
A qualified interpreter uses the term “deaf and dumb”?
Marty
May 16, 2012
Just leaving a hospital now where the Surgeon asked me what was I called again ? a NAPLAN Interpreter !!! Hahahaha. I wonder what her score on the NAPLAN test would be !! :-p
Liz
May 16, 2012
Was asked to interpret at a university once with no prep. when I arrived, we were shown into a studio. I asked where I could sit so that the client could see me and the stage. They were going to get me a seat at the front until I found out that the part where I was going to sit was going to circle the audience in the dark ????!!!!!! I ended up sitting next to the client trying to remember everything that was said to summarise later : (
Cory in Texas
June 6, 2012
“So, what do you do for a living?” or “What’s your day job?” is my absolute favorite. When I give my reply, I invariably get asked some variant of “how much money do you make” but worded ‘nicely,’ if that can in fact be done. I work at a college and usually it’s some professor asking this, so I always make a point of slyly pointing out I’m making quite a bit more than them, and yes, living nicely on 20 hours a week (which always has to be explained too, that 24 hours a week IS full time for a terp).
And in general: ANY question or comment made to me while in the middle of working. Professors and teachers: PLEASE don’t talk to the damned interpreter when he or she is working. I have a master’s degree and am NOT in your freshman comp class. And to fellow students: NO I’m not interpreting your stupid questions to the Deaf student while on break. I’m taking a break for a reason!
Cory in Texas
June 6, 2012
OH MY FAVE: forgot this one:
I’m a terp and my best bud is Deaf. Whenever we go out for drinks, always, EVERY time, there’s always some drunk who feels the need to come up for us and demonstrate the alphabet.
And they always screw it up by “D” doing “F” instead. Always.
If ya wanna make convo, hearing people, cool. But this is the equivalent of a Deaf person learning speech to come up to you and start to very very very slowly recite the alphabet to you. You look as stupid to us as that would to you.
Pauline Roberts
June 12, 2012
On the first occasion at my current main Deaf Club it was a Grand Bingo event. I happened to have “Beginner’s Luck” Winning on the entry ticket, raffle tickets and three times on the actual bingo. On the bingo games when I won for the third time I heard a voice say, “It’s that awful woman again with the horrible hair.” Normally I am meek and mild but something sparked off in me, I turned round and said back, “That awful woman with the horrible hair can hear every single word you say.” The young teenager and her friend went a funny puce colour and did everything to avoid me afterwards. The sad thing about this situation is that they were the children of Deaf members who had attended, so you would think they would know better.
Aaron Brace
June 13, 2012
On the Braille thing… My hearing mother took up learning to write Braille in her retirement, as a volunteer opportunity with a local group who converted various books and documents into Braille. One day she said to me, “Aaron, the other day I told someone about my training and they asked me how long I’ve known sign language!” I think for the first time, I was able to have a genuine bonding moment with my mother over something to do with my work.
Cheers,
Aaron
C
June 28, 2012
This blog is making me laugh!
As a trainee terp, I have recently become freelance and am picking up very similar comments from people.
Very often, if I tell people that I am a BSL interpreter, they are very friendly and nice. But, often people quite fixated on it. So, when I am chatting away and then scratch my nose or brush my hair away, they seem to copy me and say ‘Is that the sign for that word?!’. Errr……no. Why would I be signing right now? And why would I only sign that one word??
I had one guy who became a little bit aggressive when I said I was a BSL interpreter. His first reaction was ‘That sounds like a well easy job!’. This surprised me as I hadn’t heard that one before. He continued…..’Well, if you are born with two languages, you don’t need to think about what to be when you’re older. You can just become an interpreter’. He stopped talking when I pointed out that actually, I hadn’t been ‘born’ with BSL, I have spent a very long time and quite a few pennies gaining my qualifications. Oh, yeah, you need QUALIFICATIONS before you can work. They don’t let just anyone walk off the street and start working. Jeez.
And finally, a situation that was as embarassing as it was funny. I went to a job where the Deaf client was having a meeting. The guy he was having a meeting with sat next to me and the Deaf client sat opposite me.
The guy who had come for a meeting obviously didn’t quite know what to do in this situation and decided to pick his chair up, and turn it a full 90 degrees so he was sat looking at the side of my head. Literally, about a metre away from me. My Deaf client was trying so hard to stifle his laughter and I went very red. At the end of the meeting, the guy stood up and said he had worked very hard to research and prepare a sign to show my client. The sign he had prepared was ‘Bye’. That finished us off. We had to get him out quick before erupting into fits of laughter. Bless him.
🙂
Jonathan Downie
July 3, 2012
Wow, this all makes me continual gripe that people can’t the difference between a translator and an interpreter (about £15 per hour *rimshot*) seem pathetic. BSL terps, this Conference ‘terp salutes you!
Doc
July 17, 2012
LOL brilliant article!
Great one I got in a cab to an appointment with a client. By the time we got to the end thankfully the cab stopped and we got out!!!!
Man: “Are you their teacher?”
Me: “Erm… no thats my boss?”
Man: “Are you their teacher?”
Me: “Erm… dude I just said thats my boss?”
Man: “Oh you must be his sister?”
Me: “huh?”
Man: “Its very nice to see this blind language”
Me: “Erm, he’s not blind…”
Man: “Oh he’s dumb, mute type huh?”
Me: “Erm… no he’s deaf”
Man: “What Dead?”
Me: “No Deaf! Can’t hear, use’s sign language to communicate”
Man: “So your his sister?”
Me: “Yeah I’m his mother! lets just make this easy shall we”
Claire woodcock
August 24, 2012
Thats not the sign I was shown, you must be wrong I’ve been using this one since 1984. (from a music teacher who knows no BSL) p.s I was an egg in 1984 – things have changed!!
Lucy
November 23, 2013
Ha reminds me of when a hearing person tried to make out that they were also a competany signer by showing off the alphabet that they once randomly learnt…cuz thats all I do pfft! They did it wrong then argued otherwise…what an insult to my years of training and experience as a professional!
Rachel
September 14, 2012
What do you do?
me: I am an interpreter
oh interesting what language?
me: Sign Language
*look of dissapointment* oh, I thought you meant a proper interpreter….no I mean that did real languages you know?
…..erm…
Denise
October 16, 2012
I’ve had: “oh you work with deaf children. How do you teach them what a sign means if they can’t hear the word for it? ”
“Sign language, that’s easy thought isn’t it, you just replace a word with the sign for it!”
“Wow, a sign language interpreter, so you know how to lipread!”
Cyn
November 1, 2012
Oh so much amazing fodder to play with.
At a hospital assignment for critically ill patient (who I had educated myself regarding my clients condition for several hours so I understood clearly the medical jargon and complex health issues) I was told by a nurse that i had a “cake job” and “it must be nice to do nothing all day”. Sigh…
In Education assignments while ignoring “clown” students trying to distract me, they finally decided that I was deaf and that I could not hear them, so they gave up.
I have been asked by a college professor if I would be coming to class EVERY SINGLE DAY with the deaf student. When I told him yes, he said “Well…I don’t like it. You are VERY, VERY distracting to me and the other students”, how are WE supposed to focus with all that happening in the front of the room”. ? I gave him a profession answer but just thought…
WOW DUDE, REALLY?
I have had one nurse make WILD gestures towards me while speaking loudly and like a cave man, She KNEW I was hearing. ” I PUT TOWEL, THERE….THERE IN CABINET, BATH…HE CAN BATH.
I have also been told by a nurse that I needed to leave a patients room, When I inquired ‘why exactly” She let me know that I was “Really, REALLY aggravating the patient, that any time I was around he “moved” to much. That he was obviously trying to get me to leave.
We had been sitting there chatting for a few minutes about nothing particular.
SIgh…
Ellie B
December 20, 2012
Whenever anyone finds out I’m doing interpreter training they always say ” oh are you going to be the person in the corner of the TV?”
Another classic, a friend of mine, who is deaf, was mistaken for being French. When she explained to the guy she was deaf, he said, ‘oh where are you from then?’ he then decided that she must be from a (obviously made up) country called Deafley (or something similar) because if your from France your French, so natural ‘logic’ (dumb-ass) if your Deaf you must be from Deafley!!
Gonetomars
February 23, 2013
I used to interpret for a young Deaf boy in a secondary school. It was the first time the school had had a BSL-user, and wow, did they come up with some beauties!
The “let’s see if you can sign this…” came up a lot, always from teachers. Not only was it not funny, but they never got much satisfaction from it because the client and I also used Cued Speech, so I would revert to that if the spelling was too outrageous.
Then there was “You need to be looking at the page while I read” Errr…no, he doesn’t. Same with “Look at me when I’m talking to you!”
Then there was “oh, we’re listening to a song/watching a film now, but it’s ok, it’s only for a couple of minutes.” Yeah, but I know you are then going to base the rest of the lesson on it. A film was invariably accompanied by a blackout, which I had to argue with so the client could actually see me!
Also, “can you hand out these worksheets while I explain to the class what to do?” No, I can’t! That was similar to the looong conversation about why it would not be appropriate to assign me to help a special needs child if my client was off school. It took a long time to get across to them that I was NOT a TA!
Julie
April 9, 2013
I’ve been a professional interpreter since the 1970s. Here are some of mine:
Oh, are you the hearing aid?
You help deaf people? God bless you.
You work with the death?
You must know Braille.
Oh, you do the interpretive singing.
I’ve always wanted to learn sign language. I did learn the alphabet. Let me see how much I remember…(excruciating attempt to fingerspell the first few letters). How long do you think it would take me to be as good as you? A couple of months?
And of course this one, client is a mature deaf man: Are you his sister? No? His mother? No? His wife? No? His caretaker? No? Then what are you? I’m the interpreter. Oh good, so you’ll take care of him. No, I’ll interpret for him. Then who’s going to take care of him?
John T.
May 21, 2013
After interpreting a staff meeting, the Deaf employee’s boss wanted to meet in his office. His boss, who had just finished his second week of sign language class, blocked me from entering the office saying, “Oh, we won’t need you. I watched “Mr. Holland’s Opus” TWICE this weekend and can communicate just fine.”
Really? When did you install the flashing light box and giant timpani in your office?
carrie1970
August 4, 2015
Your last sentence just made my day!!!
Liza
May 31, 2013
“Wow! You speak signing!”….hmm, wanna think about that one & try again?
And whilst supporting a Deaf Usher client in the supermarket using hands on BSL “can you understand each other?”…..no of course not. I’m just here for the hell of it.
Love this post, sadly it’s all so true!
Jackie
June 1, 2013
Loving this blog.
Here’s a couple of instances among many.
With a client who works for a large retail company and the manager says
‘Tell (client’s name) he needs to watch this training DVD’
Me ‘Are there subtitles?’ (signing all the time)
Manager, looking at me as if I had just said Balls to the Queen ‘I don’t think so, but that’s why you are here’ (client laughs)
Another. ‘Does (client’s name) want a cup of tea?water/beverage?’
Why don’t you ask them?
Manager to me ‘Am I going too fast for you?’ then proceeding to speak even faster whilst grinning.
Manager up close to the client, noses almost touching, mouthing words with voice off.
Me ‘You’ll have to use your voice if you want me to interpret and you need to step back so the client can see me’
Explaining the best seating arrangement in an interview so that the client doesn’t feel they are in the middle of a tennis match and getting a hostile reaction.
Teachers walking about the classroom and always managing to block the client’s view.
Oh, there are so many. But I love my job, I have met many wonderful people and learned so much.
Keep up the good work
Angela Spencer
June 2, 2013
A poet in an english workshop for 13 year olds actually said to me ‘sign that!’ I replied i just did.
Another favourite. And this was from an ‘INCLUSIVE’ drama workshop elsewhere ‘ stood direcly in between my client and myself stating she does not need to see the signing just needs to know where to stand……I try to remind myself that i am a proffessional.
They can lip read cant they…NO they shouldn’t have to. Thats why im here.
Sorry about the rant
Erika
June 18, 2013
“You can really understand that?”
“Are you really telling them everything I’m saying? And you’re sure they really understand you?”
JT
August 2, 2013
“Yes, I noticed when I said (insert word here), you didn’t make a gesture for it…”
And I have to explain that ASL has a different sentence structure than English.
My personal fave:
“you’re signing that wrong, my book says/my sign language teacher says/my book says/on Switched at Birth they said….”
Trust me. I know what I’m doing. if not, this person wouldn’t have hired me.
My second fave:
“Are you fluent in sign language, then?”
….No, I just sit up here and wave my arms around……NO clue what I’m doing.
JT
August 2, 2013
OH FORGOT THIS ONE:
A teacher in a class I was interpreting was talking about how her friend’s son had become deaf due to rubella. She ACTUALLY said the following:
“I don’t know why he doesn’t know sign language yet.”
I asked when he became deaf.
She said “Oh this was a few months ago.”
Yes. Deaf people are BORN knowing the language. lol
Melanie
September 11, 2013
I get: “Oh I know some sign language! I know the ABC’s.” They then proceed to do the ABC’s wrong.
Alyssa
September 24, 2013
I have a question for anyone qualified to answer: I’m hearing and know very little sign. I am wondering if it is rude to look at the interpreter sign while I’m sitting in my lecture? I know it’s rude to stare at people having a regular conversation, but I’m not sure when it comes to a classroom setting if it’s what the professor is saying to the whole class. I apologize if this makes anyone roll their eyes or put their face in their palm lol, but I’m genuinely curious and do not want to offend anyone in the future. Thanks!
Editor
September 30, 2013
I wouldn’t think so, i think that’s fine because you’re not looking at a private conversation – Ed
Angela
September 30, 2013
I love the comments! Here is my favorite encounter:
While interpreting for a nice older couple at the hospital, I had a run in with a very mis-informed nurse. The conversation went as so:
: are they from some deaf camp? no? Do they live together? yes, we are married. But they live in a facility? we have an apartment. not alone though!! (incredulously) There other deaf people in the same place. .right?
The couple and I could do nothing but stare in awe of her (for lack of a better word) stupidity!!
Liz Thomas
October 4, 2013
I was once described at college as ‘the lady who does the hand signals’.
mrs_scholes
October 4, 2013
‘You work with DEAD people?!’
No. Deaf people.
Lucy
November 23, 2013
I get this ALL the time…
Oklahoma Robin
October 6, 2013
I have a new favorite. Another educational one directed toward teachers:
“There’s no captions on this three hour movie…. I’m sure you can just sign it to her.”
No, I can’t. Nobody would be able to. The only exception would be maybe a five minute video of a talking head explaining how to do a bacteria culture in a petri dish, but even that may pose a danger for the student missing information looking at the video and looking at the interpreter back and forth. The same with handing the student a printed script: have you ever tried reading and watching a movie at the same time? You’re going to miss stuff.
IT’S 2013. USE THE CAPTIONS! (in the states, showing visual media without captions in a classroom more is an ADA violation) And regardless, showing a movie without captions is EXCLUDING the student you as a teacher made a promise to FULLY INCLUDE that student.
Bruce D
November 21, 2013
Interpreting for an Adult Probation meeting, the deaf consumer asked the officer for suggestions on where or how to get hours for community service. The officer responded “well, I doubt they will be able to place you with your “verbal disability”, but you could…
VERBAL DISABILITY??? It was everything I could do to NOT bust out laughing!
Robert Helms
November 21, 2013
I have been laughing at so many of these posts since I have experienced them too. It is great to see that ALL of us go through the same thing no matter what country where we live and work.
I would like to re-mention Steve Waddell’s suggestion to view the youtube video from Lynne Kelly and enjoy the laugh. She put in a lot of work to get that animation to work out.
A Few Minutes in the Life of a Sign Language Interpreter, The Classroom
A Few Minutes in the Life of a Sign Language Interpreter, The Job Interview
Jay
November 22, 2013
Someone once asked me “How do you say hi in sign language?” I showed them by waving my right hand. Then they asked “How do you say bye in sign language?” I showed them by waving with my left hand. Then they asked “Do you always have to sign them with opposite hands?” I said “Yup, it’s a very precise language.”
Pam
November 23, 2013
And the good ole, “So did you drive him
here? What? He drove himself? THEY CAN DRIVE?”
Heather Panter
December 19, 2013
How about..
You do really well!
From people who are in same meeting and don’t have a clue as to what you have just signed apart from the Deaf community that you are signing to.
Jennifer Dahlstrom
December 20, 2013
Almost every time I go to my Dentist he asked me if I’m still “signing.” After a while of putting up with this crap, one day I finally asked him “Are you STILL a Dentist?”
Lynne Miller
January 18, 2014
After almost an entire term in a college class where a particular Hearing student continually chatted at me, handed me things, etc., during lectures…
One day he says, “OH! I get it! You’re like a guide dog for the blind. I shouldn’t talk to you while you’re working!”
Seriously?
Lynne Miller
January 18, 2014
Stage interpreting.
Suddenly, the speaker turns to me and says, “Sign something dirty.”
I faithfully interpreted the message.
Speaker: “What is that? Is that something dirty?”
I faithfully interpreted the message.
Speaker (turning back towards audience and signing ‘dirty’) : “I don’t know what it means, but it’s “dirty”!
I faithfully interpreted the message, and the Deaf consumer nearly choked to death laughing.
Lynne Miller
January 18, 2014
I can’t count the number of Hearing people who have asked me how I like working with “Death” people.
I was asked one day if “Death” people have ears!
PEB
April 10, 2014
“Are you the interpretator?”
Waving hands uncontrollably, “What did I just say?” Haha
“Do you work?” Umm. Yes. You are seeing me work right now. I get paid to do this. I am a professional sign language interpreter. “Oh, this is your job?”
“Did the two of you come together?” No. I don’t drive people I don’t know to their doctor’s appointments. Do you?
Nicole
September 8, 2014
one of my favs:
Can deaf people drive, they would never hear an ambulance behind them.
Jadalynn
September 10, 2014
“You mean you interpret the entire service at the church? I thought you just did the music.”
Me: What sense would it make to just interpret the music? That’s going halfway, why would I do that?
“So they can enjoy the worship with everyone.”
Me: But not the message?
-__-
Samantha Johnson
December 16, 2014
“Oh that’s awesome you are an interpreter, I’ve always wanted to speak sign”
*awkwardly laughs,” you mean sign right?”
Jennifer Dahlstrom
December 16, 2014
I have a story to share. I’m an interpreter and I also tutor people in an ITP interpreter training program.
I was watching a video of a Deaf person signing with my student. She said to me that there was no sound and she tried to turn up the volume! Hahaha
Debbie
March 1, 2015
Why do you interpret the music (in church) for them? The words are on the screen.
I hear that one a lot unfortunately.
Julie
May 27, 2015
I was at the DMV to determine if they had the driving manual in ASL to assist some deaf friends who want to get their licenses. The clerk called her IT dept who suggested the deaf person download in PDF form so the computer could read it out loud for them. After discussing why having the info read out loud would not benefit a deaf person, the IT worker offered that they had a Braille version of the driver’s manual. I explained that the deaf person could not read Braille, but what I should have asked was why they did not have provisions to teach the deaf to drive, but they did have provisions to teach the blind to drive? Does the DMV think that the blind make better drivers than the deaf?
Stacy
June 9, 2015
So, I went to interpret at a driving school for a person unknown to me. I did not even know their name, just the specific class they would be in. There were two sections of the same class. So I go up to the instructor and introduce myself and tell them why I am there.. The instructor turns to the class and says, “Anybody here deaf?” Seriously!? I kid you not, I went across the hall to a different instructor and he said the same thing! I thought I was being punked.
I went to interpret for a class , and as usual introduced myself, and said I was the sign language interpreter to which she replied, “Why are you here?” Well, to paint the room of course! Why else would an interpreter be in your classroom
Mike Chapman
June 26, 2016
After I have poured myself a glass of water before an assignment: “Oh, is that to soak your hands?”
karen
June 26, 2016
While interping in a classroom, the teacher bought in a movie and turned off the lights. Pitch black. I asked for a spotlight, and he asked “why?”
this has happened to me several times in auditoriums, workshops, etc.
Note to hearing: One cannot see in the dark~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
karen
June 26, 2016
terped at disability awareness event. I introduced myself as the terp, and a young man tells me my client has arrived. He takes me to a blind person. I tell him I am for the deaf. he says: “blindness and deafness is the same thing”
apparently someone was not aware of something……
karen
June 26, 2016
someone once told me terps should not get paid for our services. It was not “fair” to charge for disabled people.
MJ
June 27, 2016
When I was working on my internship to become an ASL Interpreter, I had a painful (for me) situation. I was interpreting a math class, when the professor looked at my client, and then looked out at the rest of the class, with a grin. He said something along the lines of “We all know numbers in English. 1, 2 ,3. But, (looking at me) do you know them in Arabic?”
I looked at the student, and (as he started speaking something other than English) indicated that I didn’t know what was being said due to language barrier. My student rolled their eyes, and sat back. The rest of the class laughed. I felt angry, and highly offended for my client.
Another time, I was asked if I would be sitting in the class during tests. When I replied in the affirmative, I was informed that I better not give the client any answers!