The main task of sign language interpreters is to help Deaf people communicate with hearing people and vice versa. These interpreters intercept telephone calls and other methods of communication, translating (interpreting) spoken language into sign language or into a written speech.
However, sign language interpreting is a relatively new phenomenon, as sign languages have gone through a process of standardization only recently and all different types of technology for Deaf communication have evolved gradually, yet exponentially.
In Italy and France, standardized sign language developed as early as the 18th and 19th centuries. In America, a standardized sign language emerged when French signer Laurent Clerc brought Old French Sign Language to the United States in the
1800s. This language evolved from French Sign Language to become a different, independent, new signed language, which is today known as American Sign Language (ASL) (Gallaudet, 1888). These processes of sign language standardization paved the road for future interpreters.
In Taiwan, this process of standardization began in 1895-1945, when the first schools for the Deaf were founded, during the Japanese rule. Before that, there must have been a local variety of TSL that indigenous Deaf people used back then, but unfortunately not much is known of the pre-Japanese occupation period.
Some of the first sign language interpreters were operators at telecommunications relay services, because they were the ones who prompted the required technologies. They intercepted phone calls and read the messages that the Deaf typed to their hearing friends on text telephones (TTY) or telecommunications devices for the Deaf (TTD). These rudimentary equipments were telephones for the deaf, invented in the 1960s, that included keyboards, allowing Deaf individuals to type messages and send them over telephone wires. Early interpreters in the late 1900s helped hearing people who did not own TTYs or TTDs by translating these typed messages into spoken language, and vice versa.
With the advent of the second millennium, in 2002, the first national video relay service for the Deaf was launched. This service allowed Deaf individuals to sign to an interpreter using a web camera, a huge improvement on previous TTYs and TTDs as video relay allowed Deaf people to use ASL to communicate. The interpreter then translated the ASL into English for the hearing person on the other end of the call. Interpreters fluent in Spanish were also able to translate from ASL to Spanish, which is called cross-interpreting.
An important aspect of sign language interpreting has always been the work environment. Hence, recently researchers have been studying the work environment
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of sign language interpreters to improve it.
In 2008, a study by the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) revealed that sign language interpreting causes more physical stress than assembly line work, such as carpal tunnel syndrome and tendinitis. When interpreters become mentally stressed, the risk of injury increase as wrist movements increase in acceleration and velocity by 15 to 19 per cent.
The afore-mentioned reasons contribute to the thesis herein exposed, that is to say the efforts (both physical and psychological) of sign language interpreters is by no way inferior to oral interpreters and this should be recognized by the competent authorities regulating their work conditions.
As interpreters are needed to keep a connection with the Deaf community, RIT professor and researcher Matthew Marshall wanted this research to enhance the ergonomics of sign language interpreting to keep interpreters working without injury.
Nowadays, sign language interpreters are often freelancers who work part-time.
In the United States, interpreters may gain certification from the National Association of the Deaf and the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. As video relay services become increasingly popular, the demand for ASL interpreters should increase even more, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
In Taiwan, sign language interpreters may gain certification from ad hoc bodies which are supervised by the Chinese National Association of the Deaf (中華民國聽 障人協會) .
According to a professional interpreter (informant D, personal communication, 2012), in Taiwan there is no professional school or training institute, let alone any department affiliated with a university, where TSL interpreting is officially taught, the only courses offered are presently set up and organized by the Taipei City
Bureau of Labor Affairs. According to the same source (Nieh, personal communication, 2012), the first Taiwan Sign Language Interpreting Certificate Exam was organized by the Social Affairs Bureau, in the Department of Social Welfare, of the Taipei City Government.
At present, these certifications are organized by the same body which regulates TSL courses offered in Taiwan, i.e. the afore-mentioned Bureau of Labor Affairs.
In the last ten years, apart from offering some course in TSL, linguists and sign language interpreters have been profusing their efforts in compiling TSL interpreting training material.
The ultimate goal was to train to-be interpreters in learning as many signs as possible; however, at first, training materials were mainly a collection of signs compiled for the reader to learn and remember.
The Bureau of Labor Affairs, which is the entity regulating and compiling these materials, mainly wanted to help the Deaf in their career by proving an opportunity to have interpreters available. Therefore, together with the help of specialists, linguists and sign language interpreters, the first volume was compiled in 2001. This first training book was entitled the “Taipei City Sign Language Interpreting Training Material (臺北市手語翻譯培訓教材， Taibei shi shouyu fanyi peixun jiaocai) – First Volume”. The Council hoped that in time the stress that overwhelmed the Deaf community when it came to communication and the obstacles they faced could be relieved thanks to the formation of professional figures: TSL interpreters.
These training materials evolved, becoming more and more complete and accurate. Thanks to years of teaching and experience, more books were compiled including signs etymology, the history of the development of TSL, issues regarding the culture of the Deaf community and their language, detailed explanations on TSL grammar, important points in translation, and some parallels (both cultural and
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linguistic) between oral languages and signed languages.
At the same time, in order to increase the efficiency and expediency of sign language hands position and movement learning, the Bureau compiled the first revised edition of the training material in 1996. Thanks to digital technology, the book was accompanied by modern digital instruments, like CD-ROMs and other equipments which could enhance the learning process. Translations of brief speeches or longer paragraphs were also included as a way to illustrate grammar more easily.
Basically, the first courses in interpreting were provided at the beginning of the 1990s (Smith 2005). “A concentrated effort was undertaken by a number of different groups to provide training to those individuals who desired to become sign language interpreters, for which there was and still is a pressing need” (Smith 2005: 14).
Back then, the National Association of the Deaf of the Republic of China (中華 民國聾人協會 1994) compiled the first book of student reflections at the end of one semester of interpreting training. The opening words of the book, titled “Rescue our Mother Language – Natural Sign Language (自然手語), were written by Ku Yushan, the then president of the association. Ku wanted Taiwan Natural Sign Language, i.e.
the language naturally spoken by the Deaf community in Taiwan to be recognized as an official minority language, just like the other many aboriginal languages that are considered minority languages in Taiwan, though they have their own status and linguistic dignity. According to Smith (2005), his main critic towards the publications that thus far had been carried out by the government of Taiwan was the fact that they were compiled by hearers, that is to say by non-native users of TSL.
Later on, in 1997 and 1999 four more books were published by Yuping Chao (Chao 1997 a, b, c; 1999) and they were the result of the joint efforts of a team guided by a Deaf individual, Chao himself. The book was divided into four volumes.
Chao has also worked for the government, with hearing people in the Ministry of
Education to aid in the development of signs for instructional purposes and has also served as president of the National Association of the Deaf of the Republic of China.
These four volumes are interesting because they show an evolution of the teaching methods in sign language pedagogy. The first three are basically an accumulation of signs presented in line drawings and accompanied by Chinese and English translations, description of the signs, cultural and grammatical information, sign language equivalents of Chinese idioms, and so forth (Smith 2005). The fourth one is a little more peculiar because the signs are presented with actual photographs of the signers. Furthermore, the same volume is also enriched by some paragraphs on the history of sign language in general, the history of TSL, TSL compound signs, TSL sentence structure, name signs and Deaf culture. Chao also compiled other books in 1999 and attempted at compiling the first sign language book for children, by presenting basic signs accompanied by cartoon drawings which might be suggestive of the meaning of each sign.
As previously mentioned, starting in those years, the official courses in TSL interpreting or, generally speaking, TSL interpreter training programs, were sponsored by the Taipei City Government’s Bureau of Labor Affairs. The people who organized these courses, along with external coordinators like Wayne Smith did in 1998 (Smith 2005), developed a series of lessons that were later published in two volumes by the Bureau of Labor Affairs of the Taipei City Government under the title 手語翻譯培訓教材， Shouyu Fanyi Peixun Jiaocai in 2001 and 2002. The CD-ROMs that came along not only presented the signs and conversations but also interpreting exercises, namely practice in sign-to-voice and voice-to-sign interpreting.
In the last few years, the courses, which are still offered by the Bureau of Foreign Affairs have been multiplying given the increased need for professional
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interpreter both in the private market and in the sector of volunteers, as we will mention later in this chapter.
On a final note, training schools are also a crucial in raising to-be interpreters’
awareness on the sign language interpreting code of ethics, which all interpreters should abide by. According to the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf stipulates that all sign language interpreters should abide by the following seven tenets:
(a) Interpreters adhere to standards of confidential communication.
(b) Interpreters possess the professional skills and knowledge required for the specific interpreting situation.
(c) Interpreters conduct themselves in a manner appropriate to the specific interpreting situation.
(d) Interpreters demonstrate respect for consumers.
(e) Interpreters demonstrate respect for colleagues, interns, and students of the profession.
(f) Interpreters maintain ethical business practices.
(g) Interpreters engage in professional development.
However, given the relatively recent development of TSL interpreting training and teaching in Taiwan, most courses only offer a linguistic preparation without properly delving into ethical and best-practices related matters.
In summary, we can see that the history of TSL interpreting teaching is quite recent in Taiwan, as the first books were compiled along with the first courses which have been offered mainly in the last decade. Before that, people used to learn TSL with their siblings, if they happened to live in a Deaf environment, or with friends and would later increase their knowledge of sign language and their skills on the
field, i.e. while working.
However, it seems opportune to notice that in spite of the admirable efforts by the Bureau of Labor Affairs to popularize TSL and TSL interpreting courses and offer classes on a broad-scale, there has not been a professional recognition which could go beyond the certification and root its essence in human consciences and institutions’ regulations.
Indeed, according to some interviews and surveys that I carried out, most of the professional interpreters agreed on the fact that their pay did not seem to be “up to the job” or, I would like to add, on the par with their fellow colleague oral interpreters.
We will focus on these and other related aspects in the next section.
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