The Interpreter Diaries.

Sunday Went off-grid. Mum turned up anyway. Wants her minicom fixed. It’s from 1994 & full of biscuit crumbs. Dad’s screening Babe: Pig in the City. I’m interpreting for the pig. Mum also brought an old love letter from 1983 & asked me to explain it 🙄 #InterpreterDiaries

Saturday Woke up. Peace. Silence. Bliss. 8:02am: Mum FaceTimes. Dad behind, shirtless, signs “FIX KETTLE.” 10am: Interpreted 3 arguments in Asda: mayo v salad cream, ghost v pale man & “continental” lasagne. 3pm: Mum wants BSL for “cervix.” I log off life. #InterpreterDiaries

Doing a thing! I’ll be posting daily entries from my life as a BSL interpreter & traumatised CODA. Yesterday’s nonsense, written today, posted tomorrow. Some events may be fictional. Most are just weird. Follow for chaos, subtitles, & sad lunches. #BSL #InterpreterDiaries

Well hey there! Account got banned for breaking rules. Had to mark myself as a parody 😂. Let’s get some BSL terping news shared then. What’s been happening?

@MsLoloJ @UKLabour @BDA_Deaf I mean, it’s not as if there isn’t enough space for it. #dobetter

Frustrating no #subtitles are available for the Leaders’ Speech at the @UKLabour Conference! #Deaf and hard of hearing delegates are not getting equal #access. #Lab24 Cc @BDA_Deaf

Saw this video earlier with someone saying that John Lennon is tough to lip read. I’ve taken the sound off and removed the subtitles. Can anyone lip read him. I can’t.

@BSLterplife @NRCPD Love the skill assessment idea. Have said this for years. Twice a year from and to both languages. Would fully embrace it. CPD is becoming a tick box exercise. 12 points for a weekend conference that nobody learnt anything from other than the buffet and cakes were nice!

Here's an unsolicited idea: Make professional supervision (6 x a year) mandatory, introduce twice yearly in-work observations from qualified assessors for *all* registrants, and reduce general CPD requirements to 12 points per year. What do you think, @NRCPD?

@BSLterplife Agreed. My scenario is if a job gets cancelled the cancellation goes in on the same day as I’m not waiting on the off chance a booking comes in for that day or not. Totally agree bragging about it isn’t right.

Well, I stand corrected. Seems this is common practice, and I'm doing myself out of faily deserved income. I think we can all agree that the "bragging" is icky, but the charging multiple orgs for the same time slot seems to be fairly widely accepted. Who knew.

@BSLterplife @JETYork @Dukevfr Don’t get me started on the fees the agency charge the bookers for ATW jobs (that’s a totally different issue 😬😆)

@BSL_Interpreter @JETYork @Dukevfr 😵

RSLIs bragging about how they routinely will charge a cancellation fee and still take other work, for which they charge, is just not the one. What can we do to put a stop to unethical behaviour in our industry? Anything?

@JETYork @BSLterplife @Dukevfr Can confirm. Agency called to say job had been cxd & I was being moved to other job at same time. I cheekily asked if I was getting a cx fee, they said no as I was still working for them at the same time. The original booker told me they got invoiced for cancelling.

@BSLterplife @Dukevfr I know for a fact that I once charged an agency a reduced fee for two combined bookings and asked for an assurance that they would pass the saving on to the booker. They said they’d note my request. Then they charged full fee for both. It was years ago but I doubt things change.

@DaliahPietersen I turned over to the BBC which looked good too, but C4 had more controversy haha!

@BSL_Interpreter Thanks to the team, great service!

Watched the C4 #Elections2024 #BSL coverage last night, really impressed. Excellent. Managed to stay up until just before 4. Great work from the teams of terps on during the night. Brilliant to see a mix of hearing/deaf working together. More of this please!

@The_Deaf_Tribe @KatielittleJ @UKLabour @vickyfoxcroft @Keir_Starmer Thank you. I'll have a read of it

@BSL_Interpreter @KatielittleJ @UKLabour @vickyfoxcroft @Keir_Starmer rnid.org.uk/2023/06/subtit…

I really hope @UKLabour bring back a dedicated disability minister. @vickyfoxcroft #LabourGovernment2024 @Keir_Starmer #Deaf #Hearingloss

@deafdragongirl However, you are correct, thats the issue of the British Government and not of any of the Broadcasters

@deafdragongirl Thats Sky News for you. They dont do it. BBC did.

@The_Deaf_Tribe @KatielittleJ @UKLabour @vickyfoxcroft @Keir_Starmer and the truth is....Genuinlely interested

@KatielittleJ @UKLabour @vickyfoxcroft @Keir_Starmer If they do I will certainly write to them and explain the truth about the Deaf Culture movement. I see that Lilian Greenwood is back again. I wrote and explained it all to her a year or two ago.

@The_Deaf_Tribe @deafdragongirl Not all deaf people read subtitles, just as not all deaf people use Sign Language, but those who do.... x.com/brattandeaf/st…

@deafdragongirl In fact deaf people read the subtitles. It's just dishonest to pretend that deaf people cannot read, hear or lipread. Just because there's no sign language it doesn't mean that we are disempowered. Just goes to show how little the deaf charities know.

@The_Deaf_Tribe Absolute. Utter. Tosh.

There are two forms of sign language, both known as BSL. In fact "pure" BSL does not use the spoken word. It is hard to understand because most deaf people use the easier SSE. Sign Supported English is common, uses BSL signs but with English grammar and many sign users lipread

@LaurakBuzz Apologies I missed this. Had an issue with "X" and havent seen any notifications. Hopefully you got something sorted.

@BSL_Interpreter I'm on short notice looking for a BSL interpreter or translator, RSLT or RSLI. 45 min, subtitled, pre-recorded video game showcase. Would need to be done by EOD Thursday. Happy to pay a premium for short notice. Any chance you're available?

SEMDC, Rosie and Eddie (the interpreter) have helped me to develop my confidence levels. Through the workshops I have learned new things which has been enjoyable and means I am not stuck at home bored and isolated. Thank you SEMDC.