- Hi, I'm here with Kirri Dangerfield. She's been interpreting for about 20 years now? - Uh, maybe. - Now, Kirri's studying her PhD about interpreters working together in a team. I think it'll be really interesting to have this discussion to see what works well for interpreters working together, not just alone but with deaf people as well. Talking about feedback, do interpreters need feedback? - Always, interpreters always need feedback. They cannot just work without knowing what's appropriate, what's suitable and without having those open discussions with who they're working with. - How could a deaf person provide the right feedback to an interpreter? - There's different ways it can be done. It could be before the job, you could have a discussion with the interpreter, let them know what your preferences are, whether there's particular signs or terminology relevant to that job, if you're aware of them that is, and also, context about the situation, just let us know what the job is about, so we can come in and interpret. That way, we can provide the best access to information. - I was thinking before I came in here today that there is times where the deaf person does know more than what an interpreter does about the job perhaps it's taking place in their work place, where they study and if they are going to a meeting, they should know what the meeting is going to be about. Whereas an interpreter is out and about at all different locations. It's impossible for them to know about every particular situation. So the deaf person, in these instances, have that knowledge. So what would be the best way of sharing those things to an interpreter? Do you have experience in that area of perhaps an example of something that went well? - Yeah, I think, particularly when it comes to a deaf presenter, you really need to know what their presentation will be about. If I'm to arrive to work into English with someone and I don't know where they're at, it can be quite difficult. Do you have any ideas of what interpreters could do beforehand in these situations? - I'm guilty of this myself. There's been times in the past where I've been so busy preparing for my own presentation that I forget to talk to the interpreter or the interpreter may arrive five or ten minutes before we're about to start, so I don't have that time for that discussion. Recently, I've realised that that isn't fair for the interpreter I'm working with. If they do a bad job, then at the end of the day, I'm the person that looks bad or well, we both do but if they do a great job, then of course, I'll look good and recently, I've started to commit to sit down with an interpreter well before the job, whether it's a week or a few days before, have that discussion about how we're going to work together. What's the goal, the impact, who my audience is and that way, they're able to envision and work out what would be the right English terminology they'll use. Perhaps the context of my work is different to other areas they've worked in before, so it's important to have the right language choices ready for the assignment and if we have that great working relationship, if I know how they like to work and they know how I like to work, whether we check in with eye contact throughout. - Yes, that's called feedback throughout an assignment. As your interpreter's speaking and you're signing to them, it's important to keep that eye contact and just check in with each other. There is some research in that area about eye contact and they refer to it as checking in as the job goes smoothly. That's really about collaboration and I do remember, there was one presenter we had who came from overseas to present here in Australia and they were speaking at a particular conference and they had the idea to film themselves presenting, send it to me before hand, so I could watch it, take notes and then I could have further discussions with them later on and this was done well before the assignment, but that is rare. We need to see more of that. - You're right. Now, it's hard, you can't really sit down face-to-face with people but there are other options with technology, there could be Skype or Facetime, I think that's a really good idea. You could send a video message in preparation - And also the PowerPoint slides, send them across as well. It's really important for context. - You see deaf people and interpreters working together more as a team, is that right? Not so much in solos, coming together just for the job, then leaving. It's important to have that collaborative approach. - Yeah of course, because you really, there can't be success if there isn't that trust for each other, there needs to be teamwork. - I suppose it's more like work colleagues rather than clients. - Yeah, first I'll speak about how the interpretation will go. On the job, I will sometimes have a piece of paper to write down with my tandem, different notes. We can support each other through that, feedback through the job. Whereas with a deaf person, it's really valuable to do something similar, whether they took notes themselves or throughout a morning tea break or afternoon tea just to get together and discuss about what worked really well and areas that could be improved. I think it's really important just to have those honest and frank conversation and that way, everything will go well. - It's important to know that feedback doesn't just look like a teacher writing marks about your interpreting work. It can be all different things. It could be about particular signs that shouldn't be used because obviously, the deaf person knows the environment and they know the context and they can either feed the appropriate signs and feedback can also look like how deaf people would like to have the information interpreted, whether it's very literal or whether they would want it completely interpreted into Auslan following meaning. We know the community is so diverse and not everybody's the same. - Yeah, you're right. - What are some of the things you would like the deaf people to let you know? - Well, there's, I've spoken about presentations in a formal settings but if we think informally, whether there's a celebration, a family gathering, I think it's really important to know who's there, the names of the family members and friends, just so throughout the interpreting process, they don't need to ask awkwardly, oh sorry, what's your name, what's your name? If you already know everybody there, it's smoother cause obviously, I'm coming into this environment and people don't know me, but if I know the names, it's much smoother. - Do you mean you want to be formally introduced to everybody there or how does that look? - Well, it really depends. It might be relevant before we start interpreting if the deaf person tells me who's who or who they're interested in talking to, what do they want to find out from this gathering, is there some gossip with the cousins about one of their uncles or something, do they want to know about that in particular. That sort of information, knowing who's there and to know, you know, what the relationship is. - What should interpreters ask a deaf person? Perhaps asking directly for feedback might be the wrong question. What's a better way to phrase what you're wanting to know? - Well, say if it's the first time I've worked with someone and met with them, it may be hard, I would really want to try to get in sync with them. I might say, perhaps my signings different to what you're used to and could you let me know what I can do to make it more smoothly, what you require and have it open ended like that. - So, signing is one thing, are there other things that interpreters usually want to know about their skills? - Well, there's so much. I think to know if we're clear enough or if there's anything that's going to be hard to finger spell, a particular terminology, the spelling of it, especially in medical situations with a doctor, if there can be a really long word, we need to have strategies in place for that and perhaps, the deaf person, they know their medication and they may be able to show us the box or show us how it's spelled, just those sorts of discussions. - And what about after the job, what sort of things do interpreters need to know? Do they want praise or thanks or? - Well, after the job, I think just an acknowledgement of each other is nice cause you don't work together with someone and then disappear and to never see each other again, just that acknowledgement. I acknowledge you, you acknowledge me and that's it. - I think that's, yeah something really important, just that acknowledgement. Just if you visit someone's house, you always let them know when you're leaving. - Yeah, you can't ghost them. - I think sometimes if I'm presenting, I do like to talk to the interpreter afterwards and ask how they felt, how they think it went and I think they can give me valuable feedback as well. For example, things like you were signing too fast or there was some information that was missed and it meant I had to work harder to bridge that information for the audience. So, I would think about that next time when I'm presenting because you must know, we've got different audiences to present to, some are deaf, some are not deaf and I might tailor my presentation to them rather than those who can hear and that gives a lot more work for the interpreter to do. So, it's important for us to have that open communication, so we can just get better next time we work together. - What I like to do with deaf people I work with, is talk about what sign they used and what English terms I used and ask for their feedback and what they thought, just to talk about the work and the language itself. - I think we both agree on this, it's important to communicate with each other but at the job, neither the deaf nor the interpreter should have the responsibility solely. It's a responsibility they should share together to work towards the same goal, am I right? - Just really be clear about what the goal is, so we can all work together on the same page. I know there's some interpreters that have organised their own mentoring, so they can receive feedback throughout the work and I think that would be really valuable if we involve deaf people in those mentoring things, not just only with other interpreters but involve deaf people as well. - I'm wondering is there support available for interpreters not on the job but I mean outside of interpreting, is there mentoring provided anywhere for interpreters? - I know ASLIA has a mentoring program that you can register for but other than that, I'm not sure. I think it's up to interpreters themselves to find a mentor that they could work with. - What does mentoring look like? - Well, you may have a newer interpreter or a lesser experienced interpreter working with an experienced interpreter and they may catch up to talk about the linguistic issues that crop up on the job and to learn strategies and skills and tools of how to deal with those and that way, they can help develop their own skills as an interpreter and have their own tool kit, so they'll know if it was to ever happen again, they'll have strategies in place that they could use on that job. The more specific examples you have, the better and feedback isn't always negative, we also need some positive feedback as well and again, that comes back to communication. - That's important to know that both the deaf people and interpreters work together to achieve the goal and that way, everybody's happy. - It's just like you said, Steph, interpreters are only visitors. So, it is your right to have that control and that choice to pick which interpreter you're comfortable with and which one suits a particular assignment. - Yeah, I feel sometimes I will go to a conference and they already have interpreters there. I rarely get asked my preferred interpreter. So, do I have the right to choose who I'd like to work with? - Well, you can always try. - You're right, it is my right, I hadn't thought of it like that. So, if I'm somewhere and I see an interpreter that I'm more comfortable with, have interpret for me, I can ask for that. - It's worth considering. - Hmm, well, thank you for this discussion, Kirri. - No, thank you Steph for sharing.