The sign language translator and Interpreter is the mediator between a language (source) and another (target), as well as their cultures and everything that involves them. The translator and sign language interpreter mediates between the sign language and his or her native language by building the communicative bridge between hearing impaired people and the rest of the society.
We well know that this subject (translator/interpreter) was constituted throughout history as the deaf has been getting space in society. Interpreting began as a volunteer work, for the simple fact of helping the deaf, in the social and mainly religious environment, and later in the educational environment. As the deaf conquered their place in society, it was also necessary to act in all areas of society.
Over the years, this performance began to be seen as a necessity, and then became a worldwide profession. 
More and more countries implement the training of professionals interpreters in sign language and guide-interpreters, to facilitate any type of direct communication to the person with sensory disabilities and with communication difficulties. 

The professional can act as a translator and/or interpreter, which have different functions. The translator always intervenes with written material, whether between sign language - native or native - or between the language of the person and the language of the person with sensory impairment. 

The translator and interpreter should be able to communicate with people with sensory impairment and communication difficulties: 

However, we know that this professional can act as a translator and/or interpreter, which have different functions. The translator always intervenes with written material, whether between sign language - native or bilingual - or between sign language - native or bilingual, and has the necessary skills to perform the interpretation of the two (2) languages simultaneously or consecutively and proficiency in the translation and interpretation. 

As the translator has the necessary time for study, he/she may use several resources for this research, such as several technological tools (software, automatic translators, among others) and has access to several places (library, internet, historical documents, and even research with experienced people in the field) to perform the translation.
In turn, the interpreter’s function is to work with both languages in the spoken modality, Sign Language and native language, with direct physical contact with the target audience.
 
It is necessary to have the linguistic, cultural and technical domains of interpretation in order to perform, in real time, the processing of the source language and then transmit it in the target language. Both involve an effort to reach the target language with excellence, but this second interpretation requires an even greater effort, due to the fact that decision-making needs to be immediate in its performance. 

Any interpretative act involves an enormous linguistic-communicative commitment on the part of the interpreter. This is because he/she has to process the information that is expressed in a given language (in this case source language), making linguistic adjustments and choices that make sense in the target language. In addition to linguistic and technical mastery, the interpreting act also requires historical, cultural, and social knowledge from the professional. 

Therefore, these domains are essential for professionals to formulate strategies so that the interpretation achieves its goal: that the information reaches the target audience in an appropriate and clear way, which requires a great effort, and then, after receiving the source speech, process this cut of speech, accessing all this knowledge to produce the target speech. This whole process happens continuously and uninterruptedly (in the case of simultaneous interpretation). A great challenge faced by these professionals, as we will see.

Challenges for the translator/interpreter of sign language/native language


One of the great challenges faced by this professional is the mediation between two different languages, and especially between cultures, which gives this professional a great responsibility, which is to communicate with excellence these two groups. Thus, the mastery of sign language or target language and native language is not enough.

The interpreter is completely involved in the communicative interaction (social and cultural) with complete power to influence the object and the product of interpretation. He processes the information given in the source language and makes lexical, structural, semantic and pragmatic choices in the target language that should approximate as closely as possible the information given in the source language. Therefore, the interpreter also needs to have technical knowledge so that his/her choices are technically appropriate. The act of interpreting involves highly complex processes. 

Interpreting is a momentary and transitory activity, and with "highly complex processes", the challenges are constant, with the need to have knowledge far beyond the social and cultural, but to have specific domains, especially in the area in which they want to work, so that the final product (target language) is of quality.

Professional relationship between professional interpreter and the deaf or client.
 
It is not only the linguistic and cognitive challenges that professionals encounters in their work. The challenges go far beyond these, as they often come up against legal and ethical situations. And because of this, we encounter many barriers, the main one being the lack of understanding of our real function, by both communities/publics that involve our work. There is still a long way to go for sign language interpreters to be seen as professionals.

It is necessary to demystify some representations placed in this work and, in addition, this group needs to have theoretical and practical training of professional exercise, data these grounded in academic research coupled with the practice. 

MODALITY OF SIGN LANGUAGE INTERPRETATION


It is important to recognize that translation and interpretation have different functions. 
The fact that the interpreter - unlike the translator - is physically present in the act in which his task occurs creates an "emergency" in his performance. We can divide interpretation into the following modalities:

- simultaneous interpretation;
- consecutive interpretation;
- whispered interpretation. 

In any interpretation processes are related factors such as: 

- memory
- decision-making
- categorization
- interpretation strategies 

Therefore, each of the aforementioned modalities requires different skills and techniques from the interpreter. It is up to the interpreter to manage information and knowledge in such a way that he can do his job in the best way possible. 

In sign language interpretation, these modalities can be used for the interpretation from native language to target audience and back. For a better understanding of the modalities of interpretation, you can find a brief explanation here:

Whispered Interpretation

The Whispered Interpretation is used, for the most part, in interpretation between two oral languages. But we also find situations involving sign language in this modality, when it occurs from sign lanfuage into native language.

It happens when the group that needs interpretation is small and being performed in a lower tone of voice and close to the person and/or small group, reaching only those who really need it in the environment. This type of interpretation can happen in events where the main language is Libras and there is one, two, or even a small group that does not have the mastery of Libras to understand it by themselves, then the whispered interpretation is performed for them.


3.2 Consecutive Interpreting
 
In Consecutive Interpretation, the interpreter listens/looks, takes notes and after a certain period of time reproduces the speech in the target language with the necessary adaptations. He may have more time for his production, which allows him to organize his thoughts and speech well.

This mode of interpretation is most common among oral languages, but may also be the choice of sign language interpreters. It is more common in the format from deaf language into native language or target language, where this interpreter has the time to process what he/she is seeing and make the necessary adaptations into the target language.

3.3 Simultaneous interpretation

Simultaneous interpretation happens instantaneously, with this professional having the responsibility of listening, processing, adapting and producing into the source language at the same time, without losing the speaker’s continuous speech.

In interpretations between oral languages, this modality requires the use of a booth and technological equipment (microphone, headphones, and others) so that there is no interference in the speaker’s speech. In interpretations between oral language and sign language, this situation does not occur, because they are languages of different modalities, oral-auditory and visual-spatial, and the interpretation can be performed free of interference in the speaker’s speech.

With regard to simultaneous interpreting, between oral languages and between an oral and a sign language, when comparing interpreters of oral languages, monodal, and sign languages, intermodal, that sign interpreters tend to make fewer comprehension and translation errors than oral interpreters. This is often due to the difference in modality, since such difference enables the auditory memory of sign interpreters to operate without interference. 

The cognitive interpretive process that occurs in interpreting oral languages and sign languages are the same, but due to the fact that the modality differs when interpreting between oral language and sign language, this interpreter needs to manage the rhythm during translation: a sign may require many words to be translated and, likewise, a word may not require many signs to be translated. Sign language interpreters often find themselves speeding up or slowing down production, trying to regulate while interpreting.

Sign language interpreters, need to be aware of many details so that their production in the target language communicates and conveys the information clearly.