tESTIMONIES

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Reflections from Laura Wild, 

A Three-time Cruise Interpreting Academy Attendee: 

     When we become adults and enter the career force, we cannot let ourselves stagnate or we will be left to the wolves while everyone around us succeeds and prospers. This is especially true in the field of sign language interpreting. After all, language is forever changing. We must be willing and able to accept and adapt to these changes. 

When I was a student in an Interpreter Training Program (ITP) my dream was to travel the world offering equal communication access to the Deaf community. What better way to do that than cruise interpreting? I began networking my way around until I found a cruise interpreting agency. I joined the agency quickly after graduating, not realizing that cruise interpreting was a completely different beast than freelance or video relay interpreting.  We all know what they say about assuming, right? I began interpreting cruises with no guidance, no instruction, and no comprehension of what I was about to embark on. 

I thought I had made it, that I was big stuff. Somehow my skills had gotten me to this point. I have absolutely NO IDEA where I got that idea. My skills were never put to the test. I never had to take an assessment. I wasn’t even required to prove I had graduated from an ITP! I simply said ‘hey I’m an interpreter’ and started cruising. I mean, I didn’t even know how to arrange travel to the port (I had never been on a cruise ship before.) I had no training, no tips of the trade, and worst of all, no mentor. When I say I was green, I mean I was so green I hadn’t even sprouted out of the dirt yet.

I worked like this for a year, bringing colleagues along with me, telling them I knew how to do this, thinking I knew how to do this. One random day while networking on social media I came across a flyer for the Cruise Interpreter Academy, a workshop that would teach the intricacies of cruise interpreting. Bonus, it was going to be held on a cruise ship! I couldn’t pass up an opportunity like that. Of course, I didn’t really need the workshop, or so I thought, but a tax write off “vacation” was a no brainer. I have never been so wrong in my life!

After the first five minutes of day one I realized how truly clueless I was. I knew NOTHING about cruise interpreting! It was embarrassing that I had been doing such a disservice to Deaf clients for a year. I turned up my listening ears, stretched my note-taking hand, and prepared myself to dive in. I’m not going to go as far as to say everything I had been doing was wrong, but everything I was doing was from the perspective of a local freelance interpreter. You know the kind, the ones that go into an assignment, interpret the gig, get a signature, leave, and go back to normal life. No, this was more of a 24/7 kind of gig. 

Don’t get me wrong. I don’t mean that you’re interpreting all day and all night for the duration of the cruise, or that there is no “off” time (we have to be able to at least eat and sleep). No, it’s more like being on your best professional behavior 24/7 and making yourself available. Everything we are seen doing from the moment we arrive at port until the time we leave port to return home leaves an impact on all of our constituents (a fancy term that is studied in depth during the workshop.) It can either positively or negatively affect your future employment as a cruise interpreter. 

I learned so much more than I could ever have been prepared for in that first CIA workshop, and I left with a new excitement for cruise interpreting. Up to that point I had only taken cruise assignments where I was able to handpick my team, someone I had experience working with and knew we would be great roommates as well, friends. After the workshop I started trying my hand at group cruises (another topic covered in the workshop). The nerves I had were immense that first group cruise, but were quickly expelled under superb leadership. 

Needless to say, I was hooked, hooked on cruise interpreting, and hooked on studying everything I could about it. When I saw the second CIA workshop announced I called that day to reserve my place. The first workshop was amazing! No way could anything ever top that workshop and the friendships that were forged. Readers, a little advice, never underestimate possibilities. Be open to new experiences or you may just miss something beautiful! This second workshop was just that, beautiful! Yes, we learned the ins and outs of cruise interpreting, of course. That’s what we paid for. What we didn’t pay for, or expect, was the spiritual cleansing that would take us all by surprise on day two. 

As interpreters we are our own worst critic. We all have that little devil on our shoulders whispering, “why are you trying? You can’t voice. You’ll make the Deaf person sound stupid!”, or “what did you just sign? It didn’t make sense at all. Do you even KNOW sign language?”, or “that Deaf person is looking confused. That’s your fault” and the list goes on. When I tell you that Lanette Pinkard has a gift, I mean she has the ability to stare into your soul, find the broken, help you recognize it, face it, and start the healing process. She touched every single person in that workshop so deeply there wasn’t a dry eye in the room, including hers. We didn’t just leave as better cruise interpreters, we left as better people. 

In the field of interpreting, it is common for interpreters to tear each other down while climbing their way to the top. I am telling you to expect the exact opposite in these workshops. Never in my interpreting career have I felt more supported and loved amongst a group of colleagues than I have in the CIA workshops. For that reason alone, I will continue attending them as much as I can, but I also glean something new in each one. This CIA will be even more packed with information to absorb with three extra days on the itinerary. I can’t wait! In fact, I’m packing my bags right now! See you there!