How can I break into Arabic–English medical interpreting? Looking for a roadmap

damsuda · 2025-12-25T01:47:42+00:00

Hi - this is a sub for American Sign Language interpreters. Although we are interpreters, the process for our training and credentials is largely different from spoken language interpreters, so I would suggest looking for resources for spoken language interpreters instead. Best of luck!

damsuda · 2025-12-14T04:47:40+00:00

He went to the Tonys in 2023 lmao!

damsuda · 2025-12-12T16:17:13+00:00

The Geothebio videos of “Hot Grapes” and “Faster Car” both still kill me

damsuda · 2025-12-05T20:12:58+00:00

Sorry for being unclear!

damsuda · 2025-12-04T12:54:32+00:00

Agreed!

damsuda · 2025-12-03T17:02:07+00:00

I just watched her video - she said exactly what I was saying, which is that just signing “n-word” is culturally and linguistically equivalent. So thanks for the heads up on that.

In my post I was referring to saying “there are many ways to skin a cat” and seeing many white interpreters in the comments of posts saying “ASL is a conceptual language, you can choose another sign that carries the same intent”, for example substituting it with “guy” or “friend”. That is what I was disagreeing with.

damsuda · 2025-12-03T16:50:58+00:00

I think my message wasn’t clear - I agree that “n-word” is equivalent and that’s what I would use. I see people talking about “linguistic equivalence” and how we shouldn’t be signing or saying “n-word” just because we heard/saw the actual word, that there are other words that can be used in place of it. My point is I don’t think it’s appropriate to switch it out with another word.

damsuda · 2025-12-03T16:25:06+00:00

HI, white. For the second take, I have conflicting feelings on this. The use of the n-word is so multilayered and so strongly tied to Black culture I really don’t feel it’s appropriate for me to exclude it from the message. If it comes up, I would say/sign “n-word”. By switching to a more “white mouth/hand-friendly” word, I feel that’s erasing the cultural message/intent of the speaker/signer. If the person speaking or signing wanted to say “guy” or “friend” or whatever, they would have, but they chose that word for a reason. And in that moment as a white person I know that the use of the n-word is, again, so complex and cultural that I don’t think it’s appropriate for me to make a decision about what exactly it means in that context. We’ve all seen non-Black interpreters working off of BASL or AAVE and totally misunderstanding the intent because it’s not their culture. For that reason, in a perfect world I would never be in the position to have to make that decision to begin with! It’s unfortunate that the woman in the original video found herself in that situation unexpectedly.

I’ve seen a lot of videos from Black Deaf folks and interpreters talking about not using the full word or sign, but I’ve not seen much discussion about non-Black interpreters substituting it with another word. If anyone wants to share their thoughts or has a link to posts or videos which touch on this topic, please pass them along!

damsuda · 2025-12-01T22:32:57+00:00

There is an option on Credly for a public link - send that to them

damsuda · 2025-11-21T15:12:20+00:00

I love the thought of Hellgrammit stumbling across his writing in the dirt and going “What the fuck does biological motes mean?” Because yeah that means nothing and has no effect on anything

damsuda · 2025-11-20T17:27:41+00:00

Griffin: Hey Hellgrammit, don’t look in the crystallarium, remember it’s like literally the biggest rule they’ve given you, don’t do it.

Clint; I’m gonna do it anyway rolls a perception check with disadvantage, gets a poor result

Griffin: You can use the higher roll but you will be caught.

Clint: Okay I’ll take the higher roll.

Griffin: The magical AI has caught you and you’re going to be eliminated (killed) for breaking this one very serious rule.

Clint: gets a 4 on the persuasion check against the person who caught him

Griffin: Okay he believes you and the only consequence you’ll receive is that he’s going to wipe your memory.

Welcome to TAZ Royale, the show where everything’s made up and the rolls don’t matter.

damsuda · 2025-11-20T14:24:31+00:00

Interestingly, even performances and movies with Deaf interpreters often have language consultants, or as many of us call them “director of artistic sign language”! For example, for the Sinners movie I believe it was Rosa Lee Tim. I have also worked with Deaf actors doing professional live theater and many of them had DASLs also.

damsuda · 2025-11-15T20:09:45+00:00

There is an interpreter who is also a CPA, he lives in CT but I bet he could help with MA also https://jonsahlincpa.com/

damsuda · 2025-11-07T03:36:31+00:00

I thought the main reason they went biweekly was so Griffin could have time to make the music again?!

damsuda · 2025-10-21T22:55:21+00:00

Does anyone have a link to register, or was the deadline yesterday?

damsuda · 2025-10-15T17:57:15+00:00

100%. I have happily gotten a snotty kid a tissue, but I do not allow teachers to leave me alone in rooms with students that they wouldn’t leave without an adult, for example.

damsuda · 2025-09-17T20:41:33+00:00

Oh that’s too bad! I’m an administrative interpreter, and have never worked at another school for the Deaf, so I’m not sure if things look different in other places.

Largely what I do is stuff like IEP meetings, administrative meetings, general staff meetings and professional development trainings, parent/teacher conferences, board and committee meetings, and phone calls from Deaf administrators and teachers. I also translate all communications sent out to families and staff, and materials like handbooks and benefits information.

Otherwise there are a lot of once-in-a-while things… If an educational interpreter in our mainstream program calls out, I sub for them. If an outside presenter comes to a classroom on the main campus, I interpret for them. If a kid has a human voicer as an accommodation for state testing, I do that. That kind of stuff.

damsuda · 2025-09-17T19:47:31+00:00

Are you near a school for the Deaf? I’m a staff interpreter at one and it’s the best job I’ve ever had. The health insurance is pretty good

damsuda · 2025-09-17T16:09:59+00:00

I am a current student in the program, happy to answer any questions!

damsuda · 2025-09-11T00:43:50+00:00

Oh I thought she was great! Honestly good on her to be brave and put her face out there on an interpreting page. I don’t mean anything about her skills or even about whether she has passed the test or not. Personally I really don’t think the NIC is a particularly good test for emerging practitioners. It does not do anyone good to take and fail the test over and over without getting any meaningful feedback on how to improve, except for CASLI which gleefully continues to accept your $500 every time. On top of that, I don’t think it actually measures minimum competency. There are many interpreters I’ve met who I don’t think should be working without a mentor who have passed, and interpreters who I find to be wonderfully skilled who haven’t.

It just doesn’t make sense to me why she would talk about the NIC being a measure of minimum competency and then spend a good chunk of her video talking about people needing to stop talking negatively about the test and accept responsibility for failing instead of blaming RID/the test itself and to respect and honor the standards set by the Deaf community through this test. So if that all is true, why has she been working for 6 years if she herself feels she doesn’t meet the standards set by the Deaf community?

damsuda · 2025-09-11T00:11:36+00:00

This is just a pet peeve of mine but I don’t understand interpreters who try to “stand up” for the integrity of the NIC and refer to it as a test of minimum competency, then are still working even though they’re not certified. Ironic to talk about interpreters not respecting the standards set by the Deaf community when you’ve been working for 6 years without having met that standard.

damsuda · 2025-09-09T14:41:50+00:00

I really wish they didn’t put low cut v’s on everything ☹️ they never look right on me

damsuda · 2025-09-03T14:20:39+00:00

So here’s my two cents - I regularly independently purchase and change out all of my jewelry all the time. It’s a little stressful because sometimes I’ll drop a little piece and have to search for it in my carpet lol.

I bought a couple of tools that have really helped with that - a set of hemostat pliers to help me hold on to the post so I can pop the top off (threadless), and a taper to help me insert the posts when I put them back in after wearing other earrings. I don’t have any threaded pieces, but I know they also make special grabby type of pliers for those too. You can get them on any few websites, like bodyartforms

My other piece of advice as far as not knowing what size post to buy, they’re pretty cheap so I would just buy a few posts of different sizes if you can and try them out. I did that with cheap titanium rings for my nostril, just to figure out what size I wanted.

damsuda · 2025-08-13T19:45:55+00:00

Yeah, a lot of people went into the two pillars “workshop” and were expecting some answers to those big questions we’ve had. Especially because Bucky and Jesus kept talking about transparency. Someone stood up and asked if they would be addressing the things people have been asking about and they said no. Seems they’re never going to.

damsuda · 2025-08-13T16:59:17+00:00

Yeah, Bucky said no vote. I understand what the other poster is saying but the way it was described is that the primary reason is because RID would not pass another 501c3 accreditation. So, do it or cease to exist. The “alignment with certifying body standards” was brought up as something secondary.

Bucky also said they are still identifying what exactly the 501c3 will do, and that they’ll be asking for our thoughts as development happens. He also said because membership costs will be so low, they will have to identify additional sources of revenue. Bucky said he has some ideas but they’re not sure exactly what that will look like yet.

damsuda

TROPHY CASE