2023 RID National Conference - The Big Myth: Language = Interpreting
Why are most graduates of ITPs not ready to work? Why does most feedback relate to sign vocabulary or production? Why do most assessments of interpreters focus on language competence?
Our field, unlike most interpreting communities in the world, does not frame our work as distinct from language competence. Not all bilinguals are able to interpret. We train people to work between words and signs. The result of this is that little or no time is spent on understanding and refining those mental processes that are needed to determine the meaning, goal, intent, and elements of communication that are critical to successful outcomes.
In this workshop we will examine the constructs, and practices we use when we examine and assess our work with others in order to accurately label what is related to language competence and what is part of the complex set of processes that interpreters use to make decisions about how to produce an equivalent target message.
This workshop is highly interactive and participants will work in small groups to analyze and unpack this issue by responding to focused questions.
This activity is approved for 0.3 Professional Studies CEUs.
Betty Colonomos
Presenter/Facilitator
www.visitbmc.com
Betty M. Colonomos, currently serving as Director of the Bilingual Mediation Center, is a fluent ASL/English bilingual. Her academic background is in Deaf Education/Speech Pathology (B.S.), Counseling (M.A.) Linguistics (Doctoral program). Betty holds the Masters Comprehensive Skills Certificate (MCSC) from RID. She was the second recipient of the Mary Stotler Award for excellence in Interpreter Education from CIT. Betty has chaired and served on many national committees on standards and evaluation of interpreters and served as President of the Conference of Interpreter Trainers (CIT). Ms. Colonomos has authored and appeared in video materials on interpreting and she co-authored (with MJ Bienvenu) videos on Deaf Culture, ASL Facial Grammar, and ASL Numbers. She worked as an International Sign interpreter for numerous conferences worldwide. Betty also consults with schools and the legal system as an expert on linguistic and cultural issues impacting the Deaf Community. Betty is the developer of the Integrated Model of Interpreting (IMI), which is the most widely used model in the U.S. for teaching cognitive processes in interpreting. She teaches the Foundations of Interpreting Series for hearing, coda and Deaf interpreters that combines the IMI with a Vygotskyan approach to learning. Betty is the creator of the Etna Project (2002 – present) held in New Hampshire and Maryland. The project is a series of retreats supporting a Community of Reflective Practitioners who are interpreters committed to their own growth as they seek to become change agents in the field of interpreting.
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