Interpreting Hymns for Deaf Worshippers

Fall 1982 INTERPRETING HYMNS FOR DEAF WORSHIPPERS Madeline M. Maxwell Shirley Boster Interpreters for deaf people are naturally concerned with both ethical and linguistic issues. The special skills needed to interpret for deaf clients with varying competence in systems as different as American Sign Language (ASL) and the various manual codes and English itself, as well as to interpret in medical, legal, work-related, and educational settings, have led to certification at different levels by the National Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, which has also prepared guidelines for various interpreting tasks. Interpreters of sermons and hymns in church services face additional challenges inherent in religious liturgy. Moreover, deaf churchgoers not sharing educational advantages and language skills present the interpreter with a heterogeneous group in situations where both interpreter and worshipper may be aware that spiritual welfare is at stake. Hymns, written as they are in archaic English, pose special problems; and matching words of a translation to music makes further demands. Obviously any interpreter needs competence in ASL and knowledge of signs for religious terms. Whether such competence and knowledge are sufficient for hymns to be of value to deaf worshippers is the question we address here. Specia 1 Because hymns are an important part of worship, h y mn a 1s . the sign language interpreter has the responsibility of making hymns as meaningful as possible for the deaf congregation, or for deaf members of a hearing 217© 1982 by Linstok Press, Inc. ISSN 0302-1475 36:217 $2.00 SLS 36 Sign Language Studies 36 congregation in order to let them participate fully in the service. Some attempts at meaningful translation are made in special hymnals, Sing unto the Lord: A Hymnal for the Deaf (Missouri Synod, n.d.) and Sing Praise (Beard. 1975). The editors of these have paraphrased to make the words of the English text fall into something like ASL order, the better to impart the meaning of the hymns; but it should be noted that the editors are interpreters, not linguists. Their judgments are apparently based on intuition rather than on systematic study of the two languages. In addition to the paraphrases, these hymnals also contain suggested guidelines for hymn interpreters. Interpreting skills An examination of the special needed for hymns. hymnals revealed three important considerations: (1) interpreting the language; (2) understanding the biblical and historical references; (3) relation of sign interpretation to music. To these a fourth consideration may be added, as the following discussion of interpreters' experiences will show: (4) the use of "art sign" (Klima & Bellugi 1979: 343-372). Interpreting the language of hymns is challenging. Before an interpreter can translate a word or thought into sign language , he or she must be sure of the meaning of the original language and context. Beard(1975), for example, states that the interpreter of hymns must be a student of the English language. Figurative language and symbolism require historical as well as linguistic knowledge. The hymn "Bringing in the Sheaves" is not readily and fully understood because it was written in a different time about a different culture. The interpreter has to know that the hymn refers to a time of rejoicing in farm communities, the harvest, and that the writer took a common everyday occurrence in that world and made it a symbol for tithing and proselytizing. The small English function words as well as substantives and verbs may also present problems for the interpreter, or for the audience,if the interpreter uses fingerspelling, which some advise against. For example, fingerspelling of does not translate or interpret its meaning, which can be 'about' or 'from' or 'belonging to' (e.g. "Wonderful Words of Life" (about), "Marvelous Grace of Our Loving Lord" (from), "Faith of Our Fathers" (belonging to)). Also necessary for meaningful translation is the interpreter 's understanding of the hymn's sentence structure. For Maxwell & Boster example, if a hymn uses passive voice constructions, changing them to active may clarify the meaning, because ASL does not generally use passive constructions. To "transliterate" by using fingerspelling or a manual coding system with invented signs for be and its forms and for the passive verb marking simply leaves the worshipper unfamiliar with the...