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So
you want to be an Interpreter
Training
as an interpreter or just learning British Sign Language
British
Sign Language is a visual language that has its own grammar,
vocabulary and structure completely separate from English.
Over 50,000 people in Britain use it and Deaf people have
successfully fought for its recognition as a minority language.
Different countries have their own sign languages. It is older
than spoken language, there is proof that American Indians
used it as a language for their courts and by their nobility.
If
you want to train as a BSL Interpreter or are just interested
in learning BSL there are a number of training courses around
the country and a formal exam system. The Council for the
Advancement of Communication with Deaf People (CACDP) is the
body that oversees the training and examination system. The
body responsible for registering interpreters is called the
Independent Registration Panel.
There
are a series of stages to learning BSL starting with NVQ Levels
1 and 2. These courses will be run at local colleges, higher
education institutes or your local deaf club. Alternatively,
one provider of a range of intensive courses is Deafworks
who are based in London (www.deafworks.co.uk).
The
next stage is NVQ 3, at the time of writing, there are many
approved assessment centres for level 3 NVQ Units in BSL.
These include:
Royal
National Institute for Deaf
19-23 Featherstone Street
London
EC1Y 8SL
Tel: 020 7296 8000
Textphone: 020 7296 8001
Fax: 020 7296 8199
Email: informationline@rnid.org.uk
The
Community College
Shoreditch Campus
Falkirk Street
Hackney
London N1 6HQ
Tel: 020 7613 9000
Fax: 020 7613 9003
Royal
Association for the Deaf
RAD Interpreting Agency
St Mark's Centre,
Cottage Place,
Chelmsford, Essex. CM1 1NL
Telephone: 01245 284953
Fax: 01245 346609
Text: 01245 495077
Email: interpreting@royaldeaf.org.uk
Web: www.royaldeaf.org.uk
The
City Lit
Centre for Deaf People
16, Stukely Street
London
WC2B 5LJ
Minicom: 020 7380 0416
Voice: 020 7383 7624
Fax: 020 7380 1076
Videophone: 020 7387 3641
Email: cfdp@citylit.ac.uk
Web: www.citylit.ac.uk
Sussex
University
Centre of Excellence in Deaf Studies
Web: www.sussex.ac.uk
CACDP
holds a full list and you can contact them for further details.
Working as an interpreter
In
order to work as an interpreter you must have passed NVQ3
(or “old” stage three), be on an NVQ 4 course
and registered with CACDP or ASLI. Alternatively you may wish
to do a post graduate course at University and then apply
for registration status with CACDP or ASLI.
The
Independent registration panel oversee registrations for CACDP
and there are three levels of qualification:
- Junior
Trainee BSL/English Interpreter
-
Trainee BSL/English Interpreter and
-
Member of the Register
With
ASLI you can be an associate member or licensed member.
Details
on courses can be found at the following places:
University
of Bristol
Centre for Deaf Studies
8 Woodland Rd, Bristol
BS8 1TN
Tel:
0117 954 6900
Fax: 0117 954 6921
Text: 0117 954 6920
Email: coursesecretary-cds@bristol.ac.uk
Web: www.bris.ac.uk/depts/DeafStudies
University of
Central Lancashire
Dept of Education Studies
Preston, Lancashire
PR1 2HE
Tel: 01772 893 858
Fax: 01772 892 922
Web: www.uclan.ac.uk/facs/eds.htm
University of Wolverhampton
Visual Language Centre
Stafford Street, Wolverhampton
WV1 1SB
Tel:
01902 322 664
Web: www.wlv.ac.uk/sles/vlc
City University
Northampton Square
London
EC1V OHB
Tel: 020 7477 8000
Fax: 020 7477 8561
Web: www.city.ac.uk
Herriot-Watt
University
School of Languages
Riccarton, Edinburgh
EH14 4AS
Tel:
0131 449 5111
Fax: 0131 451 3079
Email: C.W.L. Wilson@hw.ac.uk
Web: www.hw.ac.uk
SLI
The Barn
Huddlestone
Wharf, Newark
NG24 4UL
Tel:
01636 671022
Fax: 01636 671024
Email: office@slilimited.co.uk
Web: www.languagesnto.org.uk
Royal National Institute for Deaf
19-23 Featherstone Street
London
EC1Y 8SL
Tel:
020 7296 8000
Textphone: 020 7296 8001
Fax: 020 7296 8199
Email: informationline@rnid.org.uk
During
your course you can register with ASLI as an associate member
or CACDP as a junior trainee. During this time you will be
allowed to work in certain settings. After a period you would
be able to apply for assessment for the award of ASLI licensed
or CACDP member of the register.
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