# Weird sign-language interpreters in press conferences **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 23, 2020, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-sign-language-interpreters-in-press-conferences/850104 "2020-03-23T16:45:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-sign-language-interpreters-in-press-conferences/850104/41 "2020-03-25T00:43:46Z")
> [@orcenio](#): > > **ftg** that is just how Deaf people communicate. Would you offer the same criticism if you found a Spanish word (lets say “Negro”) “I was talking about traveling and the German translator mocked me by repeatedly dropping the work ‘Fahrt’ into his translation - it was so embarassing” ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 3:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-sign-language-interpreters-in-press-conferences/850104/42 "2020-03-25T03:18:35Z")
> [@mundylion](#): > > I don’t understand why politicians speak with signers along side them but it is never used for regular news casts. And here in Chicago there are many more Spanish speakers than there are deaf people so why isn’t there some kind of bow to letting them understand the oration? Seems a bit “showy” to me. How do you know there isn’t a headset hook-up for a Spanish simultaneous interpreter? You don’t have top show the Spanish interpreter. But FWIW, an ASL interpreter is a factor of accessibility, like a wheelchair ramp. A Spanish interpreter isn’t. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 3:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-sign-language-interpreters-in-press-conferences/850104/43 "2020-03-25T03:30:53Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > Wow, this is fascinating stuff! So more questions for **RivkahChaya** : > –Are there prestige levels in the deaf community for different dialects? Are there any so different (at least in ASL) that they’re hard for other deaf people to understand? > –Are there any deaf people who don’t want to use sign language and why? There’s a “Gallaudet accent,” that marks one as college educated, but since so many Gallaudet graduates stay in the DC-Virginia-Maryland area, and otherwise, don’t go back to their original communities, the few people in other areas with it, often eventually “code switch” out of it at the local Deaf club-- like Deaf teachers at the school for the Deaf in Indianapolis hanging out at the Deaf club. > [@](#): > > I’ve been looking up ASL articles on Wikipedia and it’s pretty intriguing stuff: British and American Sign Language share only a third of the symbols, I’m surprised it’s that much. Those are all coincidental. ASL and BSL are completely different languages with different roots. > [@](#): > > there are “white” and “black” variants of ASL, and areas with large areas of deaf people like Martha’s Vineyard once had their own local version of sign language. The “white” and “black” variants are overdrawn. Not even as different as white and black English. It is true, though, that when black and white Deaf people come together, it is the black people who “sign more white” to achieve a mutual language. An area of Martha’s Vineyard, long, long before it became a place for tourists as “summer people” was a closed community, much like many quarters of Appalachia. Due to consanguinity, deafness was very common. So many people had a Deaf parent, grandparent, or sibling, that every hearing person could sign pretty effectively, even while speaking a dialect of English as well. Martha’s Vineyard signed language no longer exists, because the closed community no longer exists, but there are a few very old films of it, and a few recordings of the dialect-- which also no longer exists. Martha’s Vineyard signed language was not a variant of anything. It was a fully developed, and fully separate, unique language. ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-sign-language-interpreters-in-press-conferences/850104/44 "2020-03-25T13:56:47Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > If they were flapping their arms like birds, flipping the bird (okay enough bird stuff) and so on, then that would be inappropriate. > > Just because someone is doing something like signing doesn’t mean that ALL expressions, movements, etc. are completely immune from criticism. > > If a newspaper threw in a bunch of air quotes and other machinations to a quote of mine, I would not be happy. > > There’s a scale here, folks. At one end is perfectly respectable behavior and the other end is just being weird. Some of these signers are moving too far up the scale. > > But, and here’s the key thing, not all of them do! In fact, based on my experience this sort of over expression is quite uncommon. No one is lumping all signers into one category. (I hope.) > > If all signers were like this one, this thread wouldn’t exist. The facial expression is part of the language. Look up the signs for naked and for depressed. The hand signs are very similar- but the facial expressions are different. I suspect that you may be seeing translators more frequently right now, and that’s the reason the “showy” (fluent) translators are more prominent. ETA I took ASL but rarely use it now. So I’m glad that there are more knowledgeable people in this thread. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-sign-language-interpreters-in-press-conferences/850104/45 "2020-03-25T14:09:15Z")
I am far from a novice in seeing sign language interpreters around, esp. in person. No, _I have never seen any of them_ go that far out in real life. Like I said, there’s a _scale_ here. Some sign in more dignified manner. Some don’t. (All of those seen in “How weird is this?” stuff on the Net.) It is ridiculous to imply that 100% of all signers are 100% staid and beyond criticism. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-sign-language-interpreters-in-press-conferences/850104/46 "2020-03-25T15:31:08Z")
Given that many of the Signers we’re seeing these days are signing in front of audiences could some of the “exaggeration” be to make their communication clearer to an audience that doesn’t necessarily have a camera focused on them? Sort of the ASL equivalent of shouting or projecting your voice? ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-sign-language-interpreters-in-press-conferences/850104/47 "2020-03-25T18:17:13Z")
> [@Broomstick](#): > > Given that many of the Signers we’re seeing these days are signing in front of audiences could some of the “exaggeration” be to make their communication clearer to an audience that doesn’t necessarily have a camera focused on them? Sort of the ASL equivalent of shouting or projecting your voice? I wondered about that too. Is using more exaggerated gestures the equivalent of shouting? This thread is really informative. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-sign-language-interpreters-in-press-conferences/850104/48 "2020-03-25T18:24:42Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > But, and here’s the key thing, not all of them do! In fact, based on my experience this sort of over expression is quite uncommon. No one is lumping all signers into one category. (I hope.) The Deaf professor I mentioned before called those neutered interpreters “beige”. It was the equivalent of hearing a book read by a metronome: the words are right but c’mon! ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-sign-language-interpreters-in-press-conferences/850104/49 "2020-03-25T19:09:47Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > I am far from a novice in seeing sign language interpreters around, esp. in person. OK, fine, you’ve seen interpreters before-- but have you ever seen Deaf native ASL speakers having a conversation? When I was still learning ASL-- in fact, what bumped me into fluency-- was spending a year at Gallaudet University as a visiting student (my home school called it my “junior year abroad”). I was one of six hearing undergrads among 2,000 Deaf undergrads, and all my professors were Deaf. When I was an interpreter, I was expressive, and my facial expressions were spot-on, if I do say so myself, but I worked DAMNED HARD. The interpreter is not there for you. If a Deaf person complains, that’s another thing entirely, but I hang out with Deaf people a lot, and I think I’d know if there were rumblings about an interpreter on TV. ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 8:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-sign-language-interpreters-in-press-conferences/850104/50 "2020-03-25T20:40:05Z")
> [@RivkahChaya](#): > > OK, fine, you’ve seen interpreters before-- but have you ever seen Deaf native ASL speakers having a conversation? Oh, yeah. In fact I’ve seen them driving and chatting with their fellow deaf passenger. Since this means the driver is not exactly watching the road full time, it is a wonder to behold! Lots of stuff like that. Well beyond some person in the corner of a TV screen. Like I said. This ain’t my first rodeo. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-sign-language-interpreters-in-press-conferences/850104/51 "2020-03-25T21:46:38Z")
RivkahChaya writes: \> . . . I was one of six hearing undergrads among 2,000 Deaf undergrads, and all my \> professors were Deaf. All of them? That’s interesting. One of my best friends teaches at Gallaudet. She’s not deaf or mute. ---
**Author:** ![RivkahChaya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rivkahchaya/32/8919_2.png) [@RivkahChaya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RivkahChaya)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-sign-language-interpreters-in-press-conferences/850104/52 "2020-03-25T21:52:22Z")
> [@ftg](#): > > Oh, yeah. In fact I’ve seen them driving and chatting with their fellow deaf passenger. Since this means the driver is not exactly watching the road full time, it is a wonder to behold! Lots of stuff like that. It’s easier than you’d think. And statistically, Deaf people are better drivers than hearing people, if you go by percentage of drivers who get into accidents per year. > [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > RivkahChaya writes: > > \> . . . I was one of six hearing undergrads among 2,000 Deaf undergrads, and all my > \> professors were Deaf. > > All of them? That’s interesting. One of my best friends teaches at Gallaudet. She’s not deaf or mute. Well, I made a point of enrolling in classes with Deaf professors. The whole point of being there was to learn ASL and about deafness and Deaf culture. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-sign-language-interpreters-in-press-conferences/850104/53 "2020-03-25T21:57:40Z")
Here’s a list of many, if not all, sign languages in the world. One thing that’s important to know is that there’s no necessary connection between the sign language used in a particular area and the spoken language used there. There are places which use more or less the same spoken language that use quite different sign languages and there are places which use more or less the same sign languages which use quite different spoken languages: > **[List of sign languages](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sign_languages)** > > There are perhaps three hundred sign languages in use around the world today. The number is not known with any confidence; new sign languages emerge frequently through creolization and de novo (and occasionally through language planning). In some countries, such as Sri Lanka and Tanzania, each school for the deaf may have a separate language, known only to its students and sometimes denied by the school; on the other hand, countries may share sign languages, although sometimes under different na... ---
**Author:** ![raventhief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/raventhief/32/4_2.png) [@raventhief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raventhief)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2020, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-sign-language-interpreters-in-press-conferences/850104/54 "2020-03-25T22:39:30Z")
You mentioned specifically sticking out their tongue when the speaker hasn’t. There is the TH mouth shape that works as the adverb carelessly or sloppily- assuming you didn’t mean that, do you have any video you can show us? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/weird-sign-language-interpreters-in-press-conferences/850104.md?page=2)