As I sit here waiting for the latest hurricane to come visit Florida, you can't turn on the TV without seeing countless reports, news updates, and press conferences. I love the press conferences. It's some government desk jockey's 15 minutes of fame. I'm sure they tell all their family that they will be on TV. Unfortunately, most of them don't make good use of their time on TV. They stand there solemn, and usually don't even look at the camera, even though they have to be excited to be on live TV! I get it, you can't smile during the Armageddon announcement, but you could be a little more expressive like the Sign Language Interpreter, (SLI).
Now this person knows how to steal the spotlight! They must teach it in interpreter's class because I have never been bored by a SLI. In fact, you can't help but focus on their enthusiastic and animated gestures. I always wondered why they had an interpreter in the camera shot on TV. After all, it's not like a deaf person is watching TV without captions wondering what everyone is saying, when all of a sudden, they think...finally I can understand what they are saying! If they didn't need an interpreter for all the programs they have been watching up to this point, including the news, they most likely don't need one now.
But it makes a boring press conference way more interesting to watch! Every time I hear that the Governor is going to speak, or some FEMA representative, even if I have been listening to the news in the background all along, I have to go to the television to watch the interpreter.
Sometimes I wish I understood sign language because as fast as the person speaking reads their speech, the interpreter is never in a hurry. There is no way they are translating every word. I wonder which parts they translate and which parts they leave out. I also enjoy seeing what certain phrases translate to and wonder if they make up signs for terms that are uncommon. Probably not, but sometimes it just looks like they are winging it. They are very professional, but the facial expressions are always fantastic, especially when talking about something bad. I feel as if the person speaking should use the same facial expressions when they tell us about 3,000 National Guard troops coming to help out. They should try saying that statement wide eyed and surprised as opposed to looking like you are reading a roll call of 500 graduates at a high school. I guess to offset the monotone speech of the government official, we bring in the SLI and put them in the camera shot so people will actually watch the press conference. I know I do.
So to the professional Sign Language Interpreters, well done sir/maam, well done!
But it makes a boring press conference way more interesting to watch! Every time I hear that the Governor is going to speak, or some FEMA representative, even if I have been listening to the news in the background all along, I have to go to the television to watch the interpreter.
Sometimes I wish I understood sign language because as fast as the person speaking reads their speech, the interpreter is never in a hurry. There is no way they are translating every word. I wonder which parts they translate and which parts they leave out. I also enjoy seeing what certain phrases translate to and wonder if they make up signs for terms that are uncommon. Probably not, but sometimes it just looks like they are winging it. They are very professional, but the facial expressions are always fantastic, especially when talking about something bad. I feel as if the person speaking should use the same facial expressions when they tell us about 3,000 National Guard troops coming to help out. They should try saying that statement wide eyed and surprised as opposed to looking like you are reading a roll call of 500 graduates at a high school. I guess to offset the monotone speech of the government official, we bring in the SLI and put them in the camera shot so people will actually watch the press conference. I know I do.
So to the professional Sign Language Interpreters, well done sir/maam, well done!
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