This text provides an overview of the field of sign language interpreting and interpreter education, including evaluation of the extent to which current practices are supported by research, and will be of use both as a reference book and as a textbook for interpreter training programmes.

More the 1.46 million people in the United States have hearing losses in sufficient severity to be considered deaf; another 21 million people have other hearing impairments. For many deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, sign language and voice interpreting is essential to their participation in educational programs and their access to public and private services. However, there is less than half the number of interpreters needed to meet the demand, interpreting quality is often variable, and there is a considerable lack of knowledge of factors that contribute to successful interpreting. Perhaps it is not surprising, then, that a study by the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) found that 70% of the deaf individuals are dissatisfied with interpreting quality. Because recent legislation in the United States and elsewhere has mandated access to educational, employment, and other contexts for deaf individuals and others with hearing disabilities, there is an increasing need for quality sign language interpreting. It is in education, however, that the need is most pressing, particularly because more than 75% of deaf students now attend regular schools (rather than schools for the deaf), where teachers and classmates are unable to sign for themselves. In the more than 100 interpreter training programs in the U.S. alone, there are a variety of educational models, but little empirical information on how to evaluate them or determine their appropriateness in different interpreting and interpreter education-covering what we know, what we do not know, and what we should know. Several volumes have covered interpreting and interpreter education, there are even some published dissertations that have included a single research study, and a few books have attempted to offer methods for professional interpreters or interpreter educators with nods to existing research. This is the first volume that synthesizes existing work and provides a coherent picture of the field as a whole, including evaluation of the extent to which current practices are supported by validating research. It will be the first comprehensive source, suitable as both a reference book and a textbook for interpreter training programs and a variety of courses on bilingual education, psycholinguistics and translation, and cross-linguistic studies.

Interpreters who work with signed languages and those who work strictly with spoken languages share many of the same issues regarding their training, skill sets, and fundamentals of practice. Yet interpreting into and from signed languages presents unique challenges for the interpreter, who works with language that must be seen rather than heard. The contributions in this volume focus on topics of interest to both students of signed language interpreting and practitioners working in community, conference, and education settings. Signed languages dealt with include American Sign Language, Langue des Signes Québécoise and Irish Sign Language, although interpreters internationally will find the discussion in each chapter relevant to their own language context. Topics concern theoretical and practical components of the interpreter’s work, including interpreters’ approaches to language and meaning, their role on the job and in the communities within which they work, dealing with language variation and consumer preferences, and Deaf interpreters as professionals in the field.

The premier textbook for interpreting programs in North America! The 493 page textbook comes packaged with a DVD study guide which provides supplemental video materials for each chapter, along with additional study questions to prepare for the written RID/AVLIC certification exams.

This book is a comprehensive exploration of the practice and research relating to sign language interpreting. The reader is taken on a journey from the early days of interpreting, to the professionalization of interpreters, to an examination of past an present modes of interpreting. Two models are introduced that take into account the influence of all participants and environmental factors in a variety of interpreting situations.

This incisive book explores the current state of educational interpreting and how it is failing deaf students. The contributors, all renowned experts in their field, include former educational interpreters, teachers of deaf students, interpreter trainers, and deaf recipients of interpreted educations. Educational Interpreting presents the salient issues in three distinct sections. Part 1 focuses on deaf students--their perspectives on having interpreters in the classroom, the language myths that surround them, the accessibility of language to them, and their cognition. Part 2 raises questions about the support and training that interpreters receive from the school systems, the qualifications that many interpreters bring to an interpreted education, and the accessibility of everyday classrooms for deaf students placed in such environments. Part 3 presents a few of the possible suggestions for addressing the concerns of interpreted educations, and focuses primarily on the interpreter. The contributors discuss the need to (1) define the core knowledge and skills interpreters must have and (2) develop standards of practice and assessment. They also stress that interpreters cannot effect the necessary changes alone; unless and until administrators, parents, teachers, and students recognize the inherent issues of access to education through mediation, little will change for deaf students.

LC number: 2005050067

The use of sign language has a long history. Indeed, humans' first languages may have been expressed through sign. Sign languages have been found around the world, even in communities without access to formal education. In addition to serving as a primary means of communication for Deaf communities, sign languages have become one of hearing students' most popular choices for second-language study. Sign languages are now accepted as complex and complete languages that are the linguistic equals of spoken languages. Sign-language research is a relatively young field, having begun fewer than 50 years ago. Since then, interest in the field has blossomed and research has become much more rigorous as demand for empirically verifiable results have increased. In the same way that cross-linguistic research has led to a better understanding of how language affects development, cross-modal research has led to a better understanding of how language is acquired. It has also provided valuable evidence on the cognitive and social development of both deaf and hearing children, excellent theoretical insights into how the human brain acquires and structures sign and spoken languages, and important information on how to promote the development of deaf children. This volume brings together the leading scholars on the acquisition and development of sign languages to present the latest theory and research on these topics. They address theoretical as well as applied questions and provide cogent summaries of what is known about early gestural development, interactive processes adapted to visual communication, linguisic structures, modality effects, and semantic, syntactic, and pragmatic development in sign.Along with its companion volume, Advances in the Spoken Language Development of Deaf and Hard-of Hearing Children, this book will provide a deep and broad picture about what is known about deaf children's language development in a variety of situations and contexts. From this base of information, progress in research and its application will accelerate, and barriers to deaf children's full participation in the world around them will continue to be overcome.

This Handbook provides the first comprehensive overview of sign language translation and interpretation from around the globe and looks ahead to future directions of research. Divided into eight parts, the book covers foundational skills, the working context of both the sign language translator and interpreter, their education, the sociological context, work settings, diverse service users, and a regional review of developments. The chapters are authored by a range of contributors, both deaf and hearing, from the Global North and South, diverse in ethnicity, language background, and academic discipline. Topics include the history of the profession, the provision of translation and interpreting in different domains and to different populations, the politics of provision, and the state of play of sign language translation and interpreting professions across the globe. Edited and authored by established and new voices in the field, this is the essential guide for advanced students and researchers of translation and interpretation studies and sign language.