Geneva, October 2019, Rebecca Edgington
As part of the exhibition “One Trial – Four Languages” in Geneva, on 2 October AIIC Switzerland organized a conference entitled: „The quality of sign language interpreters – the deaf user’s perspective“. Ms. Maya de Wit, coordinator of the AIIC Sign Language Network, presented the doctoral research she has conducted with Irma Sluis to a packed auditorium of spoken and sign language (SL) interpreters. Maya has been instrumental in sign language colleagues joining AIIC and the successful adoption of an Annex on sign language interpretation to the AIIC/UN agreement this year. She is an accomplished trainer, presenter as well as conference
interpreter.
The evening was a wonderful opportunity for spoken language conference interpreters to learn more about their sign language colleagues, to see the similarities and specificities in our work. Quality from the client’s perspective is a cross-cutting concern for all interpreters and this research has highlighted several issues of client expectations and assessment which can assist all interpreters in meeting our clients’ needs and cooperating with those who use our services.
For many in the audience, it was their first exposure to the specific challenges of sign interpretation, where the interpreter can never be invisible or out of sight in a booth, or even discretely behind the speaker. Maya gave fascinating insights and fielded a lively question and answer session, going way beyond the allotted time. Following the presentation, an aperitif was offered by AIIC and the lively conversations between colleagues carried on informally.
Photo gallery – Pictures of the evening:
