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Toward Professionalization: Insights From Sign Language Interpreters In Vietnam, Anh P. Doan

Journal of Interpretation

This study examines how sign language interpreters in Vietnam perceive the professionalization of their field and the strategies they propose for establishing it as a recognized profession. Despite growing demand for communication access, sign language interpreting in Vietnam remains an emerging field with limited institutional infrastructure and no formal interpreter education programs. Data were collected through an online qualitative survey of 28 hearing interpreters working in sign language interpreting across Vietnam. Responses were analyzed using thematic analysis to identify key themes in interpreters’ experiences and perspectives. Findings show that many interpreters enter the field through informal pathways such as community …

Collaging As Embodied Method: The Use Of Collage In A Study Of American Sign Language (Asl) Interpreters' Experiences, Lucy E. Bailey, Taylor L. Woodall-Greene

The Qualitative Report

This methodological essay describes the generativity of collaborative collaging in a qualitative inquiry project with American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters who serve D/deaf students within a public university. Sign language interpreting is a demanding profession requiring physical endurance, creativity, and quick mental processing to switch between spoken and sign language. Interpreters’ visual communicative culture aligns conceptually with the embodied arts-based, visual, and tactile research technique of collaging. We first introduce collaging scholarship to ground our discussion of using collaging as a method within this case study of ASL interpreters. We then provide an overview of ASL interpreter research and our …

From Gestuno Interpreting To International Sign Interpreting: Improved Accessibility?, Anna-Lena Nilsson

Journal of Interpretation

In order to shape the future of our profession, I believe it is necessary for us to also take a critical look at both past and present practices. With that goal in mind, this commentary presents a case study of the sign language interpreting services provided at the World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) Congresses held between 1983 and 2019.

During the 1980s and 1990s we witnessed both the professionalization of signed language interpreting at international conferences, and improved accessibility for official delegates of various National Associations of the Deaf (NADs) as well as for other participants. Increasing numbers of …

Autopoiesis: Scaffolding The Reflective Practitioner Toward Employability, Sarah Bown

International Journal of Interpreter Education

Sign language interpreters confront a diversity of complex situations in their everyday work. To be able to consider and appropriately respond to such situations, interpreters need robust cognitive reflective frameworks to support them. Since 1993, the University of Wolverhampton’s BA (honors) Interpreting British Sign Language/English course has delivered undergraduate training to aspiring sign language interpreters. The end product has been high levels of “appropriate” graduate employability success, in part due to the strong correlation between what employers regard as essential and desirable in an employee, and the attributes demonstrated by the reflective practitioners created by the program. In this article, …