Interpreting Vague Language: Advanced

Created by Daniel Greene in 2013

A Study in Vague Language - AdvancedDaniel Greene, MA, NIC Master


Workshop DescriptionParticipants will search written, spoken, and signed texts for vague language (VL); participants will devise and perform translations for vague texts; participants will practice interpreting vague texts both consecutively and simultaneously; participants will analyze vague language in consumer interactions and make ethical decisions using critical thinking, including the NAD-RID Code of Professional Conduct and Demand-Control Schema.


Learning Objectives1.List tenets and exemplary

behaviors from the NAD-RID CPC that pertain to interpreting vague language (VL).

2.Name five ways an interpreter might interpret VL.

3.Develop ethical and linguistic strategies for handling VL.

4.Create an action plan for further study of VL and practice of interpreting VL.


1 fifteen–minute break

Agenda3 CEUs3 hours =


Who am I?

Recently got my Master of Arts in Interpreting Studies, with an emphasis in Teaching Interpreting, from Western Oregon University, where I wrote my thesis “Keeping it vague: A study of vague language in an American Sign Language corpus and implications for interpreting between English and American Sign language.”


Who are you?In what settings do you work: K-12, postsecondary, community, conference, legal, medical, mental health, performing arts, religious, video

Have you taken any of my VL workshops or read about VL?

Do you encounter VL in your work? What do you do with it?


Questions?

Stop me, or

Wait-n-see, or

Pass me a note, or

Email [email protected]?


Interpreting without InterruptingStrategies for interpreting vague language without asking for clarification


Drawbacks to Interrupting

Breaks flow of conversation, throws off train of thought

Shifts focus from consumers to interpreter

Assumes responsibility for communication

Deprives consumers of natural consequences, self-correction, and rapport

Defeats the purpose of VL


Interpreting VL ENG-ASLVague body language, facial expression, and mouth morphemes (adverbial and adjectival modifiers)

Vague signs such as ETC., WELL, LIKE, VARIOUS-THINGS, TIME-PASSING

Creative expressions that convey a message that is equivalently vague in ASL as the English message.

Passive voice or non-agent construction (e.g., “I was called” or TAP(me)–ON–SHOULDER)


Interpreting VL ENG-ASL (continued)Transliteration

Fingerspelling— (if you can’t make sense of what you’re hearing but you got the sounds of it).

Approximation— “Sounds like…” (good with f/s) “Something to the effect of…” “Something about…”

Check w/consumer: Hearing: “…and you know what that means…” You: “KNOW MEANS YOU?”

Make the implicit explicit if you have to.


Interpreting VL ASL-ENG

All the vague words we learned in MadLibs

Vague personal pronouns— one, they, someone, e.g., “When one is hungry, one will do anything to eat.” “They pushed it.” “Someone wanted something.”

Gerunds (verbs ending with –ing); e.g., “The flashing of the lights was distracting,” (who was flashing the lights?) or, “When the packing was done, it was time to go” (who was packing or going?). “There was a lot of fighting going on” (who was fighting?).


Game: Interpret VL w/o interrupting

Pair up and choose who interprets first.

Attend to the source text and interpret VL in four different ways:

1.Ignore/omit vague language.

2.Make vague language less vague.

3.Make non-vague language vague.

4.Make vague language equivalently vague.


VL examples to interpret

1. Open the container 2. Remove the seal 3. Procure the substance

“I think you should see the widgets arrive in a timely fashion.”

“All this Mexican food is going make for an interesting afternoon.”

Well, I think I’d kinda like if we tried to start sometime around two-ish.


Vague Language Samples to Interpret


In Search of the Unspoken (2011)Vague Language in Formal ASL


Clerc Center AnnouncementJanet Weinstock


“Party Political Speech” —Peter Sellers


“Party Political Speech”Peter Sellers, 1958


... My friends, in the light of present-day developments let me say right away that I do not regard existing conditions likely. On the contrary, I have always regarded them as subjects of the gravest responsibility and shall ever continue to do so. Indeed, I will go further and state quite categorically that I am more than sensible of the (exact) definition of the precise issues which are at this very moment concerning us all. We must build, but we must build surely.—Hear, hear!—Let me say just this: If any part of what I am saying is challenged, then I am more than ready to meet such a challenge. For I have no doubt whatsoever that whatever I may have said in the past, or what I am saying now, is the exact, literal and absolute truth as to the state of the case.—Hear, hear!—I put it to you that this is not the time for vague promises of better things to come. For, if I were to convey to you a spirit of false optimism, then I should be neither fair to you nor true to myself. But does this mean, I hear you cry, that we can no longer look forward to the future that is to come? Certainly not! Voice from the audience: What about the workers? “What about the workers?”; indeed sir! Grasp, I beseech you, with both hands [Aside: I’m so sorry, I beg your pardon, madam.] the opportunities that are offered. Let us assume a bold front and go forward together. Let us carry the fight [noise of a blow being struck] against ignorance to the four corners of the earth because it is a fight which concerns us all. Now, finally my friends, in conclusion, let me say just this: [SILENCE]


“The Boys”Keane, from the album Strangeland, 2012.


The boys are grinning from the photographIt's Friday night and they're trying so hardThe sun is dropping and they want to goDriving into town to see some girls they know

The boys, blazing on a summer nightGirls they want to watch them rideIs that the way it was before?Cause I don't rememberBoys, friends at every bar in townRunning all the good days downIs that the way it was before?Cause I don't remember

We felt like fighters when we caught the planeUntil that day we'd never heard its nameWe did some things we didn't understandAnd now we feel like strangers in our own land

The boys, blazing on a summer nightGirls they want to watch them fightIs that the way it was before?Cause I can't rememberBoys, friends at every bar in townRunning all the good days downIs that the way it was before?Cause I can't remember

This photograph, I hold it when I sleepCause people soon stop askingWhen I cannot explain what I have seenAnd at the bars in townAll the boys in townAre running all the good days downRunning all the good days downRunning all the good days downAll the good days down


“Immigrants” NCSLGR CorpusSteven McCullough


“Accident” NCSLGR CorpusMichael Schlang


Contact me @ [email protected]

Education

Interpreting Vague Language: Advanced