“Decisions? Decisions! A Practical Guide for Sign Language Professionals Janice H. Humphrey A Summary

Chapter Three: The Ethics of Professional Competence  1.0 Be a Competent Practitioner:  A competent Sign Language interpreter can be described as having: A) Bilingual/bicultural knowledge and skills necessary to determine the intent and spirit of a speaker and to express that intent and spirit in an equivalent manner in the target language and culture;

Chapter Three: The Ethics of Professional Competence  A competent Sign Language interpreter can be described as having: B) Flexibile communication abilities in order to meet each client’s preferred language or communication mode and to manage register, geographic, gender and age variations; C) Knowledge of setting-specific protocol, the ability to behave professionally and to provide competent service, given the specific assignment (client, setting, topic of interaction, type of skills required, etc);

Chapter Three: The Ethics of Professional Competence  A competent Sign Language interpreter can be described as having: D) Graduated from appropriate educational programs and holding professional certification(s). E) Demonstrated commitment to continuing professional development in oprder to expand areas of competence and better serve clientele.

Chapter Three: The Ethics of Professional Competence  1.1 Possess bilingual and bicultural knowledge and skills that support appropriate community interaction leading to formal or informal community endorsement. A) accommodate age, gender, geographic and register variations; B) communicate effectively with native users of the language as well as with individuals of limited language competence; C) use technical, specialized, and general terminology

Chapter Three: The Ethics of Professional Competence  In addition, all Sign Language professionals should understand the following aspects of both mainstream hearing and Deaf culture as defined by Philip (1986a, 1986b): A) Tangible (material)- physical items and artifacts representative of a culture such as video-telephones, TTYs, , visual & auditory alert devices, etc. B) Normative – the values, beliefs, and norms of social interaction that can be observed, copied, and eventually learned by a newcomer to the culture including turn-taking signals, greeting and leave- taking behaviors; and C) Cognitive-the unwritten, subtle, and complex essence of a culture that is virtually invisible to the foreign sojourner. Conferred community membership determining in-group and out-group status is one example of this aspect of culture.

Chapter Three: The Ethics of Professional Competence  Appropriate community interaction: Interpreters are expected to interact socially but they are also expected to know how to establish invisible boundaries between themselves and members of the community with whom they work in sensitive settings. Interpreters mediate communication between members of the Deaf and the hearing communities… An Interpreter’s language abilities must be above average in both English and ASL. Language competency for interpreters also includes the concept of “word attack” skills that help a language user determine the meaning of unfamiliar linguistic items when used in context.