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Anyone who has watched the funeral
of a major public figure or a good
many other events where speakers are
talking to huge crowds is familiar with
the practice of having a sign-
language interpreter on the stage to
relay remarks to the hearing-impaired
people in the audience.
One of those interpreters was on
stage at Tuesday’s memorial service
for Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg,
South Africa, but, as it turns out, he
wasn’t signing at all. The man, who
stood right next to world leaders
including President Obama, was just
“flapping his arms around,” Cara
Loening, director of Sign Language
Education and Development in Cape
Town, told Agence France-Presse.
How in the world did this happen?
No one seems to know. According to
the New York Daily News , “Collins
Chabane—one of South Africa's two
presidency ministers—said the
government was investigating the
incident, but did not release any more
details about the bizarre stunt.”
Some reports indicate the man is the
African National Congress party’s
official interpreter and has been
present at previous events. People
have reportedly complained to the ANC
about him. The ANC doesn’t seem to be
confirming any of that, however.
[RELATED: Ragan's new
distance-learning site houses
the most comprehensive video
training library for corporate
communicators.
]
However the interpreter got onto the
stage, members of the deaf community
were outraged by his sign-language
gibberish. Interpreter Francois Deysel
pleaded for him to be removed from
the stage, for example:
@BrunoDruchen please can
someone ask the interpreter to
step down from stage, it is
embarrassing and making a
mockery of our profession
— Francois (@FrancoisDeysel)
December 10, 2013
Apparently fraudulent sign-language
interpreting is a widespread issue in
South Africa, according to Ingrid
Parkin, principal at St. Vincent School
for the Deaf in Johannesburg. Many of
the people who hire them don’t know
sign language themselves, so they
can’t adequately validate the
interpreter’s skills.
Obama doesn’t seem to have made any
remarks about the interpreter who
stood next to him on the stage, but he
may actually be grateful to him. The
controversy does seem to have
overshadowed the president’s “selfie”
at the service .
UPDATE: The interpreter, whose name
is Thamsanqa Jantjie, has claimed in a
series of interviews that he has
schizophrenia.
"What happened that day, I see angels
come to the stadium," he said.
A government minister did
acknowledge that Jantje is “not a
professional sign language
interpreter” and “the English was a
bit too much for him," according to
The New York Times.
Anyone who has watched the funeral
of a major public figure or a good
many other events where speakers are
talking to huge crowds is familiar with
the practice of having a sign-
language interpreter on the stage to
relay remarks to the hearing-impaired
people in the audience.
One of those interpreters was on
stage at Tuesday’s memorial service
for Nelson Mandela in Johannesburg,
South Africa, but, as it turns out, he
wasn’t signing at all. The man, who
stood right next to world leaders
including President Obama, was just
“flapping his arms around,” Cara
Loening, director of Sign Language
Education and Development in Cape
Town, told Agence France-Presse.
How in the world did this happen?
No one seems to know. According to
the New York Daily News , “Collins
Chabane—one of South Africa's two
presidency ministers—said the
government was investigating the
incident, but did not release any more
details about the bizarre stunt.”
Some reports indicate the man is the
African National Congress party’s
official interpreter and has been
present at previous events. People
have reportedly complained to the ANC
about him. The ANC doesn’t seem to be
confirming any of that, however.
[RELATED: Ragan's new
distance-learning site houses
the most comprehensive video
training library for corporate
communicators.
]
However the interpreter got onto the
stage, members of the deaf community
were outraged by his sign-language
gibberish. Interpreter Francois Deysel
pleaded for him to be removed from
the stage, for example:
@BrunoDruchen please can
someone ask the interpreter to
step down from stage, it is
embarrassing and making a
mockery of our profession
— Francois (@FrancoisDeysel)
December 10, 2013
Apparently fraudulent sign-language
interpreting is a widespread issue in
South Africa, according to Ingrid
Parkin, principal at St. Vincent School
for the Deaf in Johannesburg. Many of
the people who hire them don’t know
sign language themselves, so they
can’t adequately validate the
interpreter’s skills.
Obama doesn’t seem to have made any
remarks about the interpreter who
stood next to him on the stage, but he
may actually be grateful to him. The
controversy does seem to have
overshadowed the president’s “selfie”
at the service .
UPDATE: The interpreter, whose name
is Thamsanqa Jantjie, has claimed in a
series of interviews that he has
schizophrenia.
"What happened that day, I see angels
come to the stadium," he said.
A government minister did
acknowledge that Jantje is “not a
professional sign language
interpreter” and “the English was a
bit too much for him," according to
The New York Times.
posted from Bloggeroid
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