Interpreter | Consultant | Researcher | Trainer | Publisher
Henk Betten, a Deaf librarian, sums up a lifetime of reading and writing in this comprehensive volume of stories on Deafness. Drawing from world literature, including the Bible and the classics, as well as from his very personal experiences of being Deaf in a hearing world, Henk Betten has published a book on Deafness that ends up looking far into the future. See Henk's video here
Read MoreThe organizers of the ICSLA 2018 in Istanbul made the conference fully accessible by appointing an interpreting consultant and coordinator and offering 5 official conference languages: English, Turkish, Turkish Sign Language (TID), International Sign (IS), and American Sign Language (ASL). In addition, participants also brought a team of British Sign Language (BSL) and Norwegian Sign Language interpreters. I provided the consultancy, logistical and technical advice and coordinated the 15 interpreters. Thank you @ICSLA2018
Read MoreMultilingual conferences and high-level meetings require different skills than sign language interpreters are often educated in. Come to the training in Vienna on 6 & 7 October 2018 and take the opportunity to practice strategies and discuss theories.
Info & registration training >
You can combine your trip to Vienna and attend the European Union of the Deaf (EUD) annual seminar on Friday 5 October. The training and the EUD seminar will take place at the same venue.
Read MoreThank you to all 16 sign language interpreters from Denmark, Belgium (Flanders), and the Netherlands for their enthusiastic participation in the training 'Interpreting from and to English as a 3rd Language - Part 1' in Utrecht, the Netherlands. It was a wonderful opportunity for shared learning and exchanging expertise and experiences.
Read MoreAs one of the new videos AIIC has now published a video on sign language interpreters working at conferences: "Sign language interpreting in international conferences: who does it and how it is done. A conversation with AIIC members Maya de Wit and Oliver Pouliot."
Read MoreJoin colleagues from around the world at this popular course: Training for Sign Language Interpreters:
Interpreting from and to English as a 3rd Language - Part 1*
Learn new techniques to work from English and your national sign language. The training is a mixture of theory and practice, and will increase your confidence level in working with English. Tools and tips will be provided to improve your skills.
The training will take place in Utrecht, the Netherlands on 25 & 26 April 2018. The early bird registration deadline is 1 March.
Read MoreThe 9th edition of the International Journal of Interpreter Education (IJIE) was just published in December 2017. The IJIE is an open access journal and is available to anyone interested. You can read and download for free a wide range of articles. For example, about the training of interpreters in Spain's asylum and refugee office and on evidence-based practice conducted in Norway with second-year interpreting students as they prepare to interpret for deafblind clients for the first time.
For this edition Ester de Boe, PhD student at the University of Leuven, held an interview with me. Would you like to know my advice to interpreter educators and interpreting students? Read the interview here.
Read MoreThe International Association of Sign Language Interpreters (AIIC) held their Assembly from 11-14 January in Valencia. One day prior the AIIC Sign Language Network met and invited all those interested to attend and participate in a special panel. Four sign language interpreters from France, Spain, Netherlands and Italy participated in the panel sharing and exchanging their experiences and expertise on working at conferences as sign language interpreters, often together with spoken language interpreters.
Read MoreOriginal holiday gift...?! No idea...? Henk has an idea.
Read Morehe European Union of the Deaf has published their latest volume 'UNCRPD Implementation in Europe - A Deaf Perspective. Article: 24'.
I have contributed an article to this new publication, looking at the use of a sign language interpreter in (inclusive) education in countries around Europe.
In the volume education is explored from various angles, including the importance of and legal foundations for bilingual education for deaf learners in Europe, interpreter use in inclusive education, the need for early sign language access, and the accessibility of teacher training.
Read MoreAs coordinator of the AIIC Sign Language Network (SLN), I was invited to be one of the keynote speakers at the 3rd Latin America conference for sign language interpeters in Panama this summer. I presented on my research study on the status of sign language interpreting in Europe which I have been conducting over the past sixteen years. A second presentation on AIIC and SLN I held with Hilda Tejada, SLN member for Mexico. We provided insights into what AIIC stands for and the SLN achievements since 2012, the year sign language interpreters could join AIIC. You can read the full report of the presentations on www.aiicsignlanguage.net.
Read MoreOn January 8 & 9 2018 Part II of the Training Interpreting from and to English as a 3rd language will take place in Valencia.
If you have successfully participated and completed part I you can now register for this follow up course. The training consists of in depth practice sessions to enhance your acquired skills to work between English and national sign language. Topics will include vocabulary building, use of synonyms, idioms and expressions, pronunciation, and correct phrasing. An increased emphasis will be on team and linguistic strategies to fine-tune the interpretation.
More information and registration
Read MoreJoin colleagues from around the world at this popular course on 20 & 21 October in Athens.
Learn new techniques to work from English and your national sign language. The training is a mixture of theory and practice, and will increase your confidence level in working with English. Tools and tips will be provided to improve your skills. More info & registration >
Read MoreThe Mason Perkins Deafness Fund (MPDF) in Siena, Italy, hosted a training in Ethics & Team Interpreting. On 4 & 5 July 2017 Lianne van Dijken & Maya de Wit trained a group of Italian Sign Language Interpreters. The training was a combination of theory and practice through different activities and games. Thank you to the participants and MPDF!
Read MoreDanish Sign Language interpreters were wonderful participants in my trainings in the last week of June. FTT, the Danish Association of Sign Language Interpreters, hosted my two day training 'Interpreting from and to English as a 3rd language - Part I' and CFD, hosted Part II for their interpreters as a follow up from January.
All participants shared their expertise and enhanced their skills in working idioms, synonyms, sentence connectors, strategies and much more! Thank you for your enriching experiences.
Read MoreThank you to all the twenty sign language interpreters for your enthusiastic participation in the training 'Interpreting into and from English as a 3rd language'!
The training took place before the EUD seminar from 16 - 18 May in Malta with 20 participants. Want to know more? Click on the link. For the next training, sign up to the mailing list.
Read MoreOn 19 May 2017 the annual seminar of the European Union of the Deaf is hosted for the first time in Malta. I will be presenting on 'Sign language interpreting services in employment settings - a European overview'.
Read MoreCongratulations to WASLI and the editors Isabelle Heyerick & Suzanne Ehrlich for the newly published WASLI 2015 conference proceedings!
One article that I presented and co-authored with Irma Sluis, looks at International Sign interpreter preparations for high-level European assignments. The second article co-presented an co-authored with Elisabeth Tiselius explains what AIIC is and what it can do for sign language interpreters.
The proceedings can be purchased through the WASLI website!
Read MoreAs of 1 April 2017 AIIC welcomes the 3rd sign language interpreter as AIIC member. In addition, there are 6 more sign language interpreters who joined AIIC as a pre-candidate. The AIIC Sign Language Network (AIIC SLN) is very happy to see more sign language interpreters join AIIC! Are you a sign language interpreter working at conferences? You can join AIIC too! Read here the detailed presentation on how to join.
Why you should join AIIC? Read here
Read MoreOn Saturday 18 March 2017, a total 14 VGT interpreters and students participated in the workshop Team Interpreting in Antwerp. Participants enthusiastically participated in plenary and group discussions and activities.
Read More© Maya de Wit, PhD | Sign Language Interpreting Consultancy
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