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Interpreters Give the Signs

The American Sign Language (ASL) sign for "ocean" is fascinating. Adele Harth, ASL interpreter/transliterator for Disabled Student Services (DSS), makes a "W" with three fingers of her right hand and taps her chin with her right index finger, the sign for water. Then she moves both hands, open with palms down, forward in front of her chest with a large wavy movement, one hand slightly ahead of the other, illustrating rolling waves.

It is this fluid eloquence that can captivate a classroom full of students. But there is usually only one student who understands what Harth is saying with her hands.

For the handful of deaf students who attend CSU, Chico each semester, DSS offers two services. A deaf (or hard of hearing) student can opt to have an interpreter in the classroom who interprets the instructor's words into ASL and the student's ASL into spoken English. Or, a deaf student can request real-time captioning. A real-time captioner uses a stenographic-like machine networked to a laptop computer. Using a special code, the captioner types the instructor's words, which appear onscreen as written English for the student to read.

Whichever option a student chooses, Harth emphasized that the role of interpreter or captioner is not to be an "aide." "We're there to assist the flow of communication between the professor and his or her student," said Harth. Many teachers have a tendency, at least initially, to talk to the interpreter rather than the student. "All they have to do is start talking to the student, and we will start interpreting," she said.

ASL is an entirely different language from English. "It has its own grammatical structure, its own inflections," Harth explained. "ASL has everything that any other language has, but that wasn't realized until about 20 years ago." Until research proved otherwise, Harth said people thought ASL was merely simplified and poorly spoken English, lacking tenses and articles.

Actually, ASL has layers of complexity that English lacks, including the essential use of facial expression. While facial expression is used to show emotion, that's only a small part of its role in ASL. "Facial expression is also used to modify or clarify the actual sign that you are signing. A particular facial expression might show that a question is rhetorical, for example, or that it is a yes/no question, or a who/what/where question," said Harth. Learning facial expressions is part of becoming fluent in ASL.

Harth grew up with ASL -- both of her parents are deaf. While she never intended to pursue interpreting as a career ("I didn't know it was a job!"), a chance move to Fremont, California, landed her in the lap of Ohlone College, site of one of the first successful programs for deaf students. Harth began interpreting at Ohlone, and the deaf students there helped her finesse her skills in interpreting academic subjects. "They would show me, while I was interpreting for them, the correct sign for a word," said Harth. "Over time, I learned my trade that way." Harth has worked in DSS at CSU, Chico for four years.

The majority of interpreters learn ASL and interpreting skills in two-year programs, although "that's only the beginning" of their education, said Cathy Carey. Carey has been a full-time interpreter/transliterator for DSS for five years. She received a B.A. in speech pathology and audiology from CSU, Chico and received training in interpreting at American River College in Sacramento.

Carey and Harth usually work as a team in a classroom, because interpreting can be tiring physically and mentally. "After 20 to 25 minutes of non-stop lecture, the quality of our interpretation is affected, and we need to rest our brains and hands," Carey said.

Harth noted that the skill level of an interpreter reflects on the ability of the student for whom he or she is interpreting. "If an interpreter is really new, and they're pausing and not certain what the teacher is even saying, then a student in this situation is at a disadvantage," said Harth.

Another obstacle deaf students encounter is continually being one step behind the flow of conversation. "If the teacher asks, 'What's the answer to number three?' by the time the deaf student has even heard the question [through ASL], it has already been answered," Harth said.

Teachers who talk "a mile a minute," as Harth put it, can be frustrating for interpreters, who race to keep up with a barrage of often unfamiliar words. Even when they prepare by scanning the course textbook for "new" words, interpreters are often faced with inventing or adapting signs. "If we had to fingerspell every word, we would not be able to keep up with the professor, and we would be exhausted, besides," Harth said. "That means the deaf student needs to learn not only the new vocabulary, just like the hearing students in the class, but a slew of new, invented signs as well."

Every fall, DSS offers a beginning ASL course to staff and faculty, taught by Harth and Carey. Invariably, those who take the course discover that learning sign language is, as Harth put it, "a heck of a lot harder than they hoped it would be." Difficult, but rewarding, as learning a new language, particularly ASL, opens up a whole new world.

Lisa Kirk