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The following article appeared in the Illinois Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf Newsletter, Spring, 1995. ITP GRADUATE? YES! by Lou Scott I'm just seconds away from interpreting a brief lecture titled "Three Easy Ways to Bake a Cake" (I've had a copy of the speaker's script for a week), when the moderator hands me a note indicating there's a slight last minute change. A Russian professor just flew in from Moscow, and was persuaded to present his world-famous thesis on "The Morphological and Physiological Affects of Choltracine in the Artificial Induction of Polyploidy In Hemerocallis!" SAY WHAT???? The note also just happened to mention that the professor has a very pronounced accent; is in a hurry for another appointment, so he'll be reading from a prepared text; and, is nervous and tends to speak rather quietly! Oh, and one more thing - could the Interpreter stand off to the side or something? Sort of fade into the background? The professor doesn't like anyone around him. Besides, the lecture hall will be completely dark, except for a small spotlight on the guest speaker. When the alarm went off, I untangled my limbs as my body had formed a shape heretofore secretly known only by the Tibetan Dali Lama. I unsnarled my fingers which were tied in combination half-hitch and double bowline knots, and toweled off the drenching sweat; my ears still ringing from the screams. So this's what I was being prepared for during the Interpreter Training Program, huh? 'Tis true, I am a recent graduate of an ITP. (Just mere weeks as of this writing.) Two-and-a-half years of hard work at Harper College. I had an awful lot to learn; that I needed to learn. While I cannot speak for other Programs or other students, for me it was one of the most challenging events in my life. Let's see now..., ASL Linguistics, Deaf Culture, Voice-to-Sign & Sign-to-Voice (three semesters each), Special Areas of Interpreting, Code of Ethics, Fingerspelling, and of course Practicum. Shadowing. Visualization. Source language. Target language. Topicalization. Classifiers. Temporal Aspects. Directional verbs. Conditional statements. Rhetorical, Yes-No, and "WH-" questions. Interpretation. Transliteration. Translation. Meta-message. Cloze-skills. Video tapes. Audio tapes. Self analysis, group analysis, and 1-on-1 analysis. Time for psycho-analysis!! Hit that "wall"!! Go through that "wall"!! There's no way I can do this!! Too many mistakes; too many rules broken; too many sign-production, grammatical, spatial, facial referential, syntactical, non-manual, and linguistic errors. Too slow! No Way! No How! The Colonomos Model. Interpreter Models. Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Models. OOOPPS!! (Sorry, got carried away..) Processing Speed. Anticipatory assimilation. Register. Cultural mediation. Equivalency. Ethics. Fixed, prepared, and spontaneous texts. Short-term-memory. Long-term-memory. {Great! Just what I needed! Trying to develop a skill that relies on MY memory? I finally found the keys; now, if I can jest recall where I left my car...}. Yet somehow, some way, I managed, not by myself, mind you, but with a lot of help, time, and patience from many great people. Educators. Mentors. The Deaf Community. Working Interpreters. Classmates. And especially, my family. To all - I owe an immense debt of gratitude. Thank you. It truly is hard to believe that I've finished; and yet at the same time knowing that I've only really just begun. Realizing how much more I need to learn; how it's imperative I continue to learn. Harper's ITP is intense; and for darn good reasons. You're familiar with those reasons, so I won't iterate them here. But suffice it to say that I can feel a sense of pride; pride in what I've learned and accomplished {so far}. Of the many terrific people I've met. Of the desire to continue to grow in the interpreting profession. Of the positive changes not only in my life, but also in my perspective of the world and its peoples and cultures. While I do understand the serious and precarious nature of each interpreting assignment, I look forward to the challenges and opportunities offered. Now, would any of you like to partner with me for that presentation on "The Morphological and Physiological Effects......??? How My Community College Has Changed My Life by Lynne Cassell I graduated from high school in 1974. Two years later, I married and began my "career" as a stay-at-home mom and housewife. At the time, I was grateful for the opportunity to be at home with my children. It was a blessing to see them grow and develop. Then came the day I sent my fourth and youngest child to school. Suddenly, the house felt very empty and a sense of aimlessness permeated my thoughts. I began to question my self-worth and to wonder what my future would be without any skills or college education. I did not even know what kind of career I would like to pursue. As I was skimming through my community college's class schedule one day, I noticed they were offering classes in American Sign Language. My friend had a deaf son named Caleb who was almost the same age as my children. I had always been fascinated while watching her converse with Caleb using sign language, I decided it would be fun for my whole family to sign up in order to learn basic sign language; hoping that soon my children would sign well enough to be able to communicate with Caleb. That would make it so much easier for them to play together. On the last night of our class, a sign language interpreting student from William Rainey Harper College came to talk to all of us about the interpreting program offered at Harper and also about professional interpreting. She explained that our community college offered a chargeback cooperative, enabling students from out-of-district to attend Harper for the same fees as in-district students. What an opportunity. I had never even realized that there were sign language interpreters for the deaf, much less considered the idea of pursuing a career in that field myself. That night, a flickering light of desire woke up in me that soon became a blaze of determination. I had found what I wanted to do with my life ... what I wanted to become! After making that decision, there was no stopping me. With an earnestness that I did not know I possessed, and a tenacity founded on a sense of purpose, I traveled an hour each way, two nights a week for over three years, to finally achieve completion of Harper's Sign Language Interpreting Program and graduate with a certificate of completion. I now have a rewarding job that I love, and feel very fulfilled in what I am doing. I am a freelance interpreter in the Chicago area interpreting in medical, legal, corporate, and educational settings, including my community college. Every day is a new and often exciting experience. I have participated in the birth of a child, learned how to dismantle and reassemble car engines, witnessed the inspiring inauguration of a throng of almost 4,000 immigrants beginning their new lives as United States citizens, and dressed in scrubs for surgery, all while "on the job." Places I would never be admitted to are now open to me as an essential part of a working team. This is not the end of the road for me, though. Interpreting in the community college classroom has given me a thirst for more knowledge and education. There is always so much more to learn, so much more to experience. I continue to take at least one college class every semester, working towards a degree. When I have finally achieved that goal, I will continue to set new goals for myself, as goal setting is an important a strategy in my life. My community college has opened up a new world and a new life for me, and for the I am very grateful.
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