Hidden away in the upper levels of St. Louis' Edward Jones Dome, a small army of interpreters is attempting to make the proceedings of Seventh-day Adventist church meetings intelligible to the thousands unable to understand the language of the speaker on
Hidden away in the upper levels of St. Louis’ Edward Jones Dome, a small army of interpreters is attempting to make the proceedings of Seventh-day Adventist church meetings intelligible to the thousands unable to understand the language of the speaker on the podium. Using an array of transmitters, the translated message is beamed out to special receivers, or in some cases ordinary FM radios, being carried by those for whom English is not an option.
Although the Seventh-day Adventist Church had its origins in English-speaking North America, back in the 1840s, it has now spread around the globe. English is still the primary language spoken at the headquarters in Silver Spring, Maryland, but in the church’s 568 regional offices, work is conducted in nearly 900 different languages. A world gathering of the Adventist Church consequently presents special linguistic challenges and, without careful organization, could result in a Babel-like confusion.
Odette Ferreira, originally from Portugal and now director of Adventist Colleges Abroad, coordinates the simultaneous interpretation program. She heads up a team or more than 100 interpreters working in 12 languages.
“Each language has its own team,” she says. “Simultaneous interpretation takes a great deal of concentration—the brain can’t take more than two hours of this kind of work. The main cause of stress is the speed. It’s not like ‘side-by-side’ interpretation where the speaker waits until the interpreter has finished. With simultaneous interpretation you have to work at the same speed as the person you are interpreting for.”
“Another challenge is that most languages are ‘longer’ than English,” Odette continues. “Our interpreters have to speak faster than the main speaker and almost have to guess where he or she is heading. If your mind wanders, even for a few seconds, you are lost.”
Despite the stresses, or perhaps even because of them, the Adventist interpretation team in St. Louis has developed a strong sense of comradeship. “We have an extremely competent and responsible team here,” says Odette. “Although they are all here as volunteers, they always arrive early and are wonderful to work with. I have worked with other teams in the past and some of them are very demanding, but this is the best team I have ever worked with.”
An additional language that comes under Odette’s care is American Sign Language (ASL). During the meetings in the Edward Jones Dome, just in front of rows A through D in section 112, ASL expert Marvin Budd leads the signing team. With animated gestures and facial expressions he makes the platform messages come alive for his audience, and attracts attention from much further afield than his allocated rows.
Speaking to ANN after what must have been an exhausting morning, Marvin is restrained in his own use of words, preferring to interpret for someone else. That someone else is Francesca Trexler who, together with her husband David, is profoundly deaf.
“Sign language is a mode of communication for all deaf people,” says Francesca. “If a person can lip-read they can pick up a few concepts, but with signing they can get so much more. Sign language gives the whole picture. It gives you all of the concepts that are being communicated by voice—the expressions and the visual picture. Sometimes it’s very hard to translate signing back into the spoken word because of the expressions that are used.”
When asked about the success of sign language in relaying the message of the podium speaker to a deaf audience, Francesca replies that it depends on a number of factors. “It depends on the interpreter,” she says. “Today, for example, we had two interpreters just for the sermon, each one with a different style. Also words can be different, and there can be regional variations as well, even within ASL. But for me I feel that I got the full benefit of the sermon.”
Concluding the interview, Marvin puts in a word for the wider deaf audience. “Many deaf Adventists are isolated because when they watch these meetings on television, they have no way to hear them. It’s interpreted here, with cost and effort, but it doesn’t benefit those at home. Closed captioning ... would be very helpful.”
With communication and diversity being key components of the Adventist world church’s strategy for the future, these recommendations will no doubt be taken on board.
