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Bilingual translators, can you answer?

28 replies

ThisIsGroundControl · 02/03/2022 19:11

I'm trying so hard to learn a language but that is irrelevant, I've been watching the news and listening to live translation. How does it happen, are they listening ahead and then speaking in delay? How do they change the order of what they are saying (as in it's not a literal translation) I get it is a skill but just so interested.

Sign language, are they signing from the translation or translating into BSL from a sign language in another language.

OP posts:
sashh · 03/03/2022 00:46

@Akire

Sign language translators are hearing or they couldn’t do their job. So they just translate the verbal English into BSL.
Not always true.

Some are deaf and translate from written English. And sometimes you can tell.

You occasionally get deaf relay interpreters to interpret from the interpreter's BSL to grass roots BSL.

OP

In BSL you 'chunk' information, the signs are in a different order to English words so if some one said in English, "I put a glass on the table" you would have to sign it as, "table, glass, put on" but you have to use the correct, 'table' and 'glass' because the English word can mean a thing you sit up to and eat off or the thing you use to display data.

You also have to take into account the situation you are interpreting in, community interpreting you have to get the message across so it doesn't have to be simultaneous , imagine being at the Dr, you need to know what medicine the Dr is giving you and what dose.

Places like the UN you only interpret into your first language.

There are a few interesting examples of interpreting, one is an interpreter from English into Japanese who said the equivalent of, "The man is telling a joke, I do not know why, I will tell you when to laugh. Laugh now".

Another is from the Vietnam war, a US journalist asks a Vietnamese villager a question, the 'interpreter asks for the villager to count to ten and then gives his (the interpreter) opinion.

Interesting fact for you OP

90% of BSL /English interpreters are women, and out of the 10% that are men 90% are gay.

Mumoftwoinprimary · 03/03/2022 07:13

There is a (Hearing) little girl in my son’s class who is the daughter of two Deaf parents. For official school meetings the school gets an interpreter in. But
For less official things (school assemblies, when one of the parents is helping on a trip) then the daughter translates.

If you think it looks impressive at the UN - imagine a 5 year old doing it!

ThisIsGroundControl · 03/03/2022 21:48

I am so glad I asked this question, the responses are amazing. I have more questions from the replies, will digest and respond. Thank you for taking the time to reply.

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