Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon

Students will spend one hour a week interpreting, two hours per week in a small group preparing for the interpreting assignment, and one hour per week in recitation with the instructor. 

 
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:

• Demonstrate the ability to apply preparation techniques to an actual interpreting assignment 
• Demonstrate the ability to work as a member of a team of interpreters 
• Demonstrate the ability to describe their internal experience of the interpreting process 
• Demonstrate the ability to interpret while standing or seated in front of an audience 
• Demonstrate the ability to perform a self-assessment of their own videotaped interpretation and set goals for improvement 
• Simultaneously interpret at least the main points of a portion of a presentation, so that the interpretation meets these guidelines:          

• Each sentence must be complete and grammatically correct.            
• Each sentence must be equivalent to the signer's message.  
• All sentences must be congruent in light of the signer's intent and the message as a whole.     (Gish, S. (1993) Practice Guidelines, used by permission). 

Students will meet in small groups twice a week to prepare for their interpretation. They will arrange the logistics of working with a team of interpreters, and will research and practice real or anticipated content of a presentation. Students will take turns interpreting brief portions of the presentation during the large group session, then meet to discuss their experiences. The first two interpretations will be repeated, with the first sessions ungraded, allowing students to be graded at first on a practiced interpretation. Subsequent interpretations may be graded or ungraded. When interpretations are not instructor-evaluated, students will do a self-assessment of their work from the videotape produced in class. 

Instructor evaluation of ASL to English and English to ASL interpreting skills, written journal entries and other assignments, and student self-assessments of their interpretations. Students must earn a total of 35 hours to receive credit for the course. 

This course applies the content of previous and concurrent courses such as ITP 272 Interpreting Process III and ITP 262 Interpreting Theory to interpreting live or taped presenters in front of a group. It includes:

• Continued development of expressive and receptive simultaneous interpreting skills
• Use of appropriate professional dress and demeanor Interpreting techniques, including preparation, processing, and production of an interpreted event
• Development of strategies to control performance anxiety and to become comfortable interpreting in front of an audience.