Workshops

Workshops on Saturday January 30

10.50 - 12.15

The workshops are parallel. Max 45 participants per workshop.

Allies for change: how can interpreters and deaf people work together?

Hilde Haualand & Anna-Lena Nilsson

Many signed language interpreters have experienced that because they are interpreting in a situation, primary participants such as lecturers, professionals, and other service providers are likely to believe there is “equal access” for everyone. However, both experienced interpreters and deaf primary participants know this is not the case, and that deaf people often remain in a disadvantaged position (van Herreweghe, 2002, Young et al., 2019, De Meulder &; Haualand, 2019).

Individual interpreters are, however, rarely in a position or with a mandate to raise concerns about this issue with regards to the situations where they are assigned. Additionally, the alternative to an interpreter is often no interpreters at all, which would make the situation even more inaccessible. One consequence of the lack of opportunities to raise issues of concern, is that problematic practices continue without being questioned. At the same time, also in the Nordic countries, “access” for deaf people is often tantamount to providing ever more signed language interpreting services.

This workshop is inspired by De Meulder & Haualand’s (2019) invitation to rethink the impact of sign language interpreting services (SLIS) as a social institution. We will do this by taking the conference theme regarding interaction one step further, and invite participants to discuss topics like:

• How can the interpreting profession and the deaf community strengthen their interaction with each other?
• How can we work together to make changes in society at large?
• How can we counteract current, naïve beliefs in what interpreters can achieve?
• And how can interpreting organizations and organizations of deaf people work together for language concordant services, more deaf professionals and to (re-)create sign language environments?

 

Workshop B: Discussion Forum

Challenges in signed interactions and sign language interpretations with deaf refugees

This workshop will be a discussion forum, that invites you to share your viewpoints and experience on the topic. Introduction to the topic will be given by Virve Viljanen and Maarit Widberg-Palo.

 

Workshop C is cancelled

(Multimodal interactional skills as a point of departure for interpreter education

Elina Tapio and Hanna-Kaisa Turja)

 

Workshop D: Discussion Forum

Interpreter training

What are the current trends in the Sign Language interpreting industry and where is the industry going in the future?'

In recent years, several studies or reports on the interpreting industry have been published in the Nordic countries. In this Workshop we will discuss the development of the industry but focusing on the expectations for interpreters in year 2021 and on the expectations for them in ten years time. Where will the industry go in the future and how can we address the future development in the interpreter training?

Join the discussion with interpreter educators! We will start with an introduction to future prospects of interpreting industry and training in Finland (based on a study published in 2020).

This discussion forum is open for everyone interested in interpreter education in general, but of course, especially for interpreter trainers. We invite you to share your viewpoints and experience on the topic.

Introduction: The future prospects and educational needs of sign language interpreting in Finland Päivi Rainò and Gun-Viol Vik.
Discussion lead by Liisa Halkosaari.