There are roughly 11 million people in the US that “consider themselves deaf or have serious difficulty hearing” according to the National Deaf Center.
These people largely rely on American Sign Language (ASL) for communication on a personal and professional basis. As an employer, there is a requirement to have an inclusive workplace regardless of an individual’s beliefs or physical circumstances, which is why having the ability to draw on an ASL resource is important.
ASL is an incredibly important tool when it comes to interacting with the best employees, partners and clients. For a business, though, we understand people with a hearing impairment might seem like a communication challenge. Well, it shouldn’t.
As a Language Services Provider (LSP), we help a lot of clients overcome this anxiety and communicate with the people who are the best fit for their business growth, regardless of any perceived barriers.
Getting ASL right is simple. It does, however, need a little bit of consideration, so in this article we’ll outline the best practices for getting right.
Top ASL Strategies for Business
1. Use Qualified Professionals
As an ASL LSP, we have a rigorous vetting process to nesure our roster of interpreters are qualified, experienced professionals. It can be tempting to use people who understand ASL but aren’t interpreters.
While meaning well, interpretation is a skill beyond mere speech. It can be seen in the same way as wanting to get physically fit and going to someone in a gym, who may not know how to safely achieve your goals, as opposed to hiring a professional physical trainer.
2. Understand the Industry and the Environment
An ASL interpreter should have experience in the industry being translated. Each industry has its own terminology, nuances and ways of working. All of which need to be taken into consideration when it comes to getting an accurate interpretation.
The physical space, or environment for the interpretation needs to be well-lit and with a direct line of sight from the audience to the interpreter.
The background should not be too busy, and any other limitations of the physical space should be assessed ahead of time by the interpreter.
3. Interpret the Environment, not just the Words
An ASL interpreter is there to make sure their audience are experiencing all the sounds of the environment, just like any other person, and not just the message being communicated.
Unless otherwise instructed, an ASL interpreter will be looking to relay the whole audio environment to those they’re communicating with.
To censor any part of a meeting, for example, would be putting one group of the attendees at a disadvantage because of their hearing difficulty.
4. Speak Naturally to the Right Person
People should be able to speak at their own pace. However, if an interpreter is struggling to understand or keep up, they may ask someone to work with them – either by giving them a little bit of breathing space, or by adjusting their speed – to make sure they’re getting the full meaning of the conversation to all parties.
A good interpreter is not just translating words, but is identifying and interpreting concepts, ideas and meanings to ensure proper context.
5. One at a Time…Don’t Overlap Speech
It’s bad enough when people speak over each other in the same language, but when doing so in ASL (or any other interpreting environment, for that matter) the only result is that information is going to be lost.
There needs to be a form of order in the communication and a good, qualified interpreter can help bring this to the meeting.
6. Remain Impartial
The interpreter is there to be the voice, and not the mind, of the people in the conversation. Of course, they may provide context in certain situations, but they shouldn’t be asked their opinions about the subject matter or what any of the participants are “thinking”.
Their job is to remain impartial and give the most accurate interpretation of each party’s thoughts that they can.
7. Get the Right Team Involved
As with all interpretation and translation requirements, partnering with the right LSP will help you be able to focus on content and not delivery. It’ll allow you to do what you’re there to do in the first place, which is work with the people in the room regardless of their language requirements.
If you consider and embrace the environment, speak naturally without overlapping, allow the interpreter to remain impartial, and work in circumstances everyone is happy with, then ASL can just be another seamless conduit to moving your business forward with the right people.
Get A Quote for Your ASL Interpretation Project
If you’ve got ASL interpretation requirements that you need help with, we’d love to sit down and talk with you about it.
Consultations are free and there’s no obligation.
With Lingualinx, you won't ever have to worry about your message getting lost as it’s interpreted or translated.
You know you're in good hands as we’re ISO 17100 and ISO 9001 compliant, have over twenty years of professional translation experience, and have earned the trust of organizations around the world.
