Ok, Now What?

This workshop stays away from language and technicalities, barely flirts with ethics, and promises not to critique your fingerspelling. Instead, we’ll delve into the daily ins and outs of being a professional interpreter: preparing for work, introducing ourselves, gaining and maintaining trust, working with Deaf speakers as well as gracefully navigating all sorts of unexpected situations. This workshop
will be especially useful for new interpreters entering the workforce, for those with some experience who are interested in a change of setting, and for anyone who wants to increase their confidence when they find themselves in unfamiliar terrain.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will:

• Define professionalism and apply it to the ASL/English interpreting field.
• Consider how professionalism affects whether interpreters will earn and maintain the trust of their clients, consumers and others.
• Demonstrate how to respect the conversation while owning the interpretation and practice how to obtain what they need in a way that will not disrupt the interaction but rather contribute to it.
• Explore multiple settings that community interpreters regularly encounter and list specific behaviors, apart from the interpreting process, that greatly enhance their self-confidence, their relationship with Deaf and hearing consumers and the overall effectiveness of the interaction.

Presented by Sylvie Sullivan

Signed