Mentoring & Teaming
I would like to talk about Mentoring and Teaming. This fall, I have finally had the opportunity (after many years of working alone), to work with several other interpreters.
In three situations, I had the chance to “mentor” other interpreters who were preparing to interpret services (High Holiday and Shabbat Evening). All were interpreting in Reform Synagogues. Their struggle was with the Hebrew.
The major problem was that Reform prayer books do not include full and accurate translations of the Hebrew prayers. Usually, beneath a Hebrew prayer is merely a “summary” of the Hebrew. The interpreters were frustrated, because they have felt unsure of what to do while the rabbi/congregation were reading from the Hebrew.
I worked with these interpreters to find more complete translations of the prayers in other prayer books: Siddur Sim Shalom, The “Silverman” (conservative), The Artscroll Siddur. None of these interpreters were fluent in Hebrew. Therefore, they were dependent on using the English to come up with the best sign translation (which they would sign while the rabbi was reading the Hebrew).
In some cases, I was also able to show them my direct Hebrew to ASL translations/sign glosses, for some of the major prayers or songs. I prefer to interpret directly from the Hebrew. This method is comfortable for some interpreters, for some prayers, or especially for SONGS. Songs are slower and many interpreters feel more compelled to want to have a one-to-one sign correspondence for EACH HEBREW WORD that is sung.
I also worked with my mentees to make sure they understood the order and flow of the service, the mood of the various sections, and the themes expressed by each prayer. This helped them in working on their sign translations.
This fall I also had the wonderful opportunity to team with another interpreter, for a very long Shabbat Morning Service (conservative). We split the service up between the different sections: Birchot HaShachar, P’sukay D’zimrah, Shacharit, Torah Service, and Musaf. We spent a lot of time going through the service with a member of the congregation, to determine which sections would be chanted aloud or read silently. We then needed to find an English translation for each prayer that was comfortable for interpretation. Again, I shared my Hebrew to ASL sign glosses for many major prayers.
One of the more successful techniques that we developed was “choral responses”. At the points during the service that the congregation joined in with the rabbi/service leader, the “off duty” interpreter would COPY THE SIGNS of the working interpreter, to indicate that everyone was responding in unison, and to encourage deaf audience members to follow along if they felt so moved.
Readers, what have been YOUR experiences? Other working interpreters, do you have “teaming/mentoring” stories to share? Deaf readers, what have been your experiences watching TEAM interpreters within synagogue settings? Please send me your experiences, via e-mail to [email protected]. Even if you are reading this article several months after it was published, it is never too late to share your opinions. Til next month . .
