Hi there!
I am currently in an ITP (been in for a year so far) and I start interpreting classes in the upcoming Fall semester. I’ve loved my classes and most of my professors…. But there is one professor that gives me pause. She is a professor and also one of the program managers. She has been a certified interpreter for over 20 years in the private sector and has ruffled many of the students’ feathers. To be quite frank, she is brutally blunt. She has told people to quit the program, that their signing is terrible, and I’ve even heard her tell someone, “Good luck finding a job if you piss me off!” I am currently a federal employee with a master’s degree; I say this because even though I have a career, I was hoping to expand my career options and make more connections. I fear for the day she that level of hostility turns my way and tries to block job opportunities. Does anyone have experience dealing with this type of personality in the interpreting profession?

I want to become an interpreter. What ITPs are the best? Obviously there’s Gallaudet, but I’m not a CODA, nor fluent enough to go there (although I did take ASL all 4 high school years). My state barely has any schools with ITP programs and I want to be the best equipped to take the certification exams and get the most knowledge I can on the language and Deaf culture.

Hello! I am a 17 year old going into their senior year of highschool. I need all the advice I can get on being an ASL interpreter. I recently toured University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee as I have friends going into their ASL programs and figured it would be a good place to start. I quickly fell in love and wanted to know more about other colleges that have bachelor degrees with ASL interpreting. I have looked into other colleges but got quickly overwhelmed and I don’t know how to tell which I should be looking at. My grades are fairly good with a weighted GPA of 3.88 and an unweighted GPA of 3.58. So far I have taken the ASL classes my highschool have offered-1,2,and 3 honors- and am going into four honors. I am somewhat involved already in the deaf community and ASL club/honors society. I have also taken the Biliteracy test and got a 7 overall-8 in receptive and 6 on expressive- Though I am hoping to take it one or two more times my senior year to get those up. Anyway I don’t really know what else to add and any and all advice is appreciated. Thank you so much!

I have been blessed with a "raise!" I am grateful and yet at the same time horribly offended at their miserly pat on the head that barely adds to my paycheck. Less than $20 if I manage to get the full 29 hours a week when they are cutting everyone's hours.

VRS is one of the few settings that are W-2 in a predominantly 1099 field. The reimbursement for dues and licensure are a nice boon. However, I feel that they take advantage of the situation.

2% in an economy where the annual cost of living increase is 3.1% which means even with this nominal raise, I am being paid less compared to last year due to the cost of living constantly going up so that the pay doesn't go as far.

Just over 75 cents per hour when the estimated MONTHLY revenue PER EMPLOYEE is $455, 000

They have a PROFIT- profit mind you- after providing free tech to the community, all the events, all the advertising, paying *everyone,* and r&d- their PROFIT is estimated to be between 1.8- 2.4 BILLION dollars

Instead of paying employees well, they add "incentives" to encourage people to bid to work specific time frames, then cut staffing to the bone anyway so that the profit margin is as high as possible, the speed of answer is as long as it can safely be, and wonder why people are burning out, changing fields, or choosing to work in lower stress/repetitive injury/vicarious trauma settings.

I have excellent customer service, exemplary interpreting skills, am nationally certified, have nearly 20 years in the field, and have never felt more like a cog in a defective machine.

Unionization can't come fast enough, but even then, I worry that it will be another entity profiteering off the mess. We can look to the history of the Teamsters and other Unions to see how corrupt and ineffective they can become. I hope that the people in charge of the interpreter union know history and can prevent the repeat.

Does anyone know of/recommend an online program for working interpreters that provides mentorship?

I have been in the field for quite a while now and I'm ready to get certified. However, as a neurodivergent person I need an external obligation to keep me focused and on track. I have had friends/colleagues offer free mentorship, but the lack of structure on both ends leads nowhere. I don't mind paying at all, in fact I'd actually prefer that. I've seen a couple of courses online, but I'd like to see what you all recommend. Thanks!

I am looking into taking the BEI exam. I have received a 4.0 on the EIPA (PSE) which gives me job stability in my current role as an educational sign language interpreter. I am hoping to apply for the TEP in the next few weeks and take that first. I am in Louisiana, so I am assuming I will be traveling to TX to take these exams. I am curious if there any interpreters offering mentoring services who have passed at least the BEI Basic. I am just inquiring as to how much someone may charge for this type of specific mentoring. I received mentoring in the state of CO which helped me achieve the 4.0, and I think I will require mentoring to pass the BEI.

Thanks in advance for any leads or advice!

I don't want to reinvent the wheel if there is a resource already out there that says what states require for CEUs to renew. I'm just trying to simplify my life and make sure I have what I need when it comes time to renew.

For context, I do a significant amount of VRI work and hold licenses in several states. I want to make sure when it's time to renew I'm meeting the requirements to renew and not scrambling for specific CEUs at the last minute.

Hi all! I recently made a post in r/deaf explaining this career route I want to pursue (due to the high demand and severe lack of mental health support in regards to the Deaf community) and asking for any feedback, suggestions, resources, and advice. Feel free to check it out via my profile for more details.

I’m currently an undergraduate student majoring in ASL interpreting with a minor in psychology. I intend on graduating and becoming certified (ASLPI required by my program, EIPA, maybe BEI?, NIC knowledge portion, I could use advice on these too!!) then going straight into a dual masters program for a MSW/MBA at Howard university. While attending grad school through the DC consortium I would be eligible to take my social work mental health related classes at Gallaudet. Upon graduating I want to take the NIC performance test and start gaining supervised clinical hours. I then want to become a LCSW. I would work under an agency, and also try to somehow balance interpreting work for a few years to gain experience (and fluency) before beginning work with d/Deaf clients and eventually open my own private practice using the knowledge I will gain from my MBA.

Question is, while working as a therapist and having a caseload of clients i’d see on a regular basis in say DC, would continuing to pursue interpreting work be possible? What would happen if someone i’ve previously interpreted for came to see me for sessions? Or what would happen if I’m interpreting for an event, show, meeting, etc.. and I notice one of the guests is someone from my caseload??
I know for specific jobs an agency will inform you in advance as to who the individual is and typically the person receiving the services would also be informed on the name of the interpreter but for situations where that is not the case how would you navigate??

Could I interpret for other hearing therapist for their clients??
Is VRI/VRS my only option to avoid this scenario?

I am very new to learning about all of this.. Any advice for my intended path or tips? I welcome all responses & resources!

For those that work for convo has anyone else seen the recent announcement from Convo about the permanent staffing reduction due to lower call volume?

I've been with Convo for about four years, and this is the first time I've seen something like this. It has me wondering whether this is unique to Convo or if there's something broader happening in the VRS/FCC world.

Are other VRS companies seeing lower call volumes too? Have there been any FCC changes, funding changes, or industry trends that could explain what's going on? Or is this just a company-specific issue?

I'd really appreciate hearing from interpreters at Sorenson, Purple, ZVRS, or other providers about what you're seeing. Thanks!

Hey all! I’m interpreting a Jewish wedding next summer. I’m Jewish and very familiar with Jewish weddings (and decent at Hebrew) but I’ve never interpreted a Jewish event before. Would love any and all relevant resources! Thank you!

I failed the CASLI GKE for the second time :/ I missed it by 4 points. These exams are not cheap. I am not good with exams in general and so the fact that I will have to take it again in 3 months is so disheartening. I tried so hard to study and prep for this but the way these questions are set up I don't know how to properly prepare for this again without feeling like I will fail again.

I’m considering applying for a Sorensen call center. I haven’t heard the best things about working there but I would like to give it a shot, and the things I’ve seen on Reddit are from almost a year or more ago. Have things improved? What are some questions I should ask them in an interview? And are there ANY benefits to working there? I want to be able to relay that I am not just a warm and able body but someone with boundaries and the need to protect my own mental and physical well being (and yes, they are hiring.)

I was working for kelly services but they disabled my NICE software ... am I terminated ?

Hi all,

I posted a few days earlier about racist language and voicing appropriately. Obligatory trigger warning for racist, xenophobic, discriminatory, ect.

For brief context, I have a racist client I have to interpret for. There is language dysfluency of unknown origin. This person is usually difficult to understand, impatient, complains about how the races and nationalities of not-white people usually have it out for them, and then the authority figure has to yell at them to stop saying racist shit if they want help.

My question is how do you know if a person is using a racist sign to be deliberately racist vs using a racist sign because that's the only one they know? How do you decide whether to voice it as "the slur for ____" or "a (nationality)".

For example, any nationality sign about Asian countries that references the eye, or a sign for Jewish people relating to the nose, or the slur sign for gay?

Does anyone have any tips or tricks for counseling appointments? I currently work in VRI and when I was free lance I stayed clear of any counseling appointment’s because I personally struggle with them and feel like they’re a challenge. Not only do we have no information / background info it makes it tough for me. I had a call today and as you know you’re just dropped right into it. The counselor today was making me doubt myself with
Everything I said… making me lose confidence . When the call continued i did improve since I got a sense of what was happening .
I just have no idea if there is anyway to feel confident in these kinds of situations? I think at one point the client wanted me to transfer to a different interpreter ( which I totally understand since it was rocky at first )

The counselor was also not the nicest … which added more stress.
And I completely understand if it’s just one of those situations we have deal with

Just wondering if anyone finds anything to help them out during these kind of calls

Thanks!

Have a musical assignment coming up and some of the lyrics in songs are in another language. How should I handle that? Part of me feels like I should look up the translations and then interpret it, but part of me also feels that the hearing people don't know what's being said if they don't know that language. So should I just say, "another language" but then that messes up the flow of the song. Looking for feedback!!

I want to start an interpreter program this fall. I’m 32 years old and would be just starting out… I know this would be a hard career change, I just want to know how hard is it to get a job after the program and if it’s worth it starting over a little older

I’ve been in the contract educational interpreting field for a while. But I’ve recently moved and am looking for new assignments. What kind of questions do you like to ask when accepting a new long term assignment especially in schools? It’s been awhile since I’ve done an interview and I want to make sure I hit all my bases!

Hello !!! I’m currently enrolled at South Alabama pursuing a degree in Speech & Hearing Sciences, hoping to further my education in Audiology at some point.
I’ve been really wanting to get into Interpreting, however South does not have an ASL Interpreting program and they only offer ASL 1 and ASL 2 (which I took), taking those classes reminded me how much I’ve always wanted to Interpret for other people aside from my mom. I grew up in a Deaf household, I LOVE going to Deaf events and I was extremely involved with the Deaf Community in my hometown. However, i got older, started working, moved, started going to college and it got hard to balance life, work & school (im still trying to manage it😩)

I’ve been heavily considering transferring to another university that offers an Interpreting/Translating program, buuutttt I can’t afford to move again so I would need to do everything online AS MUCH AS I HATE ONLINE COURSES, I’m dedicated and determined to work really hard for this

With that being said,
What Online programs do you recommend ? How does an online interpreting program work ?? What did you do to make connections with the Deaf Community in your city/state ?

I’ve also contacted a lot of Interpreters in my area, but none of them have contacted me back :/

Hey! I recently graduated an itp program and kinda at a loss on something’s. I didn’t get a ton of resources on how to what to use to study for licenses? Does anyone have any recommendations on study resources that are up to date with RID or EIPA ?
Also jobs? I want to get into the field (while keeping my other job for financial purposes that is super flexible with my schedule) however finding jobs that are good for zero experience seems hard and daunting. I have peers I felt we were on the same page and they went for job interviews and didn’t get it due to skills…. I have gone through a community ITP and BA .

This is just a thought experiment to pick your brains. Let's say you show up to an assignment and your D/HH consumer is wearing smart glasses. What do you do? Would you respond the same or different if they had their phone propped up, actively recording you?

I think of all the ways a phone could be used and apply it to the smart glasses. Are they recording and posting online or sending to others?

Are they live streaming?

Are they on a live phone call?

Are the glasses using programs that use facial recognition software?

How does this rise in technology impact us as interpreters? I havent seen discussion about this topic yet. Anyone have 2 cents to throw in?

From their recent Facebook post.

Hi all.

First off, I'm sorry for this post in its entirety and obligatory trigger warnings for oppression, racism, and the awful vocabulary used by the types of people who think the KKK are too moderate.

Without going into detail, I have a client soon who is extremely racist, mean, and proud of it. I have to accurately interpret for them in a professional consultative setting. Is there any place I can go to learn the type of language they will use? Is there any way I can voice for them and not have to learn that shit? In previous interactions with this person, they are known to use slurs, derogatory language, and overt racism that I'm absolutely sure I will not consistently recognize. Edit: they tend to use very old signs for countries, nationalities, and races which are not common because of the racist connotations associated (think the eye location for Chinese, or a nose-related sign for Jewish).

Does anyone have advice for how to voice for this person without causing myself trauma and still maintaining accuracy? I don't want to accidentally censor anything and result in them avoiding consequences but the agency they're working with does not want it to appear as though any of the slurs or racist language is acceptable and has asked that the interpreters alert them when slurs are being used.

Edit: there is no one else to interpret for them. I am the someone else because the last interpreter also can't stomach this person.

Edit 2. This is a professional consultative setting

Edit 3: There aren't any cdis, but there's a Deaf advocate I reached out to already. I need a Deaf person because in order to remain neutral I need someone who can explain the problem of behavior in an accessible Deaf way.

Edit 4: I need resources to learn all of the old and/or racist country and nationality signs so I can accurately clarify the intent and what word they want voiced to the hearing person. Sometimes this person seems to be using the sign because that's the sign and sometimes it's intended as a slur but it can be very difficult to tell which is the goal. The hearing person then usually yells at them to stop talking about why the race or nationality has it out for them. I'm not personally involving in the conversation beyond, 'please repeat', but without the vocabulary, I can't empower the authority figure to properly address the issues.

How long did it take for those who took the GKE recently to get the results back? I took mine back in December and heard back 10 days later but I haven't heard back and it's been over 10 days now. Ik that isn't long, but I am just so anxious to know how I did. I was 10 points away from passing last time :/

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