

How sign-language interpreters handle Lady Gaga - marksu
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/03/01/AR2011030106229.html

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unwind
I found it weird that they're also contemplating sign-language translation of
the artists' _gestures_. Why is that needed? Are generic gestures made by
hearing people in a different "language" from what deaf people would use?

Or is it the other way around, that since deaf people have a full language
available using (intricate) gestures, they don't "need" (and therefore never
learn) the more generic gestures used by hearing?

~~~
stevelosh
Interpretation usually isn't as fast as speech. If you watch an interpreter
you'll notice that when the speaker pauses the interpreter is often still
going. Often it can lag by a few seconds or more, depending on what's being
said.

If they didn't interpret the gestures, they'd fall out of the stream and be
harder to understand. For example, if a professor says "You can see here
[points at figure A on the board] that ABC and here [points at figure B] that
XYZ..." you need to have those "points" in the right places to understand
them.

Certainly not all gestures a musician makes are significant, but some probably
are.

~~~
unwind
D'oh, I didn't think of the utterly obvious fact that to interpret the sign
language, you're of course _looking at the translator_ , and thus not seeing
the gestures as they're made by the artist. Thanks!

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svag
One-page article: [http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2011/03...](http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2011/03/01/AR2011030106229_pf.html)

