Some of Heritage Interpreting’s team attended the Conference of Interpreter Trainers, a biannual conference that focuses on building foundations for interpreters to educate, collaborate, and network with other like-minded interpreters seeking to elevate standards of interpreting. We’re interviewing our own, Natalie Kraft, the Director of Professional Growth and Engagement to gather her insight of the conference (and she also led a presentation of her own in this conference).
Tell us a little about CIT.
Natalie Kraft (NK): The Conference of Interpreter Trainers is a biannual conference. It’s great because it brings together different perspectives, insights, and discussions related to the interpreting field. It also empowers trainers and teachers to support novice interpreters more effectively. A neat thing about CIT: it places a strong emphasis on being sign-language forward across the workshops, presentations, and events. No microphones are involved! There were CDIs working the conference to provide international sign language interpretation, DeafBlind interpretation, and mirroring questions and comments from audience members.
There are other interpreting and sign-centric conferences that are very insightful but they’re primarily based on an interpreter’s personal gain and understanding, while CIT is more geared toward interpreter trainers.
What did you hope to gain by going to this conference?
NK: I didn’t have particular expectations. I attend CIT to get a finger on the pulse of what’s really going on in interpreter education. Interpreter Training Program (ITPs), state organizations, and private companies can all be sites of interpreter training and mentorship, and all these entities are represented at CIT. By attending, I can become more aware of the landscape of interpreter training at the moment, and consider how I can improve as a mentor and trainer, and how Heritage Interpreting can be a greater resource to the communities we serve.
What was the most interesting thing you learned from this conference?
NK: I was blown away by Dr. Thomas Holcomb’s presentation. He talked about Deaf Centered Interpreting — how interpreting can become more deaf-centered — and what his studies are leading him to. There was a part where he explained some case studies he arranged to show that there may be discrepancies between what deaf people wanted in their interactions that involve interpretation and what interpreters thought deaf people wanted. His work intends to examine the current ITP and interpreting practices, philosophies, and approaches and to discuss if they really work or have the deaf client’s best interests at heart. It’s about inspiring new discussions and questions that need to be had and asked. It was just mesmerizing attending Dr. Holcomb’s presentation.
You gave a presentation on Characterizing Effective Interpreting in STEM. What was it like?
NK: It was my very first time presenting at a conference! I was honored to be part of a group of illustrious people from all backgrounds of academic levels that were researching for a collective goal — and that’s to improve the interpreting field.
Why is this a topic you’re interested in presenting about?
NK: When I was a newly certified interpreter and began interpreting in higher education spaces, I fell into STEM assignments. I had no background in that specialization but I instantly fell in love with the linguistics, challenges, and lexicon of terminology… I was bewitched. How it is a space in which new signs and ASL concepts are being developed by Deaf STEMists, and you could be experienced and confident in interpreting one branch, but you open a door into another branch and there is so much more to learn! I got involved with it by being part of a designated team of interpreters and it opened opportunities in my interpreting career. There are so many fields in STEM but the pool of qualified interpreters is small. It’s not like you can grab an interpreter off the streets to do the job well. Ideally the interpreter can fit the particular demands and goals of the Deaf professional.
My mentors did a fantastic job guiding me, and I want to do the same for other young interpreters interested in STEM interpreting. There are some fabulous online resources like Atomic Hands and ASL Core that share vital STEM signs, and the fact that there are deaf-led organizations focused on creating new signs for STEM shows that there is a huge need that needs to be addressed for interpreting in STEM. I’m all about dismantling barriers and to support a growing pool of qualified interpreters to meet the needs and demands of fast growing deaf STEM researchers.
How did you feel after presenting?
NK: I just felt a wave of relief! Like, ahh! I got some great feedback and found new leads to work on furthering my research, which is great! And really, I enjoyed being part of conversations who share a genuine interest in our field. It’s really special.
How did the conference impact your job as Director of Professional Growth and Engagement?
NK: It’s like osmosis. When I’m around passionate, intelligent, and determined people, you can feel their energy radiating and that in turn helps me absorb why I am so invested in this. It gave me new, fresh ideas on how I can support my team and how we can as an agency be more of a resource to our communities and for the ITP programs.
What were your biggest takeaways from the conference?
NK: There is some incredible research being done. There is a need to bridge academic research, practitioners, and certifying bodies. I’ve learned from my master’s studies that there can sometimes be wonderful research but those findings aren’t implemented on a policy level, or become as widespread as it could be in practice.
As a Coda and native, heritage user of ASL, I can’t remember a time where I was unable to sign. This is a great blessing in my personal interpreting work, but I’ve struggled with providing mentorship to other interpreters for whom ASL is not their native language. My educational background is not in teaching ASL – although we’ve recently brought a wonderful individual onto our team who is a graduate of the Master’s of ASL education (MASLED) at Gallaudet, so that is a great improvement.
Anyway, I attended a presentation by Heather Turrell, a PhD student in Gallaudet’s Translation and Interpreting studies program. She is doing research on effective interpreter training strategies. As Heather pointed out, interpreter training programs often teach students how to interpret while still teaching them ASL. This is an issue, considering that students are trying to interpret without fluency in one of their working languages.
Interpreting is a global practice – meaning interpreters must engage in multiple processes simultaneously – and this is often mirrored in how we conduct interpretation practice.
Turrell’s research indicates that for novice interpreting students who are still developing their receptive and expressive skills in sign language, it may be helpful to introduce sequential practice with recorded samples. With this technique, students can set specific, attainable goals, and can take multiple passes at producing an interpretation that they are satisfied with, focusing on tasks separately. First students can focus on the task of reception and understanding of the source message, with the ability to go back in the recording and play from the beginning. Then they can think about how to represent this message in the target language, considering grammar structure and clear organization of ideas. Finally students can produce the interpretation, with the flexibility of going back and trying again if they feel they can do something better.
This approach aligns with theories of the zone of proximal development – as children, we cannot learn how to tie a shoe before we have mastered more foundational motor skills in our hands. This approach to interpreter training allows students to develop their foundational skills before asking them to put them all together in the global task of interpreting. This presentation was really compelling and I am looking forward to trying out this approach with our practicum students.
What’s next for your research?
NK: I plan to interview and survey some great deaf colleagues and interpreters in STEM — it’s all part of my current research proposal. I’m looking forward to it!!
Is there anything you’d like to share with us?
NK: I’m grateful to Heritage for giving me an opportunity to go to CIT. It’s really inspiring to see that there are a good number of people from Ohio going to the conference. Since we went there, it feels like we’re building some momentum in how we can collaborate together to ensure a collective goal to improve the standards of interpreting and to really get involved with our communities in the state of Ohio.
