Demand for professional signed
language interpreters is high in Kenya and the continent of Africa. This demand
for quality has no borders, it is multi-ethnic, multilingual, multicultural and
multidisciplinary. On the other hand there is hardly any leading university in
the country training professionals for high level quality work output. We have
individual crusaders demanding respect for the profession, defending
professional practice and gaining recognition in their own small way. Many new
and beginners are ruthlessly competing for job and space to grow, the ecosystem
does not provide for them the platform to thrive. At this crossroads there is a
clamor often misplaced in my opinion for standardization, harmonized
remuneration, pay scales and grades.
The myths associated with these
voices are numerous, they range from over reliance on government to provide
jobs to unfounded fears of competition and self-preservation of the
interpreter.
Myth number one: We must involve
government in all our efforts to organize our profession.
Many people from the villages
especially those coming from the agricultural zones often come with the
mentality of government subsidies, permanent jobs and government controls how
you work mentality. The argument is often that the government is the largest
employer and for them to work with any profession, they must be organized,
harmonized and follow some standard. There is place of government and I do
respect that, public service interpreting within government should be organized
and planned well.
Myth number two: there are too
few jobs, grab, grab, grab and charge less than the competition.
Newly qualified or experienced
interpreters have the tendency to undercut their competition by charging less,
grabbing anything that comes to them. They believe the jobs are too few and the
more you grab the less you charge the more you will have.
Myth number three: interpreting
is easy, I know sign language at least the basics I can interpret
There is a breed of individuals who
having seen interpreters on TV, saw an interpreter at their church or read
about the wonderful job the interpreters do. They are ill-advised to attend a
two or three months course and jump to want to interpret at a news bulletin,
high level government meeting. Some have uncles and aunties working in
corporations and they are able to get connections to contracts, they fumble
through the assignments and offer poor services to the clients.
Myth number four: if only we had
policies, we will be fine
Most noise I hear about rules,
policies or standardization are disjointed, un-researched and unfounded, hearsay. There is confusion on what laws is needed, is it a guideline? Could
it be policies? A legislation perhaps? None of the voices can really tell you
for a fact what is needed, there is a mixture of legalese being hurled right
left and center…..
Myth number five: the field is
too small we can’t specialize
Perhaps the most profound of all
the myths is this one. For some reason all interpreters you will meet will tell
you how the field is too small, you have to do everything. You cannot just
interpret songs in church you need to do something serious like meetings,
conferences, medical, legal and media – actually the news – current affairs,
business, sports news and finish with the panel discussions to earn that
money…..no one will pay you to interpret sports alone, the employers will not
hear of it….we can’t specialize, we have not reached that level like the US or
Europe they are quick to point out.
Reality 1
The reality is jobs by the
governments are shrinking, they are privatizing most of their corporations and
adopting non-governmental structures to run their businesses. Europe and US
have robust private sectors that and operated efficiently. Government jobs are
available in some areas – we can say the government in Kenya will employ some
interpreters in some parastatals, in some state owned corporations BUT how many
are they? How many interpreters will be absorbed in these jobs? Considering all
the other issues surrounding corrupt officials, nepotism and bribery? Will the
est and qualified interpreter have the best odds to go into government jobs?
What is the track record of
government in successfully creating and sustaining a profession? Business
opportunity? Look at the maize, sugar, milk industries…let me not go into
coffee and tea we need to ask ourselves what are the things we can guide
government to help us achieve, how far do we involve the officers in our
profession – for overall legal framework and enforcement of the same yes
definitely however if we are innovative we will realize that government is
always a step or two behind any new emerging innovation – we have witnessed the
same with m-pesa, e-commerce and medical setting – you have to invent, operate
then government comes to learn and see how to regulate you by introducing laws
and squeezing out tax from your profits.
The reality is we need government
– not all of it. We have to create ur own mechanisms that are frame worked and
based on laws existing or we create the laws to support our work.
Reality 2
The cake is too big and enough
for everyone. I repeat, the cake is too big and enough for everyone. There is
no need to hoard, fight, squabble and clique your way to hedge jobs, clients or
fields. There are approximately 2 million Deaf Kenyans, there are roughly 2,000
interpreters with another 5,000 persons who know Kenyan Sign Language. Are the
service providers enough to warrant panic? Can we say that at any one moment
all the interpreters are engaged? Lets just remember that we have a big enough
country for all of us, we all can get our corner and be able to survive, earn a
living – competition is good and healthy as long as it create a better you,
improves your service and propel you to innovate. If it is to blow out the
other persons candle or stifle their growth, we miss the point.
Reality 3
Interpreting is not rocket
science and it is not kids play either. There is a level of learning, practice
and competency that one has to attain to be able to interpret accordingly.
There are no perfect interpretations – 80-90% near accuracy can be realized
when there is a lot of interplay between fluency, cultural relevance and skills
to provide equivalence for the languages involved. My friends from KISE and River
Road training services it is unfortunate you passed through the wrong service
lane, it s never too late – join the correct language school and learn, it will
pay off. There are many who followed that long path and today they are able to
communicate with the clients. The secret to improved performance is having the
correct disposition, teachable attitude and readiness to learn. Practice….make
interpreting your number one, add al the other things to it not the other way
round
Reality 4
Rules are good. They give order
and offer the framework to peace and harmony. In the absence of a framework
chaos prevail. However looking at the Matatu industry, agriculture specifically
dairy, maize sub sectors, sports industry – football, rugby, athletics
subsectors and how the government has messed up the industries with substandard
frameworks. In an economy where the public service is seen as a vehicle to get
rich and private entities provide alternative services it is difficult to have
essential services that are uniform and
Reality 5
The future belongs to specialized
individuals not the generalists. The employer is looking for high level skills
– the days of I know word processing I need a job are over nearly all graduates
know office packages, how many can code, design a website, create a game for
the phone? Specialization in the broadest term is what we are to aim for. Know
the foundation stuff, interpret for the chief, the hospital visit or at the
police station BUT go ahead and be a public administration specialist
interpreter able to work with local county government, a medical interpreter
able to work with the hospitals during emergencies and epidemics, legal
interpreter able to work with all the courts system.
by
Jack Owiti, owitie@gmail.com, +254723343516 @owitie theDancingInterpreter
Institute of Sign Language (ISL), Nairobi, Kenya
