NIC Interpreting & Transliterating Skills 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: A Deaf-Blind consumer uses tactile ASL. Which of the following adjustments is most critical for the interpreter?
- Sign more slowly and use only single-hand signs
- Allow the consumer to place their hands over the interpreter's to receive signs through touch (Correct answer)
- Switch to a print-on-palm method exclusively
- Use only fingerspelling to ensure clarity
Correct answer: Allow the consumer to place their hands over the interpreter's to receive signs through touch
Tactile ASL involves the Deaf-Blind individual tracking the interpreter's signs through physical contact, requiring specific positioning and technique.
Question 2: When transliterating, an interpreter encounters an idiomatic English phrase that has no direct sign equivalent. The best approach is to:
- Fingerspell the entire idiom word by word
- Convey the meaning of the idiom using signs that best represent its intent within an English word-order framework (Correct answer)
- Omit the idiom to avoid confusion
- Switch to ASL grammar to express the concept
Correct answer: Convey the meaning of the idiom using signs that best represent its intent within an English word-order framework
Transliterators convey meaning while maintaining English structure, using signs or signed equivalents that reflect idiomatic intent.
Question 3: Which concept describes the mental process of holding incoming source language information while simultaneously producing target language output?
- Code-switching
- Cognitive load management / dual tasking (Correct answer)
- Shadowing
- Consecutive lag
Correct answer: Cognitive load management / dual tasking
Managing the cognitive load of receiving and producing language simultaneously is a foundational skill in simultaneous interpreting.
Question 4: During a legal deposition, the attorney asks a compound, multipart question. The interpreter should:
- Interpret each clause as accurately as possible and note the structure for the Deaf consumer (Correct answer)
- Simplify the question into one main point
- Ask the attorney to rephrase the question before interpreting
- Provide a summary interpretation of the overall intent
Correct answer: Interpret each clause as accurately as possible and note the structure for the Deaf consumer
Interpreters must render the source message faithfully, including its complexity, to preserve legal accuracy.
Question 5: A signed-to-voice interpreter consistently drops sentence-final ASL classifiers when voicing. This error most likely affects:
- The register of the interpretation only
- The completeness and accuracy of the message, omitting important spatial or descriptive information (Correct answer)
- Only the aesthetic quality of the interpretation
- The speaker's grammar but not meaning
Correct answer: The completeness and accuracy of the message, omitting important spatial or descriptive information
Classifiers carry significant semantic content in ASL; omitting them results in incomplete or inaccurate voiced interpretations.
Question 6: What is the recommended lag time (décalage) for skilled simultaneous ASL-English interpreters?
- Less than one second to maintain synchrony with the speaker
- Approximately 3–5 seconds, long enough to predict meaning but short enough to stay current (Correct answer)
- 10 or more seconds to fully process complex ideas
- There is no recommended lag; interpreters should aim for zero lag
Correct answer: Approximately 3–5 seconds, long enough to predict meaning but short enough to stay current
A lag of roughly 3–5 seconds allows interpreters to process enough context to produce accurate, grammatically complete target-language output.
Question 7: An interpreter is asked to interpret a comedy routine that relies heavily on English puns. The most ethical and skillful approach is to:
- Interpret the puns literally in ASL so the Deaf audience can judge for themselves
- Find ASL-equivalent humor that conveys the comedic intent, even if the specific pun cannot be reproduced (Correct answer)
- Explain each pun in sign before delivering the punchline
- Skip the comedic content and interpret only the literal meaning
Correct answer: Find ASL-equivalent humor that conveys the comedic intent, even if the specific pun cannot be reproduced
Conveying the spirit and effect of the source message, including humor, is part of dynamic equivalence in interpreting.
NIC Interpreting & Transliterating Skills 3
A Deaf-Blind consumer uses tactile ASL.
Which of the following adjustments is most critical for the interpreter?