Signed Language Interpreting in Brazil:

Introduction

1 Introduction This year marks the tenth anniversary of Brazil’s “Libras Law,” Law 10.346/2002, an event that clearly contributed to the evolution of interpretation-focused research in Brazil and to the select work represented in this volume. At its core, the Libras Law recognizes Brazilian Sign Language (Libras) as a national language. In 2005, one outcome of the law was the formulation of Decree 5.626, a document denoting actions necessitated by the law. One such action was the creation of a formal process for educating sign language interpreters and sign language translators. Subsequently, both signed and spoken undergraduate and postgraduate courses in interpretation and translation began being offered nationwide. Related research has blossomed accordingly. TheeffectoftheLibrasLawonthestudyofinterpretationisfundamental to what Vasconcellos et al. describe in their chapter. They explain how sign language interpreting research in Brazil has evolved since the Libras Law took effect; research is now conducted in the context of translation studies and focuses on the analysis of the interpretations themselves instead of on how interpreters are educated. Thus, Vasconcellos et al. provide evidence that the context, status, and focus of research on sign language interpreting in Brazil has changed in the wake of the Libras Law. In the next chapter, Quadros, Souza, and Segala examine the written Portuguese to Brazilian Sign Language translation of all electronic textbooks available in the online sign language program at the Federal University of Santa Catarina in Brazil. A team of Deaf translators spent 5,000 hours translating all the written texts from the university’s 4-year program of study. Thus, this translation project made available written works by researchers and professors covering coursework that includes sign language phonology, morphology, syntax, discourse, and acquisition . Deaf translation norms applied to the process of translating written Portuguese to Libras is a focus of this chapter. Melanie Metzger and Ronice Müller de Quadros’s chapter draws on data from sign language interpreters in both the United States and Brazil. The authors analyze cognitive control in intermodal bilingual interpreters, that is, interpreters working with two different modalities (i.e., signed and spoken). For each pair of languages (e.g., English 2 : I n t r o d u c t i o n and ASL, Portuguese and Libras), Metzger and Quadros identify a high degree of control over the use of blending in the production of a successful interpretation. Janine Soares de Oliveira and Markus J. Weininger present research on tools to facilitate the sign language translator’s work, particularly the development and use of glossaries. Their work has resulted in the creation of an online multiaccess, multimodal glossary of technical terminology. This tool is being developed in the context of the nationwide sign language program. Sign language translators are able to add to the glossary from their translations of textbooks from Portuguese to Libras. The study explains how the technical terminology has subsequently been incorporated into Libras and how one can access these new signs through the online glossary. Cristina Broglia Feitosa de Lacerda and Laura Jane Messias Belém discuss their research on sign language interpretation in the context of a mainstream high-school setting. Their main goal is to analyze the sign language interpreter’s function in this work context. In the last chapter, Silvana Nicoloso and Viviane Maria Heberle analyze discourse markers as they relate to the gender of sign language interpreters. They propose that when gender-based characteristics are identified, sign language interpreters can learn how to control them for the purpose of the interpretation. The authors show that some markers are associated with the gender of the interpreter. This volume provides but a sampling of the sign language translation and interpretation research being conducted in Brazil. As a translation work in and of itself (i.e., the chapters were originally written in Brazilian Portuguese), Gallaudet University Press brings this addition to the Studies in Interpretation Series as but a taste of interpretation and translation studies around the world. ...