Interpreter Observation #1

 

Ashley Paul
March 28, 2008
Interpreter Observation #1

Immaculee Ilibagiza's "Left to Tell" Presentation

 

       Immaculee Ilibagiza was a guest speaker at the Willamette University auditorium who told her incredible survival story to an awe-struck audience.  During the 1994 genocide in Rowanda, where most of her family and friends were murdered, she survived, by luck and the will of God, with seven other women.  Although she spent ninety one days in a small bathroom with the seven other women, she was still smiling when she walked onto the stage.  She talked of forgiveness and how this life-changing event helped her find God.

       Before attending this event I thought of all the possible demands that came to mind.  One obvious demand was the communication barrier between not only the hearing and deaf audience, but also between a second-language learner and used of English and the ASL to English Interpreters.  There were two interpreters who interpreted that night.  The first interpreter’s interpretations were very clear and dead-on; however, when it came time to switch, the second interpreter seemed very choppy and unorganized.  I felt that the number of errors and omissions were almost triple that of the first, and I am not sure if the deaf consumer benefited as much as if the previous interpreter would have gone back into the hot seat.  Interpreter 2 was all over the place, stumbling over herself, and missing key points in the presentation.  With Immaculee’s accent taken into account, and the way she structured her sentences (sometime unnatural because English is not her first language), the interpretation was, of course, going to be choppy to reflect that; however, I felt the interpretation could have been much better.

       Unfortunately, I was not able to meet with either interpreter before or after the presentation, so I could not gain any inside information as to why each of them chose the different controls they did.  I am interested to know why Interpreter 2 decided to stay on stage.  I would have also liked to have interviewed the deaf consumers to see their perspective on the interpretation.  I know there are a lot of factors to consider, and since I do not know the entire constellation of demands I supposed I cannot pass judgment; however, if I were the deaf consumer I would have wanted a better interpretation than that to do the presenter justice.

 

Demand-Control Schema Observation Form

 

Environmental Demands 

Setting/Assignment: Immaculee Ilibagiza’s Presentation about the 1994 Genocide in Rowanda, and how she learned to forgive.

 

Physical Surroundings

Descriptives

Sketch the physical space
  • Huge auditorium
  • Big stage with backdrop
  • TV screen in middle of backdrop
  • Podium at stage right
  • 500+ seats
  • Full seats
  • Mixed audience (young, old, different races, mixed genders)
  • Two deaf individuals (that I can tell)
  • Two female interpreters, one sitting in the audience (front row), other standing next to the podium

 

Willamette Theatre Layout

 

Goal of the Environment: To inform and educate.

 

Personnel & Clientele

Deaf/Hearing

Gender

Age/Ethnicity

Role in Setting

Noteworthy physical traits

Deaf

Female

Mid 30’s

Audience Member

Short hair, short

Deaf

Female

Mid-high 40’s

Audience Member

none

Hearing

Female

Mid 30’s

Key Note Speaker

African-American, tall

Hearing

Female

40’s

Interpreter

Short hair, short, plane clothes

Hearing

Female

Mid 30’s

Interpreter

Tall, slender, blond hair

Hearing

Male

Upper 40’s

Pastor

none

 

Terminology: Words or Phrases

Hutu

Tutsi

Catholic

Genocide

Faith

Connection to God

Forgiveness

Love

Prayer

Hatred

Murder/slaughter

91 days in a small bathroom

Rowanda

Reconciliation

Empowering

Feeling of hatred leaving her

 

 

 

  

 

Interpersonal Demands

What Happened?

What was said?

Paralinguistics?
Three drummers performed before the actual event took place. Drumming sounds
  • Accent
  • Unpredictability
A few speakers spoke before Immaculee was introduced. Numerous things: a judge spoke for a long time about young adults getting into trouble; a pastor talked about Salem being the "City of Peace" because its name is based off the Jewish/Hebrew word Shalom (meaning peace); etc.

Immaculee introduced herself.

“Hello, my name is Immaculee Ilibagiza, and I am going to tell you a story about my life in Rowanda.”

She talked about her life in Rowanda, and what her aspirations were.

“I studied Electronic and Mechanical Engineering at the National University of Rowanda.”

She talked about her parents a lot, and how much she loved them.

‘I love my father.  He was a great man.”

She remembered the day her father told her she needed to go into hiding.

“I didn’t understand why I had to leave my family and I refused, but my father made me go. I knew that was going to be the last time I saw my father. ”

She went to live with a pastor in his small house.  He told her to stay in the bathroom until he came back for her.  The bathroom had seven other women in it, when it was barely big enough for one.

“We were all cramped in there, and we couldn’t make a sound… not for 91 days.”

She talked about praying to God, and how she had the sudden urge to learn english and go to America in order to be successful in life.

“I said, ‘God, if you exist, if you truly are real, you will not let them find us.  And that was the first time I truly believed in God.”
“Right then I knew I had to learn English, and I thought if I thought about it hard enough, when I came out of that bathroom I would know English, and I would go to America.”

The Tutsis looked through the entire house but they did not look in the bathroom.

“I could feel my heart beating so fast as I heard the Tutsis coming.  I thought I was going to die.  I prayed so hard that they wouldn’t open the door, and they didn’t.”
Most of her family was killed.

"When I came out of that bathroom I knew my parents were dead."

She reiterated how much she believed in and loved God after keeping her safe during the genocide.

"After all that God still kept me alive. Even when the Tutsis were that close, they still didn't find us."

She talked about her journey learning English and going to America began.

"I knew I had to learn English and go to America."

She talked about her struggles finding a life here in America.

"I applied for that job almost ten times, so I went back to the office and applied again. They denied me."

   
   
   
   
   
   

 

Interpersonal Demands


Sometimes interpersonal demands can play out as problems or conflicts. Below are some questions that consider these aspects of interpersonal demands.

 

  1. Describe the potential thought worlds of the individuals present.
    I’m sure most of the audience members were either Catholic or Christian.  They were probably there to hear about her struggles, and to support her.  Others may have only come to gain new insights, and see how she lived through the genocide in Rowanda and see her perspectives on God.
  1. Describe the nature of the relationship.
    The key note speaker, Immaculee, was born in Rowanda and
  1. If a conflict or miscommunication occurred, describe it here.
    The key note speaker's first language was not English, so some of her speech was unclear and unpredictable.
  1. Describe the mood or any emotions that you detected or witnessed.
    The mood of the presentation was very dynamic: some of the time the atmosphere was hopeful and powerful, other times it was sad and depressing. The speaker's tone was both heartfelt and angered, forgiving and depressed. It was a very inspirational presentation.
  1. Describe any other interpersonal demands that you noted.
    Immaculee was a very dynamic speaker. She definitely knew how to keep the attention of the audience. She was funny, lively, sad, and inspirational.

 

 

 

Intrapersonal Demands


Thoughts

Feelings

Physical Distractions

 Wow, this speaker is awesome.

The speaker is very tall and beautiful.

I can't believe she had to go through something like that.

What is forgiveness, really?

She is so strong to have gone through that.

 I feel very privileged to be hearing her story.

I'm very sad that she had to go through that.

She is so strong, and I can't believe she still had the will to learn English, come to America, and be as successful as she is now. I envy her strength.

 

 The interpreter: I knew she was not conveying the correct message to any Deaf audience members, so I found myself looking back and forth between the interpreter and the speaker.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Your Pre-Assignment Controls

Traits

Skills/Knowldge

Preparation

Thirst for knowledge and experiences that are not my own.

Attentive

Open book/open-minded

Pertaining to the actual event: none. I had never heard about the genocide in Rowanda, and I had just heard about Immaculee right before the event took place.

Pertaining to the interpretation: I am currently in an Interpreter training program at WOU. I know ASL (300 level with 3 1/2 years signing experience).

 None (I should have googled her book, or read something about her, but it was a last minute event.)

 

 

 

 

Interpreter Observation Form

Controls I observed

Pre

During

Post

Interpreter 1 switched with her team.

The interpreter just kept going, even when she was not following the speaker.

Interpreter 2 switched with her team.

Interpreter 1 used a few different words than the speaker to "correct"

Interpreter 2 kept going, even when she was not understanding what the speaker was saying.

 

*For most of the presentation interpreter 2 was not following what the speaker was saying, and she would not switch with her team. I do not know why this is, I didn't have a chance to ask the interpreter afterwards, but the only control I observed from her during the actual presentation was to just stay up there and suffer through it. I feel the interpretation suffered because of this.

 

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