Compression Strategies: ASL to English Interpreting
Temas
Detalles
There are a number of differences in the discourse patterns of ASL and English that have significant implications for the sign language interpreter. In addition, the high context nature of American Deaf culture and the low context nature of American English culture (Mindess, 1999) further complicates the interpreting process. When working between two such distinct languages and cultures, linguistic and cultural mediation is necessary to provide source and target message equivalency. One aspect of this linguistic mediation has been identified by Lawrence (1994) as expansions; specific applications of language use and language phrasing that are unique to ASL. She noted that these features are commonly used among native users of the language but appear with much less frequency in non-native ASL usage. She emphasized that if interpreters could incorporate more of these features in their English to ASL interpretations, their ASL usage would appear more native-like.